At an interactive session on American malts, mixologist Shatbhi Basu guided Susmita Mukherjee on how to smell and select the drink
Hardly an alien spirit to the Indian connoisseur and college-goer alike, whiskey has several oddities that make it stand apart from all the other alcohols. Known and endorsed as a “manly” drink, whiskey is considered ideal for conversations that veer towards courage, politics and power. It was hence, a surprise to find a chubby and friendly female mixologist at the helm of affairs at a whiskey tasting session in the city recently.
Shatbhi Basu, who started out as a student of hotel management and progressed to become a teacher and now an international mixologist, said, “The thing with whiskey is that you can evolve with it over a period of time. Whiskey is different to people of different walks and in different stages of life. I remember as a college-goer, I used to drink a lot of whiskey. As I grew older, I started to really taste my drinks. The more I savoured the taste, the lesser I would drink.”
One of the biggest challenges for Basu, as a mixologist, was to create cocktails from whiskey. “The trick is to be able to work around the whiskey that you have. I need to know the person that I am mixing for, otherwise, I will not be able to do justice to the drink,” she said. “I never like to mix more than two ingredients when making a cocktail. I do not like too many things happening inside my mouth at the same time that overshadow the flavour of whiskey. I want to retain the whiskey and be able to add just a little bit of something more to it.” The key, she says, is in using just a little bit. “The lesser you mix, the better your drink will be. The idea is to maintain the nuances of the drink and balance.”
There are, however, those that find whiskey too difficult for their palate. “At first, I didn’t like whiskey at all but as I progressed in my studies and then to teaching, I realised that I needed to know what I was talking about. The only guidance you should fall back on when you taste whiskey is your own mouth. Your mouth will tell you what works for you and what doesn’t.”
Talking about the intricacies of making American whiskey, she recounted, “Four most important factors for great American whiskey are: grains — corn, rye, barley, pure water (America has a vast resource of limestone-filtered iron-free water), barrels (from the many oak forests) and an excellent climate (with blazing summers and freezing winters for the whiskey to mature well.” These four factors put together help in producing quality whiskey in four years. While many would scoff at the idea, Basu added, “The combination of excellent factors in America make a four-year-old whiskey from America at par in taste with a ten-year-old whiskey from Scotland or other parts of Europe.” It is the extreme climate that acts as the main factor for the same. “My friend and well-known distiller Jeff Arnett says that the extreme summers of America act in the same way as boiling water acts on tea. It helps the alcohol to push through the oak and pull in the flavour.” Talking about the best whiskeys, she said, “The best American whiskeys are between five to nine years of age. As a rule of the government, the whiskeys have to age for at least two years but the the breweries are encouraged to bottle the whiskey after four years. The rule requires whiskeys that are less than four years old to have their age mentioned on the label while those that are more than four years may choose not to print the age.”
The beauty of the drink lies in the fact that it tastes different to each. Basu said, “When you nose a whiskey, you take your own way. The smell acts as a trigger for long-lost memories and triggers nostalgia. A lot of people smell candy, vanilla and even peppermint in the alcohol. Each one has their own special memory or taste that the whiskey brings to the front through the release of its oxygen content.” Speaking specifically of Jack Daniel, one of the best-loved whiskey in India. She said, “It is the only brand with a distinct smell of banana to it.”
At a personal level, Basu swears by Gentleman Jack. “It goes well with my grey hair,” she laughed. “I have reached a point where I like to sit in my comfortable chair with this whiskey in my hand. It is the perfect companion for my Christmas celebrations and cakes,” she concluded.