Festivities in India are around the corner and I am sure some of you are looking forward to time with family and friends. This is the time that perhaps the celebratory bottles come out! Yes, it’s the time for the best liquid in your stash.  Club founder, Hemanth Rao shares his top 3 Whiskies of all time. What’s your top 3?  Hemanth Rao’s notes – Longrow from Samaroli
Distilled 1973 and bottled in 1985
12 years old
ABV – 53%  One of the most unusual whiskies that I have had ever. The number of layers and wildly different notes that I found in this whisky were outstanding. Right from bacon to minty toffee (Some in India of my time may know this). Plethora of vegetation and brine, add peat and smoke with the minerals and you have a look on your face that makes you wonder if this is really a whisky that you are drinking. Mind you this may not be the easiest whiskies if you dont like peat, a bit of sulphur and minerals; but if you do then its a one to take you to orgasmic levels. The raw natural appeal of this is quite a charm and the 53% while delivering a punch on your palate settles down and the next few sips offer quite some salty and peaty aftertastes. A very unusual note of Indian chutney which I felt was my mind playing tricks but it had “churan” and ginger all over it.  Not had the good fortune to have many whiskies from Samaroli but this one showed me why the name is revered in the fraternity.  Top class. This whisky makes it to my top 3 as I thought I had largely tasted the usual profiles of all types of whiskies but this made me this as always ingraved in my mind now – ‘Amateur’!

GIVEAWAY ALERT!  Follow these simple steps and you and your friends can stand a chance to win a curated virtual whisky tasting with the professionals. CONTEST DURATION: 25th Oct – 1st Nov*T&C’s apply. Pick the whisky of your choice from the market and have experts from SMAC curate a tasting session for you. The contest is open for participants aged 25 years and above, across the globe.

Scottish vs. Irish? What’s Bourbon? Chapter 3 is here to help you distinguish between whiskies from different countries.

Hot malt! This was one of the bottles that one had to chase in the USA 

Deep sherry influence and a phenomenal cask strength whisky.

Name: Amrut Aatma (USA Exclusive)

Series: Single cask, Single Collector’s Series

Cask Type: Port Pipe

Cask # 4670

Unpeated Barley

Distilled: April 2013

Bottles: December 2020

One of 360 bottles

‘A bottle with a soul’ words used by Ashok C (a famous master distiller) describing an old bottle of Antiquary Blended Whisky. Shared by a generous gentleman called Krishna Nukala  that some of you folks may recognise.

Back in time Amrut/ Jagdale were the distributors of Tomatin which is the malt used in this blend. The brand was established in 1888 by J & W Hardie and was named after a novel by Sir Walter Scott. 

History and the story is something that has drew me towards Whisky and Scotch in particular. The Waverley Novels are a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). They were widely read novels in Europe and Antiquary was the third of the series. Said to be the favourite of the author this novel centres on the character of an antiquary: an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. 

This was bottled in the 1960s and has a delightfully illustrated label. Observe the words on the label ‘At last I have found it!’ The package and the label epitomizes elegance and class. What a find and what a story. Privileged to hold such a bottle and taste it.

Name : The Antiquary – Deluxe Old Scotch whisky

Period – 1960’s

Abv 43%

Italian Import

The Tomatin distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in the village of Tomatin. Its whisky is classified as being from the Highland region, as it is 25 minutes south of Inverness. Around eighty percent of Tomatin’s whisky goes into blended whisky, including its own brands of Antiquary and Talisman. Now I’ll stop before I bore you with my fascination of the story almost overtaking the whisky itself

Nose: Perfumy, fragrant and light. Medows of flowers and vegetation, there is a slight hint of earthiness, and slightly metholated syrup. Can just nose this for an hour.

Mouth: Oh what joy! Starts off with just a hint of bitterness before blossoming into wet wood and super enjoyable bitters. Very light on the palate but the 43% in this Whisky is perfect, making its presence

And the results are in…Congratulations to Tobias Carvalho, the lucky winner of our highly sought-after Amrut Amaze III bottle! Thank you for helping us grow our community of whisky enthusiasts.Stay tuned for more exciting contests and exclusive giveaways.