The World Whisky Bar Awards held few surprises, but offered lots to sample.
If more people are drinking whisky in India than is being produced in the world, the contradiction is that very few Indians know anything about whisky at all. Most simply drink to get high, and with the European Union claiming that Indian whisky isn’t whisky after all, just rum in fancy packaging, it’s time to get into the spirit of things and find out a little more about Indians’ favourite brew.
The person to do that might well be S S H Rehman, director with ITC Hotels, who last evening was named Wine Personality of the Year at the World Whisky Bar Awards, held at The Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon. It was a moot point whether it was to sample some of the finest and most expensive whiskies in the world, or the curiosity of checking out the soft-launched hotel, that kept the glamouratti coming in, but the awards proved what many already know. That the Golf Bar at ITC Maurya Sheraton in New Delhi is the best bar in the country (displacing last year’s winner Bombay High), while the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, Mumbai, held on to last year’s win, by picking up the Best Whisky Hotel award once again. The Best Whisky Restaurant was grabbed by Dum Pukht, New Delhi, in lieu of last year’s Zodiac Grill, Mumbai.
The event, Whisky Live, is part of Whisky magazine’s South Asia representative Sandeep Arora’s effort to take whisky drinking to cult status, and if his contention that the very top-end of the market to which he caters numbers no more than 2,500 persons, last evening’s turnout should ideally have included a good part of them. But, of course, since the awards and the event also cater to the trade, who in turn serve this high-end market, it might be said that it was a teaser of the size and scale it might grow into.
While the Whisky magazine is to be launched some time later this year, Arora says the Whisky Live Awards event is aimed at identifying “the finest bars in India”, though only accredited bars can apply, which requires a fee of $230 and must conform to its select criteria. There are currently 60 accredited bars in India, and a list of the world’s award-winning Whisky bars is published in a directory annually in the magazine.
| RAISE A TOAST TO THE WINNERS | |
| BEST WHISKY BAR | Golf Bar, ITC Maurya, New Delhi |
| HIGHLY COMMENDED | 1911, The Imperial, New Delhi |
| BEST WHISKY HOTEL | Taj Mahal Palace & Towers, Mumbai |
| HIGHLY COMMENDED | Taj President Mumbai and ITC Windsor Manor, Bangalore |
| BEST WHISKY RESTAURANT | Dum Pukhat, ITC Maurya, New Delhi |
| HIGHLY COMMENDED | Wasabi by Morimoto, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi |
| BEST WHISKY COMPANY | Pernod Ricard |
| BEST WHISKY INNOVATOR | Diageo |
| BEST WHISKY PERSONALITY | S S H Rehman |
As part of his portfolio, Arora — who conducts highly specialised and very expensive whisky sampling and appreciation courses that guests have to sometimes pay as much as Rs 25,000-30,000 per head to attend — is also launching the Angel’s Share malt club. “My bottom line is whisky,” says this former telecom professional who chose to turn into a whisky entrepreneur in 2002 when he launched, for the first time in an India divided into those who drank Johnnie Walker Black Label, and those who didn’t, his Rare Whisky Collection.
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“I represented, and sold whiskies that were available only by allocation, not by distribution,” he says, explaining that while the idea pleased many, converting them into sales took at least two years. “At a time when you bought your scotch for Rs 600-700,” he recalls, “I was selling my bottles at a starting price of Rs 40,000,” and on terms that were highly rigid as compared to other whisky distributors. The Taj Mahal Palace and Towers in Mumbai was the first to bite the bullet and ordered 12 bottles for 4,500 pounds, and ITC Welcomgroup was a quick second. “Even today,” he says, “I sell rare rather than expensive whiskies, especially identifying those from distilleries that have shut down.”
Some of these whiskies that India got to sample last night included Balbair, Mortlach, Tomomori 12, Ballantine’s, Glenlivet, Laphroaig, the White & McKay collection, Canadian Club and, launching its first toast in India, Ardmore. Finger foods from five whisky producing countries — Scotland, Ireland, Canada, USA and Japan (yes!) — were especially paired with the blends and malts. And for those who drank not so much well as too well, at least there is the consolation that their hangover, this morning, is likely to be a high-end one.