The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, Accentuating the taste buds!

The Glenlivet recently conducted a unique whisky tasting session at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace. The event 'Sonic Whisky Tasting' was hosted by Tristan Campbell, International Brand Ambassador of The Glenlivet. As the name suggests, this sensorial experience is music to your ears, and your taste buds. With specially curated soundtracks, The Glenlivet Sonic Whisky Tasting brought alive the magical synchronisation of tasting notes with music notes. Renowned whisky expert Dave Broom has joined forces with The Glenlivet and immersive audio experts, Art of Disappearing, to reinvent a unique Tasting Experience. They have crafted the music using original compositions and sounds, captured at our distillery to take the discerning consumers on a journey of discovery.

The guests in Hyderabad absorbed the taste of four original expressions of The Glenlivet - The Glenlivet 12 YO, The Glenlivet 15 YO, The Glenlivet 18 YO and the newly launched The Glenlivet Nàdurra Peated Whisky.

Excerpts from an interview

How was your experience in Hyderabad in particular India in general?

Indian food is very popular in Scotland, so I was thrilled to be able to try a proper Biryani from Hyderabad. The flavours were much more intense and you use a lot more spices which I have to say I enjoyed a lot! When travelling for work, one doesn't get a lot of time to explore, however, I managed to find time to visit a market where I was able to buy some spices and a beautiful hand-crafted scarf for my wife. This was my first visit to India, and I made a lot of new friends. I defiantly look forward to returning again and hopefully seeing a lot more of your lovely country, though it is safe to say I would not be keen to hire a car or drive, I think I'll stick to booking a taxi.

What was the idea behind having a tasting session with blindfolds?

By taking away one of our senses we could experience our remaining senses were heightened. This allowed us to pick up more delicate notes in the whisky and to concentrate more on the flavours.

Do experiences make the Single Malt taste better?

I wouldn't say they make the whisky taste better; the Single malt taste remains the same, however, experiences like the Sonic Whisky Tasting can help accentuate our senses and appreciate a Single Malt. As you would have found during the tasting, some of the flavours could be dialled up or down depending on what music or sounds our sense of hearing was picking up, this is what is called the cross-modality theory.

Why is aged Single Malt celebrated?

Single Malt scotch whisky develops with age, the longer it spends ageing in the cask, the more the flavours it will develop with cask notes such as sweet vanilla or dark chocolate becoming more intense. However, this all comes at a price, as we lose two per cent each year from the cask in evaporation (or as we call it, the angels share). Having said that, as the definitive Speyside Single Malt, we are always looking to offer our consumers rare and exclusive Single Malt whiskies. We do like to release some expressions with no age statement, as this allows the master distiller greater freedom to create new flavours by brining different ages together without restrictions or limitations of an age statement, this is what gives us the innovation we can experience in Founders Reserve or our Nàdurra range, both available in India now.

What gives Scotch whisky its distinctive flavour and bouquet?

There are many things which we can attribute to the flavour of a great Single Malt like The Glenlivet. The water source, the length of the fermentation, the shape and size of the stills, the length of maturation and the type of casks in which it is matured or finished.

Why do whiskies produced in different distilleries vary in flavour?

Take The Glenlivet for example, the stills are wide lantern-shaped and incredibly tall, meaning that only the lightest vapours, make it to the top of the still and into the lye pipe, this is what gives The Glenlivet it's incredible smoothness and wonderful fruity-floral character.

What part of your job do you love most?

I am incredibly fortunate to have a job where I can combine my passion for whisky with my passion for travel, and being able to travel to fantastic countries such as India and meet with so many great people and learn of their culture and how they enjoy their whisky has to be the best part of my job.