Amrut Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky, India

Dedication you can taste.

The aptly named Amrut Distillery (Amrut is Sanskrit for "the elixir of life") is the first Indian company to have produced Single Malt Whisky; it may not have the longest tradition, but it certainly has won over foreign markets in the last decade. It started with very successful blind tests in Scotland – where they were often compared to Speyside malts – and went on to have one of its Whiskies ranked among world’s best on two occasions.

The distillery, established in 1948 in Bangalore, is also particular in its decision against using computers and automation; they prefer to offer more jobs to the people, so everything down to bottling and tightening the caps is done by hand, and this dedication is something you can taste in the Amrut Cask Strength.

The award-winning Amrut Cask Strength is made from flavorful Indian barley and matured at 3000 feet in ex-Bourbon and Sherry casks for approximately four to five years, during which the greedy Indian angels take away much more than you might think – around 11 per cent. The label carries no age statement, but don’t let that fool you: in India’s tropical climate those few years equal more than a decade in Scotland or Kentucky. If you think that the only spicy thing that you might enjoy from India is curry, this fiery Indian heavy-weight (it’s bottled at 61,8% ABV) might change your mind.

Smartass Corner:
Cask strength means that the Whisky is not diluted with water before bottling. If that’s too much to handle, you can still dilute it yourself – don’t drown it, though.