What's Up Kolkata? Check Out the New Buzz in Town

Address: 122A, Southern Avenue, Kolkata

Contact: 033 30991300

Price for two: Rs. 1,000 with alcohol + VAT

A maddening, alcohol-thirsty, music-hungry crowd surely sets the overall pulse on most evenings and weekends in general. A great bar enclosure, an al fresco seating area with astounding views, What’s Up in the heart of South Kolkata, has a lot to offer.

What’s Up has a 120+ seating capacity and the available arrangement can be varied to suit your choice. If you are the sort to down your peg in quiet, with soft music, the indoor area should serve you best. The friendly skilful bartender will throw in a wisecrack every now and then if you happen to occupy the bar. The outdoor seating area has two elevations where you can grove to some club music – the first level has a Jacuzzi; order a glass of Johnnie Walker Red Label and you are golden. The second level is at a higher elevation and you can witness metropolis as it rushes with its traffic, ebbing and flowing between smooth and clumsy turns, encircled by the green cover of Southern Avenue. The cool breeze flowing in from Dhakuria Lake is ready remedy for tired nerves.

There’s a stellar deal for whisky lovers – the third consecutive drink is on the house, as long as you stick to one variant. You are recommended to book a table beforehand as it gets quite crowded at What’s Up. Ladies, do drop in on Tuesdays between 5PM and 8PM for select complimentary cocktails, including a straight-up Cosmopolitan, an icy Sex on the Beach, a fruity Pina Colada or a refreshing Mojito.

The food menu is quite extensive, offering quick salads and sandwiches. You can choose from a wide variety of Bruschetta, crostini and quesadillas to snack on. Their thin crust pizzas, and continental courses, standard oriental dishes and kebab platters are scrumptious to say the least. The Tiramisu and Blueberry Cheesecake are well-executed and won’t leave you disappointed.

Old Rip Van Winkle

When you hear the name Old Rip Van Winkle, you are probably going to be a little surprised, and then when we tell you it is a phenomenal bourbon, the curiosity is going to be piques further. But if you are a true whiskey lover, we have already got you hooked, because you know Old Rip Van Winkle is so hard to find in the market-- it is basically the unicorn of the whiskey world. Now how did that happen? Even a decade back, you could just walk into any liquor store and get as many bottles of Old Rip Van Winkle as you wanted. We will tell you.

Call of Hebrides: Discovering Bruichladdich

Could it ever be that a young and wandering Bacchus trod upon the Scottish isles of Islay and fell in love, blessing it with gurgling streams and vast green meadows that’d bear greatest of Scottish distilleries that ever were? Bacchus may have taken a break from his love of vines and indulged himself in the resplendent warmth of uisga beatha, but Islay sure is blessed. Of the many distilleries strewn on the isles, Bruichladdich Distillery stands a testimony to the changing colours of time, as layers upon layers of stories settle on its ageing walls. The journals of a man long gone, by the name of Rudd Harvey talk of the birth of Bruichladdich that has stood the test of time.

Bottling a Battle: Whiskey Rebellion of 1794

1794 saw an insurgence in western Pennsylvania, a reaction to the imposition of excise tax on spirits distilled within the US. The decree was proclaimed to reduce the financial burden, inflicted by the debt of 454 million incurred during the Revolutionary War. While levying taxes, the government failed to gauge the repercussions the legislation would instigate. It was not only shunned by farmers, but they also took up arms against the enforcement of the law.