Tulleeho at Wine For Asia, Singapore

Wine for Asia: Day 1



Tulleeho is flying a lonely flag here, as the sole Indian stall and visitors to our stall are disappointed to find no Indian Wine, for quite a few have heard of Sula and Grover's. There are equally as many people who are quite amazed to hear of wine from India. Bollywood however is known by everybody and we're requested by some visitors to bring in some Bollywood stars. "Which ones?", I ask and he declines to reply, although our taxi driver informs us that Shahrukh Khan was in Suntec City yesterday.



We're visited through the day by a flurry of visitors, everyone from Gavin, the Global Sales Director of a Wine Investment fund, who's interested in getting high net worth individuals in India to invest in a wine portfolio, as they do in art and other "alternate investments" as the term goes to Chris from the intriguingly named Pengwine. Pengwine's premise is simple, they have a range of wines from Chile, each named after different varieties of penguins. People can't be bothered he said to remember names of varietals or clever wine names, but Penguins on the other hand are different, so people will remember that they preferred the King over the Chin Strap!

Chris is setting a Pan Asia hub for wine logistics in Singapore and is interested in getting Chilean producers over to India, hopefully using Tulleeho as a conduit.

Suntec, has 350 exhibitors spread across 3 halls and there's a wide variety of stalls at hand. Our neighbours are the Goygol Wine plant from Azerbaijan, for Baku has more than oil to offer the world. Goygol makes a range of wines, still and sparkling as well as Xan vodka, which uses wheat spirit as a base. Their sparkling wine called Kolleksion is made using the Methode Champenoise, and is a blend of the "Pkatitselli" and "Bayanshire" varieties of wine. They also have Araz, a white table wine, Chinar, a rose and Madrasa, a red wine.

I take the opportunity of a break to head across to an intriguingly named stall named Corporate Grape. Corporate Grape run by Erica Babbage promotes boutique wines from Australia's Barossa Valley. I tasted 2 of the wines on offer, the 2008 Yanyarrie Riesling and the 2006 Catharina Shiraz, both from Hahn Barossa Vineyards. Indian audiences can also hope to taste them both when Erica is down for IFOWS in Delhi in January. She drops in to our stall later in the day to grab a wine bag, as we've got some nicely designed wine gift bags as gifts. She promises a bottle of wine in exchange!

Bump into Yatin Patil from Reveilo and we discuss his upcoming tasting room at his vineyards in Nashik and our plans to get wine tourists from Mumbai down there. Subhash Arora from the Delhi Wine Club is also around as is Pramod Krishna, the Secretary General of CIABC. There's also Sandeep Dass, a former petroleum trader, who when posted in Paris with Shell, had a boss who taught him more about wine than petroleum, and Sandeep switched over to investing on behalf of individuals in wine. Sure seems like a growing business.

Another break leads me to the Portugal pavilion where I try Wines from Pocas Junior, from the Douro region. I try the white, the red and the Reserve, and they're all very good and I top this up with a few sips of the Tawny Port, which is excellent.




Wine for Asia: Days 2 and 3

MP Asia, the Organisers of Wine for Asia have put together a lunch for some of their partners to thank them and discuss their plans for 2009. I gather that the current ogranisers jumped into the picture for the 2008 show fairly late and hope now to have enough lead time to make a grand success of the 2009 show which is expected to be far bigger.

At lunch I exchange notes with Tommy Lam, the President of the Sommelier Association of Singapore. Apparently it's the turn of an Asian this year to head up the World Sommelier Association, so things look bright this year for bringing Sommeliers in Asia closer together. Christian Dworam who looks after Wines from Austria is also there. Christian says that India is still some way away on Austria's radar, but he's keen on hosting Indian journalists for a Austrian wine summit to be held in 2009. Applications invited here! Also at my table are a trio of photo clicking Argentinians, a mix of wine makers and representatives from economic Ministries.

Luigi Bazzani, the owner and wine maker from Warrenmang Vineyards in Victoria is across from us, notices that I'm looking thirsty and heads over with a glass of his Cabernet Shiraz. He's keen on entering India also. He runs two restaurants in addition to his vineyards and thus claims more intimate knowledge about wine and food pairing. Well, I am grateful for his neighbourly gesture and reciprocate with a few of our Wine Bags.

One of the more interesting stalls at WFA is the enticingly named Marilyn wines from Napa Valley - www.marilynwines.com. Their Marilyn Merlot is a homage to Marilyn Monroe as the vintage is released each year on June 1st, her birthday. Hate Merlot, but love Marilyn? They also have a Marilyn Cabernet! Added attraction, the labels have photos of MM. Now that's a wine label I'd like to keep!

The Magma Bistro stall is a big hit, as they have ovens turning out fresh pizza - accompanied with a glass of German white, this is the must visit stall of the Expo, as is the Amici stall, where through the day select canapes are served up with a glass of wine.

Nancy Gontier is from the Vaucluse, the region Peter Mayles made famous in a Year in Provence and it's sequels. I met her at a networking exhibition for French wine producers being held at Raffles Hotel. Sopexa Singapore had organised the same and Gregoire, the Project Manager had extended an invite to me. Nancy hates Paris and she can't wait as she says to get back to her vineyard in the Vaucluse. As she explains a wine maker needs to be close to the soil and there's no place better than the Vaucluse and her Domaine de la Camarette vineyards! There are a host of other producers including several from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, who are also represented by Sud de France, their marketing arm. You have to admire the French. Not only do they have Sopexa as an apex governmental organisation to relentlessly promote French agricultural produce, but individual wine regions also have their own marketing arms!

Heard of Wines from Brazil? I hadn't, and had the pleasure of interacting with Gopi, Trevor and Andy from Nathan and Peridot, who represent a host of Brazilian wine producers and the State marketing arm, Wines from Brazil in South East Asia. As Gopi explained, they're a bit reluctant to enter India at the moment. He felt that Indians were looking for cheap wine and that Brazil was consciously taking the high road as far as wine quality goes. I did my best to reassure him in re the limited sensitivity in an Indian 5 star hotel to the right side of the menu! Hopefully, we'll see some of their excellent wines in India soon. The Sauvignon Blanc I tasted was excellent.

Exhibitors are allowed to sell wine after 12 pm on Day 3 and signs quickly go up across the fair - most wines ranging between 30 and 50 Singapore dollars and representing a great bargain especially as import duties in Singapore are high leading to high prices for wine in retail. Day 3 also allows consumers to visit, after paying an entry fee and at the end of the day, you witness swarms of people heading back with cases of wine. For wine lovers in Singapore, the fair must be a high point for the ability to taste some excellent wines from around the world, interact with the producers and purchase some fine wine.



Looking forward for a bigger and better WFA 2009 including some more Indian participation!

Tulleeho!

Vikram Achanta

Interview with Miguel Torres

We’re talking today to Miguel Torres, the patriarch of the Torres family of Spain, and one of the legendary men and wine makers of the world’s Wine industry. Torres is an independent 200 Million-Euro company and is one of the strongest global labels in the world of wine. The word, Torres means tower in English and that’s what was chosen as the family symbol with the wines representing security. Read on for Miguel’s views on friendship, wine, marriage and family, in no particular order!

Q. Part of your mission statement is the line that “you want to be a friend of the customer”. Can you please elaborate.

A. This is something my father used to say. When we walk into a restaurant or supermarket to sell our wines, we want to make a friend. We are there to supply a service. We are there to prove that we can help whenever it is possible. If a customer wants wine delivered on Sunday we will do that. If we can help in spreading the wine culture or support wine education events, then we will be pleased to do that. Being a family business it helps us establish these links. And when these people come to Spain and they visit our vineyards they realize we are friends and little by little this relationship builds up.

Q. As you mentioned, you are currently a family run company, do you ever foresee a situation where you will no longer be a family run business. Do you see any consolidation happening in the wine industry with the multinationals acquiring the independent producers?

A. No. We will always be a family run company. I definitely hope so. No, No, we have to stay independent. Of course there are multinationals in wine, but wine is not such an exciting business for them, because the profits are not so high and you have to look long term. You have to make investments for the long term, 10 years, 15 years. It’s not something, which can attract companies that are in the stock market. They have to look for the short term.

Q. Could you please tell us something about your presence in India? How would you compare it with other markets in Asia?

A. We began selling wine in India in the mid 90’s and we set up a joint venture company called Torres, Thapar and Grant (TT&G) in 2001 with the Gautam Thapar group and the Grant family from Scotland (makers of Glenfarclas Single Malt). Last year we sold about 5000 cases in India with a value of maybe around 200,000 Euro (around 2.5 % of the estimated 200,000 cases of foreign wine sold in India). We sell around 30,000 cases in China and around 100,000 cases in Japan. India is small, but growing and is a market for the future. We plan to invest around 1 million Euro in growing our presence in India. There are 3 giants for the future, China, India and Brazil.

Q. What does Torres mean by Single Vineyards? Is the yield less here than your normal vineyards. Do you practice any organic wine making?

A. Single Vineyards is the perfect combination of the vine (what we call the vinifer), the soil and the climate. The yield here is less than half the normal vineyard’s yield. We practice some organic wine making in Chile and in the future in Spain. We believe in sustainable cultivation and the use of natural ingredients.

Q. Have you tasted Indian wine? Your opinion. Like you’ve expanded your company by setting up vineyards in Chile and California, might you expand into India at some point in time?

A. I’ve tasted wine from India. From Bangalore and from Nashik. They are good wines and they are getting better. They will get even better if the import duties are reduced. India has tremendous protectionism. Here you have the highest duties for wine in the world. And this is not to the benefit of the local production. It may be protectionism for today, but in the long term, it is not helping the quality.

I haven’t visited the vineyards in India, so I can’t comment on the climatic and soil conditions. We may enter India at some point. Not now, but may be in the near future. It’s not something we are considering now.

Q. You’ve visited many countries across Asia and you’ve seen the growth in wine consumption. What do you think are the factors, which will help the same in India?

A. Well I think, firstly wine has to be made available; the price has to be reasonable. And today, the price of wine in India is far too high. You have the highest duties in the world. You pay 8 Euros in India for a bottle of Grover’s. That’s far too much and it’s because of the heavy duties. It was the same in China in the 90’s. We had high import duties of around 75% and today the duty rate is 15%. And today Chinese wine is booming. It’s getting better and better. Because they are competing. I think Indian wine should not be afraid of competition.

Q. There’s a lot of talk nowadays about new ways to close wine bottles like the screw cap. What methods do you use?

A. We use cork. In some export markets, we use the screw cap. For white wines, mostly. It depends on the culture of the market. In Spain or in France, people don’t like the screw cap. There are strong traditions, so we don’t dare to touch!

I think the screw cap is ok for white wines, for rose wines, which are to be drunk in one year or so, but I don’t think we’ll use the screw cap for red wines, which we are planning to age for 5 years or more like the Mas La Plana (Torres Cabernet Sauvignon wines, and winner of the Paris Wine Olympiad, 1979). I think there is a limit.

Q. What would your choice of one wine be, if you were on a desert island?

A. (Laughs).. Well I’ll give you an answer. My father used to say, “In life, you must have only one woman, but you can have many, many wines”, so this is my answer, and my father also used to add, “And it’s going to cost you much less”.

Strange Brew - Beer tasting in Mumbai

There's a warning next to the lift, stating that the Sargent House is not responsible if bad things happen to those who travel in the lift, owing to its age. That's not a particularly heartening note on which to start drinking beer, and it made me wonder whether I might plummet to my doom or worse still, if the lift was a gateway to a secret hell, and that I'd get trapped in a Japanese horror flick. I scattered these thoughts aside as I entered Alex's flat, or rather, technically Dom Moraes' flat, which is still occupied by Leela Naidu and which has been let out to Alex and his girlfriend. Leela's proximity ensures that we didn't get to hear the story about Dom and the cigarettes, which one of our motley crew of beer tasters was about to tell us.

We began with the Hoegaarden (who-gar-den), a iconic Belgian White beer,made from a mixture of unmalted wheat and malted barley (Beer Demystified - for those wishing to dive deeper into beer).



Hoegaarden is served in a hexagonal glass, with rumour having it that it's shaped thus as it requires a spanner to prise the glass away from the addict's hand. The mystery ingredient in the beer is dried orange peel and coriander, which gives it a distinct citrusy note and a taste like nothing else. Hoegaarden is what is known as a bottle conditioned beer and undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Alex was quite confident that it would go very well with Indian food, I don't mind trying that, nor munching on a slice of orange while drinking my beer.

Alex's living room is a strange mixture of poetry and beer. The life of WH Auden mingles with Micro Brewing Technology. 6 packs of half opened never heard of beers are scattered around the room. There's even one called Flying Dog Ale, with a picture of a rabid dog on the carton and a Hunter S. Thompson quote -"good people drink good beer". I'm sure.

Alex and his girlfriend Molly are probably poster children for the great India story which we all hear, but which also seems to have attracted a lot of talented expats to our shores also. Molly is an American of German-Irish descent, who now teaches English essay writing skills to students in Japan from Navi Mumbai. She was back early, and had escaped peak traffic, and was rewarding herself with a pint of Hoegaarden, her favourite beer, which she was now delighted to see, was available in India. Alex is a little stranger. He's a Political Science graduate from UCLA and a Fulbright Scholar with a research scholarship devoted to developing markets in India. Alex followed up his interest in beer with a spate of professional qualifications in the field including a diploma in brewing technology.

We moved on to another Belgian beer, the Leffe Blond, a murky or dumb blonde! beer as Alex put it. Leffe has also been just introduced in India, and is a perfectly quaffable beer, with a distinct taste and a 800 year old heritage from the time it was first brewed in the Leffe Abbey.
Its distinct taste, combined with a 6.6% ABV will probably help win it a lot of friends in India.


We moved on from the Leffe to a beer inspired by a cycle trip through Belgium by Jeff Lebesch. He came back with some interesting recipes, which he worked on with a home brewing kit which he then grew into New Belgium Brewing Company, making some fine Belgian style ales, including what we were just drinking, the Fat Tire Amber Ale. Fortunately, Fat Tire, tasted better than it smelt (manure!), with the smell leading us to believe that Jeff had missed some crucial parts of the recipe! Somehow I don't think Fat Tire's going to go down well in India.



We had as company @ the table, Brent from the American Consulate, who introduced the next beer we were about to drink, as it was from his home state of Oregon, and named after the famous Rogue River, which flows through it (remember the movie, the River Wild?, it was filmed on the Rogue).


The first of the Rogue River Ales we turned our lips to was the Hazelnut Brown nectar, which as one of our crew pointed out tasted like bread crumbs which had been left in the bottom of the toaster for too long.

The next beer we drank was even more distinctive, a Porter, (a style of stout beer, named after porters in London who were the biggest consumers!) from Meantime Brewing Company in America.


What was amazing about all the beers which we had drunk (and were about to), was the vivid aromas and tastes, which conjured up a world millions of miles away from the everyday lagers we drink in India. The Meantime Porter smelt more like Coffee than most Starbucks stores I've entered, and backed it up with a coffee taste also! To add to its curiousity value was the wire cork enclosure for the bottle. The Meantime was quickly followed with a Chocolate Stout from Rogue Ales, which we accompanied with a couple of cubes of nutty chocolate, and it's a great pairing, if you ever get your hands on the Chocolate Stout, which was another winner for me, with a chocolatey aroma and taste.



We ended the tasting, with what was one of my favourites of the evening (along with the Porter and the Chocolate Stout and the Leffe and...), the Framboise, a raspberry flavoured beer, which tasted like alcoholic raspberry cream soda, and which had a genuine to god, champagne cork (and a champagne bottle). Molly served up generous slices of chocolate cake from Colaba;s Theobroma bakery, and we munched and quaffed, as we toasted the end of what had been a memorable evening. Now all that was left, was the cigarette story, but perhaps we'll leave that for another day (and beer!)

Tulleeho!

Vikram Achanta

Drinking in Darjeeling

Yangdup's wedding drew us to Gayabari, just south of Kurseong, and a 2 hour hop from Darjeeling. Having never been, we had to tick Darjeeling off our list, and especially the "drinking in" part. Darjeeling on arrival seemed no different than any other Indian hill station of its ilk, or perhaps since the only part we saw was the crowded mall area, our perception may have been biased. Once you've taken a photo in front of the world's highest railway station (Ghoom @ 8000 feet) and taken in the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, it's museum and the Wildlife Sanctuary, there's not much more which appears doable in Darjeeling, which is no doubt why people drink so much rum in the hills. When in Rome!

There appear to be quite a few bar options in Darjeeling, from the seedy to the tourist friendly. Having whetted our initial appetite with a steaming bowl of Thukpa, and having dutifully shopped for curios for kith and kin (the Newar family doll set, purchased for daughter, now languishes in a drawer), we ploughed on to Glenary's, one of the landmarks of the Mall road, and a veritable tourist ghetto. It's a shame that you can't have a drink on the ground floor, with its amazing now you see them, now you don't view of the Himalayas. The live music @ Buzz, which is the pub downstairs @ Glenary was only slated to come on at 7 pm, and we had to be back at Yangdup's to witness some more riotous singing and dancing, so we sated ourselves with a slice of apple pie and a Coffee.

A Guinness Stretch Rugby figure and assorted Guinness and Murphy's collateral were the last things we expected to find in Joey's Pub as was the bottle of Munro's King of King's Scotch whisky, which now doubled up as an ugly lamp shade.





If you want the local flavour in Darj, then drop in to Joey's, sit at the bar, and chat with Sans, the manager, who stands in for Puran Gongba, the owner, affectionately known as Joey by guests. Old Monk and Coke hit the spot, although the plate of sausages going to a table looked good, we abstained with thoughts of impending dinner on our mind. Joey's is situated right opposite the Big Bazaar and from the outside gives the appearance of Ye Olde English Tea Tavern. Visit, you won't be disappointed.



Tulleeho!

Vikram Achanta

The Tulleeho Picnic

It all started with a case of Corona and Heineken each...

The question was how to consume it (well not too difficult I say!) in a pleasurable way, and what better way than a picnic with an al fresco setting! And thus some industrious employees of our company came to the conclusion of a “tulleeho day out”….

And the buzz was on : for 2 days, we had about 7 round table conferences….inside office and in our park-view smoking gallery!

The arrangement of venue was put on me, the menu (food and beverages) was taken care of by Aneesh ( pssst..one of the above-mentioned industrious employees) . We made the list of people and confirmed their availability in less than 5 minutes (strange thing…as the same people buy time for any confirmation regarding serious office work…which is rarely)

Gopiji (Our office chef/ events supervisor/ garnish coordinator/SPG (smiling person greeter in TGIF terminology!)) was on hand so the food equipment was not a worry (Although me and Aneesh had the brilliant idea of cooking ourselves, which was shelved without any further discussions!)

Now, the other part was entertainment…and therefore our programmer/Mr FTP –Shouvik, and our Accountant /travel agent/ ATM machine Rakesh, went off to Munirka, to purchase Cricket accessories.....and yes, music “THE” biggest concern of Aneesh, was finally resolved by Mr Yangdup Lama, ( celeb bartender, he likes to call himself), who promised us his precious Sony will accompany us….and the CDs and tapes were of course, the only creative contribution our CEO was specified…well he was out of station, when everything was schemed. In fact he was the last one to know about the ‘trip”!

Day of the trip:

We left office at quarter past 10….and reached our destination at 12.30! Ask CEO why and he will give you some gyan on the importance of pre planning, xl sheets, and maps!

Well, I did not take directions in advance…..and therefore we ended up spending an extra thirsty hour on the road…ask our London based greek flair bartender Illi, and he will give you a graphic description of the trucks on the road, and how they were all out to kill him! In fact he compared it to Lebanon, where the civil war is on! (which I felt was a bit unfair, since civilians are well protected there!)

We pitched, set up the bar, and started our game in 10 minutes flat! I was amazed at the tempo at which everyone got to their own business. Broadly categorized as:

1-The workers (Ashutosh, Gopiji, Nischal, Lama, Sanjay)

2-The players (Rakesh, Shouvik, Suprio, Pranav)

3-The Drinkers ( Vikram , a.k.a. CEO, Minakshi)

4-The Flair bartender (Illias)

After numerous games of cricket, badminton, and TT ( on a wooden table) and countless Coronas, Heinekens, Fosters, Spanish rose wine, ( lots of it was saved because Aneesh joined us late!), momos ( courtesy celeb bartender) it was time for Lunch…and yes by consensus it was by far the best Biryani we all had ever had! Long live Gopiji.

Post which we also added some sparkle to the occasion with a Formula One style opening of the sparkling wine..and another game of cricket…alas, which my team lost after winning the toss , batting first and frauding 3 runs! (Our team secret). In fact we ( Suprio gave some dada tips) tutored Illi on cricket quite successfully, though I bet he still can’t tell where to throw the ball when he has fielded it!


Post a photo session, chai and some interesting dance with the dogs ( Shouvik) we were ready to head back…though am sure, most of us were wondering how the day passed so soon! Infact quoting Illi, “it was the best day in his life”! ( naah…best day in India, so far…considering he has only been here 3 days..)

To sum it up, it did turn out to be a memorable day for all of us, not because most of the ‘players’ have body ache, but because it was a well spent day and very close to our brand essence…. That is, Tulleeho!

Minakshi

Drinking in Colombo

We had a thirsty flight over from Chennai as IC has stopped serving alcoholic beverages! My colleague who came over from Bangalore on Jet had a better time as he at least got a beer. We landed in Colombo and made amends for Indian Airlines' lapses by tarrying @ Orient Lanka's brilliant duty free, where Lama picked up a bottle of Woodford Reserve and we picked up some cans of Boddingtons Bitters and Tetley's Bitter (official beer of the English rugby team) for later consumption in our hotel.

Reach hotel, freshen up and off to Odel, where the Elephant House Dawg station enticed us into buying a hot dog and a can of Elephant House Ginger Beer. Odel's prices were daunting to begin with, but a short stint @ Labels, the Wine Bar, soon settled that. Dhanushkar the friendly bartender @ Labels served us a couple of the recently launched Duvel beer (a top fermented ale from Belgium @ 8.5% alcohol and served in an eye catching Duvel glass). Without doubt, one of the best beers I’ve tasted. Duvel is the Flemish word for devil.

Lama & Vikram try saying Saudia Puram

Dhanushkar, also told us that the Sinhalese word for Cheers (or rather Tulleeho!) was Saudia Puram - hope that means what he says it means or we're in for a rude shock in front of 35 bartenders the next day when we say Saudia Puram - for all we know we may be insulting their forefathers! For that’s what we’re here for, no, not to insult their forefathers, but to train 200 bartenders in 5 workshops in Colombo and Negombo on behalf of Smirnoff and Orient Lanka.

Anyway I don’t know what Paco Underhill would say, but a glass of Duvel is definitely an inhibition buster when it comes to shopping and I would recommend that all shopping malls have a bar in the middle to lower inhibitions. Now that's what they mean by best practices. Forgive the break in theme, but I have to remark upon the pretentiousness of one of the product displays in Odel, which had the following sign - "This display unit was produced using wood from a fallen tree"

On from Odel to a drive through Colombo on a Sunday evening. The streets were comparatively deserted and boring, with roadblocks sprouting every 500 metres. There’s something unnerving about the site of seeing sandbags with machine gun sprouting soldiers behind them. Our nerves being what they were, we had no choice, but to duck into the Cricket Club, which is the go to place for Cricket teams when they're touring Lanka - filled with memorabilia and a menu with Cricketers names - we ordered some of the local Lions lager and Lions Stout - which was really excellent! I think one of the hallmarks of a civilized country is their ability to make good beer as also ensure that a wide variety of beer is imported. On those counts Sri Lanka, is easily in my list of top 5 countries. Alpha Orient the operator of the duty free has tied up with India’s The Future group (the company formerly known as Pantaloon) and has got the contract for duty free @ Delhi airport. Cross those fingers!

What really caught the eye @ the Cricket Club, however were the brilliant Carlsberg ash trays, made out of stainless steel and with the Carlsberg C, with the word "Probably" under it. Subtle. I was inspired to flick the ashtray as I remembered one of my office colleagues’ tales of the ashtrays she had flicked. Minakshi and her friends were such a menace to bars, that whenever they entered a bar, the ashtrays were all promptly withdrawn. Some countries have gone as far to ban smoking in pubs! Anyway I egged on my colleague, Biswanath, who sneaked the ashtray into a plastic bag and we zoomed off.


The gleaming ashtray that now graces the Tulleeho smoking gallery

Our next stop was a popular tourist haunt called, Beach wadiya, apparently a favourite haunt of Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar. You have to cross a set of decrepit railway tracks to reach Beach wadiya, which as the name suggests is on the beach. The waiter promptly landed up and plonked a plate on our table, which had a fish, a crab and a couple of prawns as garnish. We were perplexed as we were wondering whether we had to cook the fish ourselves or eat it raw washed down with arrack. The waiter set our doubts to rest and told us that we could have the fish, anyway we liked it, with greens and rice on the side. We promptly ordered one of each and a bottle of 3 Coins lager (again a local beer) on the side. The food was excellent. We had a hard time convincing Biswanath not to whack the large Heineken clock though, which was above a door, which had a sign on it stating that the Tsunami had reached this level in 2004!

Everybody here apparently drinks "gul", which is the local arrack. There's no pretense here and the bartenders we quizzed the next morning on their favourite drink, prior to the commencement of the training, don't pretend to have been weaned on Single Malts or wine, but uniformly admitted to the fact that arrack was it.

We shared a couple of cans of Tetley in the room before heading off for dinner @ Spice Island @ the Hilton, where we were guests of Chris Doyle, the Business development manager @ the Hilton and his wife Sharmila. We decided to start with a Watermelon martini and a Margarita, which were both disappointing and were glad that we had tanked up with Tetley. We then moved on to the locally brewed Carslberg, which hit the spot with some fiery and excellent Thai food. Carlsberg is apparently setting up shop here in India and we certainly hope that along with the beer they also bring the ashtrays!

We were invited to a Glenfiddich and Balvenie tasting @ the Hilton, the next day, which we had to regrettably decline, as we had shopping to do. There would be blood spilt @ home if we returned without the amazing selection of clothes Sri Lanka has to offer at prices which seemed ridiculous to us. There are not that many countries where the Indian rupee weighs supreme!

26th November is Prabhakaran's birthday so there’s a high alert that week in Colombo, and on the short walk over from our hotel to the Hilton, Biswanath, was snapping away pictures, which caught the eye of the patrol on the traffic island who questioned him for 10 minutes and then made him erase all the pictures in his camera.

Sri Lanka bartenders are a happy lot and we had an enjoyable 3 days of training with them. People on the whole here are far more chilled out, with no apparent agendas or attitude. If you can strike the right note, it’s easy here to build a relationship and do business. Our next stop after a hard day’s training (and shopping) was Inn on the Green, adjacent to the famous Galle Face Hotel and opposite the German restaurant. A cheery pub, with rows of beams running through the top all plastered with currency notes from different countries.


We wondered whether these were tips gathered from guests, which had been stuck up there. We had to restrain Biswanath again, as we knew that the consequences of whacking a bartender’s tips would be grimmer! Anyway, we succumbed to the temptation of a tall can of Guinness and followed it up with a pint of 3 coins lager.

Lama, Biswanath and Chanty hard at work

The chap on the bar stool next to ours was polishing off what looked like a whisky and soda with a plate of French fries. Hearing a familiar language he quizzed on what brought us to India. Neeraj (I shall call him that as I’ve forgotten his name), was an exporter of fabric and this was his 2^nd visit. To bring some life to his profession, he also boasted that he also exported bra cups. Weaned as we were on drinking phrases, this threw a completely new spin on the once innocent drinking phrase, “in the cups”.

We drank in moderation as we were pub hopping and were slated to visit Cheers, the popular pub @ the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Pradeep, the vastly experienced bartender there, challenged us to name the cocktail. Impressed, we ordered a Manhattan and a Black Russian, which were both excellent, although it does take a really bad bartender to screw up a Black Russian. The Manhattan though was very good, and made with Canadian Club, as the original recipe demands.

We were going to top off the evening with a traditional Sri Lankan meal @ Raja Bhojun, and the buffet there demanded that we each finally ordered, the local brew, Arrack, which we did with a bottle of soda, and very nice it was. Disgusted as we often are with the inability of the Indian manufacturers of local spirits to refine their produce, arrack came as a welcome surprise, and I had no hesitation in spending a part of my duty free allowance on a bottle of Double Distilled arrack, which shall be opened @ the next Tulleeho party. Also in my shopping basket, were loads of beer, Stella, 3 Coins “all malt lager” and Boddingtons draught bitter!

Tulleeho! or as they say here, Saudiapuram!

Tulleeho Traveller Vol. 1 - Gangtok

Day 1

It's a half an hour chopper ride from Bagdogra to Gangtok, and accompanying us on the flight was the MD of the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation, L B Chettri who was most dashing in his YSL jacket and his Ray Ban's. He told us that Chaang (the local Sikkimese spirit), was easily available and we should contact the travel desk at our hotel for assistance. For those of you who are Bollywood fans it may come as a surprise to know that Danny Denzongpa, the former bad boy of Hindi movies runs Yuksom Breweries at Malli, which produces two variants of Dansberg beer, one the normal one and the other a premium lager, distinguished by it's blue label ("made from Sikkim spring water, finest malt and imported hops") as well as Hit and the uniquely named He Man 900, both strong beers. It's a good choice of beer and goes down well accompanied by platefuls of steamed momos.

For such a small state, Sikkim has an amazing variety of alcohol and the Teesta White rum, looks like it's giving Bacardi a run for it's money. It was out of stock at the Hotel Tibet, so I ordered the Sikkimese special Whisky, which went down rather well with soda, and which was accompanied by Phing Sha rice (steamed rice, topped wiith 3 kaju's, with a steaming broth of chicken, shitake mushroms and potatos) on the side. Rather bland and I'm going to try the Special Gyathuk next time (noodle soup), but definitely not the Chetse Detse (Boiled noodle topped with Tofu). My brother was downing bottles of Hit ('aapko fit kar denga said the waiter!"). There was a cop at the table next to us, with 2 girls, more interested in their Razr's than the cop, or maybe that part was yet to come. Unfortunately there was no Cherry Brandy at the Hotel Tibet. Patience. 4 days to go and Cafe Tibet on main MG Marg with a fetching advertisement of good food, good beer and good music seemed like a "go-to" place.

Day 2

Out for a stroll the next morning, it was refreshing to see liquor shops open at 7 am (7 am - 8 pm). I resisted the temptation and picked up a packet of doughnuts from a surprised shopkeeper who was shocked to find out that I knew what they were and that people ate doughnuts in Delhi.

Raj, the manager @ The Oriental where we are staying was quizzed on Chaang. He was off to his native Kalimpong the next day and promised to get us back some home brewed Chaang, as he said the local one didn't pass muster. His sister made Chaang at home every day for his father to drink. If your'e a drinking man, you can drink 2 Thumbha's (the cylindrical wooden mug used to drink Chaang), if not, 1 would do you just fine. It's drunk through a straw called the Pipsing. Raj also promised to bring us back the "marcha", which from what we gathered, was the yeasty substance used to ferment the predominantly millets based brew which was what Chaang was. We also put in an order for 2 Thumbha's and 2 Pipsing's to take back to Delhi. Wouldn't be a bad idea to start a Tulleeho musuem of Indian spirits, considering the little which is known about this subject. We inquired in the local market about Thumbha purchases and were told that they were available in the price range from Rs. 100/- for the plain vanilla ones to Rs. 5,000/- for fancy ones made from silver, etc. I picked up 2 Thumbha's and 6 pipsings from Lal market.



For dinner, we tried some Newari cuisine @ The Square. Chicken Shevka (Grilled chicken in mustard oil) and a Sikkimese style Thai Red Curry. The Dansberg Blue made it all palatable. Lining the walls of the bar were the range of the Johnnie Walker collection from Red to Blue. We were suitably impressed and made enquiries about the price, to be told that the owner had just brought them in today and the price hadn't been set yet. Too bad, we could have done with some Glenfiddich.

Day 3



Out for my morning stroll, I picked up 3 bottles of Cherry Brandy for the folks back in office and a bottle of Pan Liqueur for me. I was also amazed to see a bottle of Southern Comfort in the shop window and picked up the same also. SoCo as it is popularly known was launched by Brown Forman in India in 1997 as 2 bastardised variants of the original - Amber and another whose name escapes me. They tried to position it as a whisky and it bombed. One of the finest whisky liqueurs in the world and one of the only beverages to be invented by a bartender (the legendary MW Heron @ Mcauley's bar in New Orleans), it didn't deserve this fate. I picked up the Amber variant @ Rs. 300/-.

Raj and his wife were both Cookery students from the Food Crafts Institute up at Darjeeling and he ran on the side a small homely restaurant on Tibet Road, called Tibet Kitchen. We were to go there for dinner and Chaang and duly wound our way up the steep slope. Hotel California was blaring out of the stereo, as 2 Thumbhas of Chaang were placed on our table. The mugs were brimming over with the millets and a few grains of rice on top (signifying welcome). A steaming mug of hot water was poured in and we were advised to wait for 5 minutes, before we dipped our Pipsings in. The Pipsing is a long narrow bamboo straw, which apart from the hole at the end which gets dipped in, also had 4 slits around that end, all of which ensured that the millets didn't get into your drink. The best momos in Gangtok were served on our table and we sipped our first draught of Chaang. And how does it taste? The closest comparison I can give is that it tastes like a warm wine. It's nice and definitely leagues ahead of the only other native spirit I have had so far, feni. It's very like the German Gluhwein.



Pema Changyal, the wife of a local friend, told us that her mother in law gave her a lot of Chaang after the birth of her child. Not only was it supposed to have medicinal properties, but also was instrumental in making sure that the baby slept a lot. It certainly didn't seem to have any deleterious effects as the baby in question is now studying art and design @ Washington State University. There have been a few attempts to bottle Chaang which we believe failed. It is sometimes available, we were told from shops which sold country liquor. Far better option - speak to Raj @ Tibet Kitchen on Tibet Road.

Sated with momos, Chaang and Beef curry and rice, we walked back to our hotel. Next morning was going to be yet another try to get a glimpse of the elusive Kanchenjunga, which although theoretically visible from our room window, seemed determined to stay hidden by the clouds. Come on Kanchen, give it up.

Day 4

Off to Changu Lake, Baba Mandir and Nathu La. Nathu La @ 14,000 odd feet is the pass where the Indian and Chinese borders meet. Indian and Tibetan borders meet, if you want to be politically correct (or is it incorrect?). On the way up @ Kyongnosla, we had a cup of tea and a shot of cherry brandy. I thought the cherry brandy would calm my vertigo, but it did only momentarily. The taste reminded me of alcoholic cough syrup and I resolved to go back and exchange the cherry brand I bought for Pan liqueur. In 1962, when the Chinese invaded India, they came all the way to Kyongnosla, some 20 km odd from Gangtok and 30 km in from the border. The driver informed us that one of the regiments, stationed here, the Black Cat Eagles, do not have a nose in their logo, as the Chinese still occupy the Indian border post (the one we spotted just across the border). Fact or fiction, we don't know, but the Black Cat in the picture is indeed sans nose.

Karma Kele, husband of Pema, told us that in 1962, with the Chinese on their doorstep, Gangtok was blacked out, with all the windows covered with plastic. The richer citizens headed for their bunkers and drank Chaang as their servants kept supplying them with hot water. Nathu la Pass is the route the old silk route took and is scheduled to reopen for trade between India and China later this year. This was to be our last day in Gangtok as we drove back to Bagdogra the next day. We celebrated with a traditional Sikkimese repast at Hotel Netuk house. Bamboo shoot curry, Nettle soup, Pork curry, Chicken curry, rice all washed down with Dansberg Blue. A fitting end to a great trip. Back to sweltering Delhi now.