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Ok , i can hear it now , "What the hell is a page about Indian Whisky doing on a site about Islay ?" Read on......
I first noticed Amrut in one of local Department stores (Fenwick) in Newcastle and like probably everyone else thought "that's odd ! " . The next time i came across it was at the First Newcastle Whisky Festival in May 2009 , Ashok was dishing drams out left , right and centre to eager Drammers , not the ideal place to try it but the peated one i tried was very nice . Move on to September 2009 and one od Eddies "Whisky Lounge " Tastings , Scotland Versus India , 3 of Scotlands finest tasted Blind against 3 Amruts ! Now this was the ideal way to try them , not knowing what you were drinking , no prejudices , no preconceived thoughts , just the malt ! I have to say i think everyone was shocked , except Ashok , that the Amruts won the night , deservedly so ! We had a great night , Ashok told us about the history and production methods of the distillery , gave us an insight into the area around the distillery and above all opened our eyes to the Product he was promoting . I bought a Fusion and a peated Cask Strength that night , it was just the start.......
What was even more surprising was the revelation that the Global office was Amrut was based in Newcastle , about 3 miles from where i sit writing this , and as Ashok is always saying "Newcastle is the Spiritual Home of Indian Whisky !" .
I'm now a major fan of Amrut , having purchased quite a few bottles , if it's good i will drink it and by god this stuff is good ! Since then we've had a launch of a new expression of Amrut in Newcastle (Well Gateshead to be more precise....) and Ashok has been a regular visitor to the Wednesday Night Chat and long may he continue to visit ! A Few facts about Amrut.......
The distillery is in Bangalore , the Garden City of India at 3,000ft above sea level . It was opened in 1948 , the year after independence , it didn't start life as a Malt distillery , that didn't come till much later , it has 4 stills (2 wash , 2 spirit) with a capacity of 5,000 litres . The Barley for their Unpeated Malt is sourced from the North of India (at the feet of the Himalayas...) , The Peated Malt (at 24ppm) is fetched in from Scotland (Inverness) as they don't have the facilities to do the peating on site . They use a mixture of Old and New American Oak Barrels to mature their stock in , they never use larger Casks than Barrels . They are matured in Rack Warehousing where the "Angels Share" runs at an average of 12% per year (up to 16% at the top of the rack and over 10% at the bottom ) , this is due to the extremely high tempeature differences during the year , very cold in the winter , very hot in the summer ! The oldest cask they have in the warehouses is just over 6yo , The malts are actually bottled younger than this but one of the posive outcomes of the high temperature is that the malt Matures very fast !
A couple of Links......
Amrut Whisky
Amrut Distilleries Ltd
Now onto the Tasting Notes ! (to see larger Version of Bottle , Click on the Thumbnail...)
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Ashok Chokalingam , General Manager - International Operations - for Amrut Distilleries |
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Amrut 46% |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 46% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Orange Marmalade |
| Nose- Sweet and Creamy to start with , Vanilla Custard , then Digestive biscuits . A touch of spiciness later on , with Cinder Toffee . A wonderfully Complex nose . |
| Taste- Again creamy and oaky , a touch of liquorice and spices , almost quite bourbony ! |
| Finish- Long , warming , creamy toffee , spices . |
| Comments- Batch No. 08 , Bottled 24/4//08 . A cracking "Standard" bottling , a really nice session dram , almost like a bourbon more than a malt whisky . |
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| Amrut Cask Strength (May 2006) |
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Amrut Cask Strength |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 62.6% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Orange Marmalade |
| Nose- Oaky spiciness to start with , vanilla , digestive biscuits , liquorice and chocolate . Quite prickly on the nose at first as well . |
| Taste- Fantastic mouthfeel , oily , spicy , liquorice , oak . |
| Finish- Extremely long , liquorice and very satisfying ! |
| Comments- Bottled May 2006 , the first Single Cask Cask Strength Amrut Bottling . Yet another outstanding Amrut ! (Thanks to Ashok for the chance to sample this Amrut !) |
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| Amrut Cask Strength (December 2006) |
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Amrut Cask Strength |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 63.8% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- |
| Nose- |
| Taste- |
| Finish- |
| Comments- Bottled December 2006 . |
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Amrut Cask Strength |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 61.9% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Orange Marmalade |
| Nose- very Bourbony to start with , oak , vanilla , Digestive biscuits and Creamy coffee . Barley Sugar , A lot of oaky spiciness at the end , really nice nose , for such a high strength no pricklyness . |
| Taste- Lovely mouthfeel , Again an Oakiness to it , also old fashioned Barley sugar sweets (the curly one that was in a long stick form....) and a creaminess as well . |
| Finish- Long , sweet , oaky , malty vanilla . |
| Comments- Bottled September 2007 , another great Amrut whisky , how do they do it ? If i was a Scotch Whisky producer i'd be worried......VERY WORRIED ! |
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Amrut Peated |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 46% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Polished Gold . |
| Nose- Oak and Vanilla mingle with a light peatiness , a hint of smoky bacon crisps , almost a slight hint of apples in the background , spiced apples ? |
| Taste- peat , smoke , vanilla and oak . A really nice mix of all ! |
| Finish- medium with a peaty spiciness to it . An orangie citrus drifts in from somewhere at the end...... |
| Comments- Batch No.2 Bottled March 2009 . Peated to a level of 24ppm , another (and how many times can i say this....) really good Amrut . Not as sweet as other Amruts . |
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| Amrut Peated Cask Strength (61.2%) |
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Amrut Peated Cask Strength 61.2% |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV-61.2% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Golden Syrup |
| Nose- Really smoky , Kippers , smoked Barley , menthol cigarettes , you actually get the peat on this version . |
| Taste- Really peaty across the palate , chewy , chocolate biscuits . |
| Finish- Long , vanilla and peaty. A really luxurious finish . Spices and pepper come in after a few sips . |
| Comments- Bottled September 2007 , 480 bottles . Wow ! Yet another (and i'm not sick of saying this yet...) incredible Amrut , stunning and well balanced ! (thanks to Ashok for the chance to sample this !) |
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| Amrut Peated Cask Strength |
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Amrut Peated Cask Strength |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV-62.78% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Golden Syrup |
| Nose- Smoked Barley , Kippers , a touch of peppermint , chocolate and Creamy Coffee . quite fruity late on . |
| Taste- Again Peppermint , Fishermans Friend , Chocolate Digestives , very thick and chewy across the palate . |
| Finish- An incredbile , long finish , Strong Humbugs (mint) , liquorice , oak . Goes on and on and on...... |
| Comments- Batch No. 01 , Bottled 29/04/2008 . At over 62 % it should be overbearing but it ain't ! Again i'd put this up against any Scottish malt , an unbelievable Dram for such a youngster ! |
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Amrut Fusion |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV-50% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Golden Syrup . |
| Nose- A light Fishermans Friend at first , then Vanilla , oak and peat . Also an oaky spiciness , a very nice clean nose , not over-powering and very pleasant ! |
| Taste- Really oily on the palate , again Fishermans Friends , also Liquorice , salt , spices and oak . A nice sweetness as well . |
| Finish- Long , seashore , peat , liquorice and Vanilla . A very nice Chocolate - coffee taste right at the end . |
| Comments- Batch 01 , Bottled March 2009 . A "Fusion" of Unpeated Whisky made from Barley from India and Peated Malted Barley from Scotland . Matured seperately then married for bottling . You find something new everytime you try this malt . Perhaps one of the most popular Amruts to date , i believe we're up to Batch 07 now and i can see why ! Great stuff ..... Again ! |
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Amrut Two Continents |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 46% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- Orange Marmalade . |
| Nose- Another fantastic nose , sweet oakiness , liquorice and a slight spiciness . Digestive Biscuits , Vanilla , and cut grass . |
| Taste- A lovely mouthfeel , malty , again vanilla and liquorice . Quite sweet across the palate but i'm not complaining . A toffee sweetness , shortbread bisuit with caramel and chocolate on the top ! |
| Finish- Long , dry , quite warming , vanilla with huge liquorice right at the end . |
| Comments- First Release , Bottled February 2009 , Bottle 60 of 786 . Matured first in Bangalore then shipped 9,000KM to a secret location in Europe for further maturation . Does not disappoint , one of my favourite Amruts , there's just something about these young whiskies ! |
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Amrut Double Cask |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 46% |
Bottling- O.B. |
| Colour- A really nice sparkling Gold . |
| Nose- Incredibly complex nose , a lovely warm oakiness , Candied fruit (the type that go into Christmas cakes) , a hint of pepper and smoked meat . Also a hint of grass , liquorice , vanilla , if you keep putting it down and picking it up you get something different everytime . I'm almost reluctant to taste it as it's got such a lovely nose , but i will ! |
| Taste- Lovely velvet texture to the palate , Very orangie at first , peppery , spicy , really complex again , oak and vanilla come in at the end . |
| Finish- Long and Orangie with spicy oak . |
| Comments- From 2 Ex-Bourbon Barrels , No. 2874 (Filled 27-02-2003) and No.2273 (Filled 25-07-2002) . Bottled 27-2-2010 , Bottle No.229 of 306 . A Fantastic Amrut , The oldest yet released (7yo ) , Mel remarked how "Chewy " it was on the finish , you just wanted to carry on chewing when it was gone ! She was right ! |
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| Blackadder Amrut Single Cask |
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Blackadder Amrut 62.7% |
| Year- |
Age- |
ABV- 62.7% |
Bottling- Blackadder |
| Colour- Amber |
| Nose- Opens with a huge Christmas Cake Nose , Dried fruits (Currants , raisins etc) , cake dough and spices . Later on we get the Amrut Oakiness and a touch of Liquorice . |
| Taste- What an incredrible mouthfeel ! Really luxurious , A perfect sherry taste on the palate intermixing with , oak , liquorice and orange essence . |
| Finish- Long , sherry , orange , liquorice , Marzipan and Apricot Jam (to Carry on the Christmas cake theme....) goes on and on and on...... |
| Comments- Cask Ref BA 1/2008 , Bottled June 2008 , Bottle No.12 of 277 . Where do i begin ? Hugely drinkable at over 62% , with water even more so......Allegedly 5yo , tastes a lot older and could easily be mistaken for something a lot older and from Scotland . Boy oh boy ! I had this originally listed as from a Sherry Cask (as that's what it said on the shop site i bought it from ) , I've since been informed by Blackadder that they haven't bottled any sherry casked Amruts . |
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