The first thing one notices about whisky is that it asks for patience. Not while drinking it, but long before that. Patience while the barley grows or while the spirit sleeps in oak. Patience while the years pass unseen inside dark warehouses in the Scottish Highlands, where rain taps against stone walls and winters surrender to summers with little fanfare.

On June 11, at Olterra, a Greek themed bar and micro brewery in Kolkata, a roomful of people gathered to taste that patience.

Hosted by Glenmorangie and Moët Hennessy India, the Cask and Conversation evening with David Blackmore, global brand ambassador for Glenmorangie and Ardbeg, was billed as a whisky tasting. Yet, as glasses were raised and conversations drifted from casks to coastlines, it became apparent that the evening was really about the slow and mysterious work of time.

David has spent years travelling the world talking about whisky, and he does so with the ease of a man introducing old friends. Listening to him, one begins to suspect that wood remembers. The evening opened with Glenmorangie 12 Year Old, a whisky that seemed perfectly suited to the warmth of a Kolkata evening. Honey appeared first, followed by vanilla and bright citrus notes that lingered gently.

“Very fruity floral spirit, this is the house style — coconut, vanilla, citrus, orange – delicious and recognisable Glenmorangie,” David told the room. Then, with the reassuring confidence of someone who has watched thousands of people discover whisky, he added, “If you like to add a dash of water to the whisky, that’s great, it will open the whisky up and blossom a little. I recommend trying it neat and then adding a dash of water.”

People did exactly that and noses dipped back into glasses. 

Then came the newly unveiled Lasanta 15 Year Old.

Lasanta arrived carrying the deep orange colours of dusk. After spending 12 years in American oak casks, the whisky rests for a further three years in Spanish sherry casks, a decision that transforms its character entirely.

“Lasanta means warmth and passion,” David explained. “These are the tasting notes for the whisky — warm, rich, orange marmalade, chocolate, hazelnut.”

Around the room, people returned repeatedly to their glasses as if trying to identify a familiar face in a crowd. The best whiskies often have that effect. They invite a second look.

The Glenmorangie 18 Year Old followed, carrying itself with the kind of confidence that comes from having nothing left to prove. “It sat in the dark in a barrel for 18 years just for this moment, for you to drink it,” David said. He described the whisky as an older, more complex sibling of the original expression. Around 30% of its character comes from sherry cask maturation, with the remainder aged in bourbon casks. “Just a little kiss of sherry, not too much,” he said. Elegant and layered, it is also his personal favourite. If stranded on a desert island with only one bottle, this, he admitted, would be the one he’d choose.

Then came the Ardbeg which came without any vintage specifications.

Every tasting has a turning point, and this was it and the first sip explained why. Smoke arrived immediately, though not the cosy smoke of a winter fireplace. This was something more elemental. Sea spray, wet earth, salt and fire. The whisky seemed to carry the weather of Islay within it.

“Ardbeg divides the room, it’s an acquired taste,” David acknowledged. Somewhere in the room, a guest declared, “This is an old friend.”

By the time the final glasses were emptied, the room had travelled hundreds of miles without leaving Kolkata. The journey had moved from the bright fruit and floral notes of the Highlands to the smoke-swept shores of Islay, from citrus and honey to peat and sea salt.