“Thurra” by any other name smells just as sweet and when the liquor in question is malt whisky from Scotland, it probably tastes a lot better than the local brew from other parts of the world.

Visiting members of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, however, are tightlipped about the quality of the two whisky plants they visited earlier this week as guests of the Scotch Whisky Association.

It is customary during such VIP encounters to offer visitors a sample of the product and processes they have come to survey, so the usual courtesies were extended to the eight members of the state Assembly’s Pollution Control Committee (PCC) when they arrived in Scotland.

Indeed, one of the high points of their trip was for each MLA to receive a free £25 (Rs 1,770) bottle of Auchentashan malt when they visited the distillery on the outskirts of Glasgow. Annual production at the plant is one million litres of pure alcohol.

Whether the world famous, 12-year-old malt deserves its reputation, however, is another matter because none of the MLAs are prepared to comment on what they have so far seen, experienced or tasted. “It is totally discreet and we cannot say anything,” said Jagdeep Nakai of the SAD who was contacted by The Tribune as he and the other MLAs made their way by car from Scotland to Birmingham. Asked if he could elaborate, Nakai commented, “We came for a purpose and we are doing that. When the report is prepared we will let you know.”

The secrecy surrounding the delegation’s visit means that even Indian diplomats in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, were not aware of the VIPs’ plans. A spokesman for the Indian Consulate General in Edinburgh explained, “They were supposed to come last month. After that we have not heard anything at all. There was an exchange of emails and we understood they did not get clearance from the PMO.”

More details were forthcoming, however, from the Scotch Whisky Association. Spokesman Peter Wilkinson explained that the MLAs were taken to two distilleries: the Cameron Bridge grain distillery in Fyfe, which produces 50 million litres of pure alcohol a year. They later travelled to the Glasgow premises of Auchentashan where each MLA received his free bottle of malt.

“They are not specifically our guests, but we did undertake to help them with a bit of research,” Wilkinson said. “We have taken them to two distilleries, one grain distillery and one malt distillery, to see how they are dealing with environmental issues.”

“All businesses obviously are required to meet certain legal obligations of environmental legislation. The rules governing, for example, how much water you can use from waterways and rivers… We use a lot of water, for example, for cooling in the condensers and that water has to be returned in good order to the water course. When we distil, we get solid and liquid residue and there are rules about how those residues are disposed of. Sometimes the liquid waste can be disposed of in drains and sewers, but it has to be treated beforehand. It is this kind of issue they are interested in.”