RULES OF TIPPLE
Whisky critic Jim Murray on his incredible journey
Soon after a four-day visit to India in May, Jim Murray tasted his 20,000th whisky in England. His observations, done using the famous Murray Method, will go into the 2020 edition of his highly acclaimed Whisky Bible, hailed as the world’s most comprehensive guide on malts, blends, bourbon and rye. His journey into the world of whiskies began in 1975 when, as a trainee reporter with a British newspaper, he visited the Talisker distillery in Scotland. That, for him, was “truly a life-changing experience”. For several years, he tasted every single whisky he could “find or afford” and is now the world’s leading authority on the beverage and a much sought-after blender. In India, he conducted four blind tasting sessions arranged for whisky aficionados by sommelier Nikhil Agarwal’s All Things Nice.
How did your whisky journey begin?
When I tasted a whisky from a barrel in Talisker, I felt an explosion going off inside my mouth; it was an incredibly spicy whisky. I started tasting more whiskies and making tasting notes although I had no intention of doing anything with it. I was just so fascinated. Each of these whiskies were like people with different personalities—some were charming, others were arrogant but they were all so different. That fascination stays with me till today. When I am not writing the Whisky Bible, I am a consultant blender and I train blenders around the world including here in India. I do trouble shooting for them.
What is the right way to drink whisky?
If you follow the Murray method, it says no water, no ice. But it’s so hot in India that I understand when people want to add water. So I say people should enjoy whisky whichever way they want but if you want to understand whisky, then I urge people to taste it without the addition of water or ice. Use your body temperature to make the whisky open up. When you put ice in whisky, you are closing it down. I ask people to open up the personality of the whisky.
Upcoming whisky producing regions
Indian whiskies are outstanding and there are more distilleries being built here. Australia is coming through really well. England knows how to make whisky and a lot of it is coming from there.
Is there a growing interest in whisky?
When I did a whisky tasting in Texas earlier this year, I used 12 whiskies from 12 different distilleries. Back in 1997, there was just one in Texas. Back in 1997, when I wrote a book which had every single whisky distillery on the planet, I visited all of them. But today, I cannot visit everyone because there are just so many distilleries around the world.
What makes a good whisky?
How you make it and especially how you mature it and how good the wood is. If you make a good spirit and put it into bad wood, you get a bad whisky. The barrel is important because that’s where the alchemy happens, that’s where it spends five, 10 or 12 years maturing in the wood. You distill in a week but it’s in the barrel for years and that’s where the biggest influence is.
Best Indian whisky
Amrut and Paul John are world class.
Most overrated whisky
Scotland is overrated as a whisky producer. There are great whiskies coming from them but there are so many poor whiskies as well because of poor management of the oak casks. A lot of distilleries are using an unreasonable percentage of poor quality wood.
Most underrated
If we are taking about whiskys which haven’t been discovered all over the world, they are bourbon and rye. A lot of people don’t even realise that bourbon is a whisky. I have seen shops in the UK which say whisky and bourbon. But bourbons have been rated as well in the Whisky Bible.
Promising whisky regions
England and Wales are making really good whisky and so is India producing good high quality whisky, some of which are in the top 10.
What is your view on Indian whisky?
Indian whisky excites me massively but it’s so hot here that you blink and the cask is gone. Here, I teach blenders to look ahead; that you need to see where it’s going in a few years. India is the most exciting at the moment because the potential is huge and the enthusiasm is wonderful.