And yes, I got a bottle of this before it sold out, and then never gave it enough priority for a timely review.

India is not the first country that comes to mind when thinking about single malt whisky, but there are a couple of distilleries out there producing quality spirits. Normally when you think of Indian ‘whisky’ it is some approximation of the spirit in at least color and ABV, but that’s generally where the overlap ends. Luckily, with Amrut leading the way, there are now a couple more distilleries in the country producing to high standards. Think of Paul John and Rampur (I have not tasted any whisky from the latter, though).

Amrut is one of the brands that opened up the category of world whiskies for me. Back at De Whiskykoning, when one of the first batches of cask strength single malt made it from India to Europa, Rob (the owner of the shop) gave me a small sip to try without telling me what it was. I ended up buying a bottle and still think of that dram with a lot of fondness.

Of course, I don’t know how it would hold up now, about 15 years later, but I do remember really liking it back then. Then there’s this one. Checking on Whiskybase gives us 570 known releases of Amrut, of which 519 are done by the distillery. Apparently they aren’t selling a lot of casks to independent bottlers.

Apparently they are doing private cask bottlings, like this one. An official bottling, but done for someone else, with (I assume) a bit of preselection by the owner of the cask, or the ones who ordered the bottling of the cask.

I’m glad this is from a bourbon cask, since I am convinced that that gives us the chance to really find out what the distillery is about, with not too many other flavors muddling our palates.

Sniff:
Lots of overripe mangos, papaya. Rich tropical fruit, with lots of wood and roasted spices. Some barley but mostly cask and distillery style.

Sip:
A fierce arrival, strong and powerful. Lots of peppery heat added to by the bone dry oakiness.

Swallow:
The finish mellows quickly, and veers back to the fruit. Not as fruity as the nose, but more than the palate.

87/100

Of course it’s long gone, but since the average rating isn’t too high this is still available in the secondary market starting at € 105.