Single Status

In fact, seasoned single-malters have a habit of finding each other, says Anil Dharker, founder and president of Mumbai8217;s Single Malt Club. 8216;8216;At a few parties, I noticed that certain regulars would ask the waiter if there were any single malts, rather than the tried-and-tested Black Labels and Jack Daniels. That8217;s when I got together with Sanjeev Malhotra, former vice-president of the Oberoi group, and launched the club with a few others.8217;8217;

Six years later, entry into the club continues to be by invitation only. 8216;8216;We have 40 male members and 10 women,8217;8217; says Dharker. 8216;8216;This is not the sort of club where members8217; spouses get automatic entry. We are not MCPs, but women are welcome only if they are in the loop. For instance, adman Prahlad and Mitali Kakar are both members, but I can safely say Mitali knows more about single malts than Prahlad.8217;8217;

In Delhi though, single malts are still very much a male preserve, entry to which comes with attending the right schools, spending the right years abroad8212;acquiring, preferably, the right law or business degree8212;and belonging to the right clubs. That8217;s why when Jain was trying to bring together 8216;8216;a group of people who8217;d enjoy responsible consumption of fine spirits8217;8217;, he didn8217;t have to look too far.

8216;8216;There are just 20 of us so far, mostly senior executives, all in their mid-40s,8217;8217; says Jain of his six-month-old venture. 8216;8216;We meet once every six weeks8212;or we8217;re supposed to. We8217;ve been a bit lax about the meetings, but I8217;m just waiting for the current financial year to end. Then we8217;ll get back on track.8217;8217;

When they do meet, it8217;s all about hiring the appropriate setting8212;the top floor of the Italian restaurant Diva is a favourite8212;and spending the evening savouring a particular brand. In Mumbai, they branch out into residences: designer Nisha Jamvwal, one of the youngest members of the club besides being one of the few women to be invited to join, recently threw her first single malt party at home and is still awed by the experience.

8216;8216;It8217;s a like-minded fraternity,8217;8217; she says. 8216;8216;We are all like working men, because our identity is rooted in whisky, not the newest Prada bag in Manhattan8212;which is how it would be if there were too many women.8217;8217;

Conversation touches on business, travel and, of course, malts. One of Jain8217;s favourite anecdotes revolves around a visit to a Scottish distillery: 8216;8216;We were waiting in the visitors8217; centre to begin the tour when I spotted this large jug half-full of something that looked like, yuck, urine. I did a double take8212;and another, when I was told that was the water, which gave the malts of that distillery its smoky, peaty taste.8217;8217;

In India to launch the Glenmorangie brand of the LVMH luxury label, master distiller Bill Lumsden8212;in his muted green kilt of the Forbes clan8212;spent much of his time elaborating on those two words and demystifying the drink. 8216;8216;Malt whisky is the result of a six-stage process that hasn8217;t changed much over the years,8217;8217; he says in his thick brogue.

First, the barley8212;always barley for malts8212;is malted. That is, it is soaked in water and spread out to germinate for about eight days, during which time enzymes break down the barley starch into soluble sugars. Then the dried malted barley is ground into powder and mixed with water sourced from a loch or spring at 63.5deg;C, at which temperature you get the maximum conversion of starch to sugar. The liquid that8217;s drained off grows up to become a single malt.

Then follows fermentation, distillation and maturation for at least three years, by law. But though all single malts largely follow the same technical process, some have more snob value than others. If power lawyer Rajeev Shukla and actor-writer Anish Trivedi swear by a 30-year-old Macallan, one of Jain8217;s most precious memories is sipping a single malt from a numbered glass decanter at the home of college friend Griselda Gordon, of the William Grant family.

That said, Shukla says, there8217;s nothing quite like introducing a friend to 8216;8216;the finer things in life8217;8217;. 8216;8216;I8217;ve introduced a lot of young members of my law firm to single malts,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;After the student years, when one8217;s acquainted only with the cheaper spirits, a nice single malt is a revelation.8217;8217;

The drinking circle just expanded. But the club shows no sign of growing!