Making Hospitality History With William Grant & Sons Rare Whiskeys

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

The Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, Mumbai, notched up a first with the introduction of an unprecedented six of the 11 William Grant & Sons Single Malts whiskeys for its food and beverage outlets. The rare whiskey collection features internationally renowned, top of the line single malts such as Glenfiddich Vintage Reserve, Balvenie Vintage Reserve, Girvan 1964, Ladyburn 1973 and Glenfiddich 40 years old.

Taj Mumbai Hotels, vice-president and Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, Mumbai, general manager, Rajiv Kaul, stated, “We are absolutely delighted to have the rare whisky collection available in India. This collection comprises of eleven vintage labels of which we have ordered six, five of which will be arriving shortly. We will showcase these at the Chambers, Harbour Bar and the Zodiac Grill. At one of the William Grant Single Malt tastings in early September, the Ladyburn 1973 was showcased at a public tasting for the first time, anywhere in the world and I am proud that it happened to be at this property. Similarly, the Glenfiddich 1973 is being distributed for the first time outside the United Kingdom and it seems only fitting that it is being served at the Harbour Bar which holds the oldest bar licence — Licence number one.”

According to Kaul, this selection of Glenfiddich whiskeywas the widest for any hotel’s food and beverage division anywhere in Asia. The Glenfiddich 40 years has been rated as one of the world’s finest and the William Grant rare whiskys will be introduced at other Taj properties throughout the country shortly.

Jens Tholstrup is manager for rare whiskey and global brand ambassador for William Grant & Sons Limited and was on his second Mumbai visit recently, to conduct a series of whiskey tastings for the city’s discerning cognoscenti. Tho lstrup said that the very history and limited, remaining casks of rare whiskeymade his task of marketing the brands a very odd one.

“We do not need to reach too many because we do not have enough. We sell it to people who really appreciate it. Therefore it is essential to have a whiskey manager in every market. We have not done this altogether but in the Asian subcontinent we have successfully managed to do this in Thailand, Japan, Korea and India where we now have Sandeep Arora representing us. We can offer to bottle an entire cask for clients, wherein the bottles would have Glennfiddich labelling as well as customised labelling for the clients. We did this for the Concorde, Queen Mary II oceanliner and for the wedding of the crowned prince of Denmark. A single bottle costs 250 pounds so it is obviously contained in, and restricted to a miniscule niche,” added Tholstrup.

He also said that he was not surprised that despite the steep cost, demand for William Grant & Sons rare whiskys had already exceeded allocations. “There need to be some casks left for the generations to follow. The 10 and 15 year old whiskeys are the bread and butter for William Grant & Sons but some casks have to be put aside to retain the rarity. Others are now following suit.”

“The clientele is high end and mostly comprises strictly of connisseurs. Blended whiskey has lost ground to malt whiskeywhich comes down to a matter of simply drinking better. Malt whiskey is actually healthier than wine according to a recent study by Universities in Denmark and Scotland but that is not what we are after,” revealed Tholstrup.

Notable amongst the rare whiskeycompendium imported by the Taj Mumbai is Ladyburn 1973 which has only 2400 bottles left, after the 1975 closure of its distillery.