What is the best way to enjoy a whisky? Any way you like it, of course. But The Dram Club from Mumbai decided to enjoy a whisky tasting along with dishes curated by Radhika Khandelwal. The poison of the night? Indri single malt whisky. The event titled Indri X Radhika Khandelwal X The Dram Club, hosted on July 30 at The Salt House on Shakespeare Sarani, saw a five-course meal paired with the single malt and enjoyed by malt and whisky lovers from the city.
As part of their ongoing tour, this was the second leg of The Dram Club’s stop, with the first one being in Mumbai and the last one in Hyderabad. Before the tour started The Dram Club had provided the notes of the Indri single malt to chef Radhika, based on which she curated the courses, keeping in mind her culinary thought process of local, sustainable and seasonal cooking.
My Kolkata got to be a part of the experience.
Meet the trio
Chef Radhika Khandelwal at The Salt House
Chef Radhika Khandelwal: She moved to Melbourne to take up a course in hair-dressing, and found her comfort in cooking. Her love grew as she returned to India and went on to open her restaurants Ivy & Bean in 2013, Fig & Maple in 2016 (both in Delhi), another branch of Fig & Maple (Goa) and her most recent baby Cajoo’s (Goa). Khandelwal champions sustainability and local produce. Her methods include farm-to-form, zero wastage, root-to-shoot usage and other sustainable processes.
Vinayak Singh, co-founder of The Dram Club
The Dram Club: The Dram Club was founded by Vinayak Singh, an investment manager and Swati Sharma, a marketing lead at a multinational corporation, in about 2019. The objective was to build a passionate community of whisky enthusiasts dedicated to exploring the world of spirits. “When Swati and myself went to Scotland for the first time we were pleasantly surprised by the warmth with which people offer you whisky in Scotland. There was so much science, craft and heritage spoken about the distilleries, which were not spoken about much in 2019. So we thought, why don’t we find people who love whisky in Mumbai and we saw that it was not very inclusive. So then we started our own thing,” he said about founding The Dram Club.
Prabhkaran Singh Hundal (left), general manager, sales and marketing, Piccadily Distilleries
Indri Trini Single Malt Indian Whisky: Made by Piccadily Distilleries, Indri Tini is a mix of three different wood casks, namely ex-Bourbon, ex-French wine and PX sherry which brings it a shade of amber, with notes of caramelised pineapple, vanilla, black tea hints and subtle nuttiness. Being a country-based malt, Indri is named after a quaint village in Haryana, placed near the catchment area of Yamuna and the foothills of The Himalayas. Indri or “Indriya” refers to the five senses of smell, taste, touch, sight and sound, in Sanskrit.
A feast of five courses
Course 1: Chef Khandelwal started the meal off with Bajri Tacos. The non-vegetarian option had koji-fermented kishmish chutney with jungle maas, and every bite was meaty yet refreshing with a squeeze of tangy lemon. Paired with the single malt, the dish enhanced one of the early notes of the whisky, raisins. The vegetarian option was served with smoked eggplant in place of jungle maas.
Course 2: The second course was a beautifully curated plate of Jamun and Mango Salad where the dressing was a jamun and jeera mix along with seasonal mangos. Although it is uncommon to pair salads with whisky, the spiced dressing brought out the nuttiness of the malt after mixing the salad up and distributing the taste evenly.
Course 3: After two delicious courses, chef Khandelwal gave the malt lovers a break with a DIY Old Fashioned. It was presented in a whisky glass with half tsp sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and two drops of Angostura bitters. The attendees had to muddle the condiments before adding 30ml of Indri with ice and stirring it. With an orange peel as a garnish, each of the attendees were also given a peanut brittle to pair with the drink. The entire experience brought out the hints of brown sugar and left a sweet taste in the mouth.
Course 4: After the Old Fashioned, it was time for the main course where the non-vegetarian option had Naga Smoked Pork Sabudana Risotto or Anglo-Indian Pepper Broth Sabudana Risotto. The former came with salted pine nuts, coriander chilli pesto, black lime, lentil and black pepper papad. While the notes of figs were enhanced in the whisky with the vibrant dish, the smokiness in the pork managed to balance the taste out. The vegetarian option in the fourth course consisted of Pumpkin Erissery Risotto which came with barley, salted pine nuts and coriander chilli pesto.
Course 5: To wrap up the meal on a sweet note, chef Khandelwal served up her Ghewar Apple Pie & Ice Cream. The dessert by itself tasted sweet, with little cinnamon and a perfect crunchy-to-soft ratio but after pouring a drizzle of Indri over it, really enhanced the cinnamon and left a lingering taste of the malt.
