Single malt is not just from Scotland anymore. Hundreds of years ago, explorers circumnavigated the globe for exotic spices from India. Today, drinkers pursue limited editions of Indian whisky, and it’s not for the novelty of it.
India drinks more whisky than any country in the world. It’s only fitting, then, that the country’s first distillery would be named Amrut, a Sanskrit word meaning “elixir of life.”
Traditionally, most of the whiskies made in India couldn’t be classified as whisky. Rather, they were designated as Indian Made Foreign Liquor, or IMFL. Amrut has been distilling this molasses-based spirit since the company was founded in 1948.
Fast-forward to 2004, when the distillery produced the first ever Indian single malt: Amrut Fusion. The spirit has been amassing accolades ever since, including in 2010, when whisky critic Jim Murray named it the third best single malt in the world in “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.”
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Amrut has five frontline variants and a range of limited editions. Each year, the distillery releases a new expression of Amrut Fusion. The newest, Amrut Madeira Cask Finish, is a single malt aged in Portuguese Madeira casks. A sip swirls with flavors of stone fruit, cloves and citrus.
The flagship Fusion is distilled from six-row barley grown in the northwest India foothills of the Himalayas, and from Scottish peated barley. Mashing performed in small batches preserves natural malt aromas created by cold winters and hot summers. It is distilled in locally made copper pot stills and, unlike most Scotch, is not chill filtered. (Chill filtering gives way to a clear, bright whisky, but sometimes takes texture and flavor with its process.) The whisky ages in New American oak barrels for at least three years in Bangalore, India, 3,000 feet above sea level.
While the terroir of Amrut’s whisky is rather young, the hot and dry climate imparts distinct flavor and accelerates maturation. Where Scottish distilleries lose 2 percent to 3 percent to the angel’s share (the amount of distilled spirits lost during barrel aging), Amrut loses up to 12 percent. Assistant distiller Ashok Chokalingam said it’s a small price to pay, as he equates a four-year Amrut to a 10- to 12-year aged Scotch.
Amrut Fusion is rich and rounded, spicy and layered. It begins with biscuit aromas. A velvety, tongue-coating mouthfeel, with hints of cedar and spices, gives way to fruity sweetness, and fades out with a long finish. As we sipped together, Chokalingam said it is his favorite expression thus far.
This is a testament to just how remarkable Fusion is, since Amrut Spectrum, one of the company’s limited-edition spirits, was named world whisky of the year in 2016 by Whisky Advocate, and Chokalingam was the innovator behind its inception. Spectrum was the first-ever five-wood single malt. Chokalingham went to a cooperage in Spain to bring the idea to life. “The challenge was how to make a barrel with different woods, because you have to process different kinds of oak in different ways,” he said.
They coopered five barrels of different oak woods (American, French, Spanish, Oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximenez sherry), some charred and some slightly toasted. Those were dismantled and, by alternating staves from each one, they formed a single barrel. A three-year single malt went through secondary maturation in the Frankenstein barrel. The end product “is like nothing I have ever tasted,” Chokalingham said. “It’s extremely complex.”
Collectors of whisky snagged all of it, so you can’t get your hands on Amrut Spectrum. But, another Spectrum, made using four woods, will be available in 2020.
Couple Amrut’s natural amber hue and intense maturation with a unique aging environment and creative use of casks, and it’s easy to see why collectors seek it, and other Indian distilleries are following suit. Amrut Fusion will be released in Atlanta by the end of September. Grab it while you can.
WHERE TO BUY AMRUT WHISKY
Decatur Package Store. 1220 Clairmont Road, Atlanta. 404-633-5250, decaturpackagestore.com.
Mack's Beer and Wine. 21 Peachtree Place NW, Atlanta. 404-872-4897, macsbeerandwine.com.
Sherlock's Town Center. 135 Barrett Parkway, Marietta. 770-426-6744, kennesawwineliquorbeer.com.
Toco Giant Package Store. 2941 N. Druid Hills Road NE, Atlanta. 404-320-1903, facebook.com/TocoGiantPackageStore.
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