SAVOUR. Mixing it up

Say ‘Scotch’ in a room full of new drinkers, and the air changes slightly. Purists may start to show off their knowledge, discussing the exact differences between Speyside and peaty, while enthusiasts may begin singing peans to Japanese single malts. As India is on the brink of producing more single malts, the typical colonial hangover may be giving way to people who let their hair down and drink their scotch without caring too much about what tradition demands. And whisky companies have been quick to take note.

At the Glenlivet Legacy Dinner held at The Leela, Gurgaon, a couple of weeks back, brand ambassador (Asia-Pacific) for Chivas Brothers Darren Hosie asked guests to gather around for a toast as guests are served two tasting glasses of Scotch neat.

“Why do you think the world’s best whiskies are produced in Scotland?” Hosie quizzes his audience. “That’s because we love to drink it!” he replies, to roars of laughter from the gathering.

“Look at that colour, close your eyes and think of bitter orange,” Hosie encourages his audience. It is not difficult to imagine, and it slowly settles down after we drink it, accompanied by hors d’oeuvres, paired with each kind of whisky. The lemon custard filled chocolate ball on a waif of pastry paired with the complex 15-year-old is citrus-y at first, but caramel-ly when pondered upon longer.

Changing tastes Hosie loves his whisky, but agrees that the younger generation’s tastes are difficult to decipher, “Indians love their whisky, and we are very happy with the appreciation we receive here as a distillery. However, tastes may change over generations, and it is important to take cognisance of those changing palates”.

On the controversial question of how one should drink whisky, to each his own, Hosie maintains, but he suggests a few drops of water, to open up the whisky’s various notes. Whisky making is a time-consuming and particular process, and each distillery has extensively documented and maintained their whisky’s production and aging processes, with controlled temperatures and environments, yeast fermentation, distillation details, and other factors that enables them to replicate it year after year. Hosie favours Speyside whisky over peaty Irish whiskey. Hosie is Scottish, though he’s spent a good part of his life all over Southeast Asia, currently in Hong Kong. “Everything, including the Sherry cask in which the whisky is aged, matters,” he says. He believes whisky is meant for everyone, as long as you drink it right, for its “exceptional standards and tight quality control”.

No monkey business Coincidentally, earlier in the day, I met Dean Callan, the brand ambassador of Monkey Shoulder, an upstart blend whisky of three single malts from an old school liquor brand William Grants and Sons, that has the likes of Glenfidditch and Hendrick’s Gin in its kitty. The brand’s marketing head in India, Shweta Jain, is confident that Monkey Shoulder will catch on here. “It is new to India, but in my view we’ve been witnessing a phenomenon where Indians are opening up to new experiences, and the same thing goes for alcohol in this country.”

Consumption of single malt was a luxury till a few years back. It was accompanied, preferably, by a winter evening and a formal atmosphere, but the renewed popularity of cocktails has changed the game.

“People are looking for an experience: the whole idea of whisky comes from that — you will remember the very first time you had your favourite drink, how it made you feel — whether it was in a bottle, or at a particular bar, how it was served to you,” elaborates Jain.

Monkey Shoulder’s curious name is an ode to the bar -men who would malt the barley by hand. In the heat, they would find their shoulders bunched up, and that condition was called monkey shoulder.

It is easy to see why Monkey Shoulder would want Callan to represent them — he is everything this new William Grant and Sons whisky aims to be — fun, audacious and ready to break rules. Callan, who had a successful bartending career for 15 years, is currently the brand ambassador for Monkey Shoulder, and has a most envious job.

Levelling two tumblers in front of me, he deftly pours some Monkey Shoulder and tops it up with coconut water. Sliding one across the polished wood table of an Instagram-worthy millennial bar — all indoor plants and black lamps hanging over light wood furniture — Callan says, “Drink up! We finish this at the same time.” It’s a stiff drink in the middle of the day, mid-work week, and a clue to the lifestyle Callan wants us to have.

“I’m currently travelling the world judging the Ultimate Bartending Championship, across 55 countries. Sometimes I guest bartend, but otherwise I work the longest shifts at my home bar.” Out comes a phone, and pictures of his beautiful standalone bar in the backyard of his central London house, stocked with hundreds of bottles of fine liquor.

Callan explains the way whisky trends work: “If your father and grandfather were big whisky drinkers, it is natural that you may not want to take up the drink. If your grandmother used to drink gin, it is possible you don’t because it’s an old person’s drink. But when you grow up, your kids may start drinking gin. For instance, right now, gin has become very popular, and the market is saturated as a result of that.”

Whisky no longer need be had on formal occasions where people are sitting around in comfortable chairs, smoking cigars, having theirs on-the-rocks — however nice that may be. The younger generation is moving enthusiastically towards cocktails that have made a comeback, because they can be had anywhere — at a party, a nightclub, or an old school pub. Whisky is versatile enough to work in all of these situations.

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