Amrut single malt unites two continents

Amrut Distilleries is doing its bit for international relations with the release of its latest limited edition single malt whisky.

Amrut has always been about uniting the traditions of Europe with the best ingredients of Asia. This approach has created the golden single malt which we now love. Throughout this international partnership, Amrut Distilleries has pushed the boundaries, introducing innovate – and imaginative – maturation techniques to produce award-winning malt whiskies. Now, Amrut has returned to one of its early successes and is issuing a second edition of the highly popular Amrut Two Continents Single Malt Whisky.

“The demand and appreciation from the consumers after the First Edition led us to go for the Second Edition,” says Ashok Chokalingam of Amrut Distilleries Ltd, which is releasing the new whisky in October 2011.

Using the finest barley from India’s fertile North West provinces, the single malt whisky is created at Amrut’s distillery in Bangalore, the vibrant city which sits at 3,000 feet above sea level in the tropical heat of Southern India. Four casks of Amrut Single Malt Whisky were shipped from Asia to a secret location in the temperate climate of Europe and matured for a further period of two years. Very much a product of the two continents, this whisky captures characteristics from the contrasting climates of both tropical Bangalore and the temperate European lands.

The Second Edition, however, is not just a replica of the first: different casks have been used for the maturation. Instead of ex-grain casks, second-fill bourbon casks have been used this time. The Amrut Two Continents Second Edition has also been bottled – in individually numbered bottles – at 50% abv, not 46% abv.

“The changes are immediately noticeable,” notes Dominic Roskrow, the Editor of International Spirits Magazine. “The nose is honeyed, with key lime pie and strawberries and cream. The taste is spikier, spicier and feistier than of old, with dark cherry, blood orange and unripe banana.” Danish whisky blogger Steffen Brauner agrees the Second Edition is “quite different”. He explains: “There’s a lot more of India than Europe in this. I would describe this as vanilla infused Amrut.”

Only 360 bottles of this limited edition Amrut Two Continents Second Edition will be released in the United States, while 900 bottles will go to Europe, Canada and rest of the world. “It is a slightly larger bottling than the first,” admits Ashok, but he underlines that already the feedback is that it will be highly sought-after. He also confirms that Amrut will return to the Two Continents theme in the future. “We will continue with this concept, introducing subtle variations from one bottling to the other. But it will only be released once every two or three years.” The good news is that in Bangalore, the next casks for Amrut Two Continents have already been earmarked for their voyage to a second continent.

Amrut Distilleries

Amrut Single Malt Whisky from India was launched officially in Glasgow in 2004. Since then its reputation has grown, with its range of innovative whiskies using Indian barley from the Punjab distilled in the tropical garden city of Bangalore at 3000ft.

Amrut Distilleries was named a Distiller of the Year in the Icons of Whisky 2011 and was crowned in the Rest of the World category by the independent judges of the prestigious awards, which are organised by Whisky Magazine. The award was made to Amrut “for raising the profile of Indian whisky across the globe and its innovations in the production process”. The Rest of the World title meant the Bangalore distillery was also one of the four contenders for the Icons of Whisky Distiller of the Year title.

In The Whisky Bible 2010, leading whisky expert, Jim Murray awarded Amrut Fusion Single Malt Whisky the title of World’s Third Best Whisky. Murray said Fusion “has to be one of the great whiskies found anywhere in the word this year”. Admitting his No 3 choice could come as a surprise to some people, he said: “The fact that it is Indian? Irrelevant, from distillation to maturation this is a genius whisky from whichever continent.”

Fusion – which brings together two barleys: Indian and Scottish, with the latter being peated – was named the Best Natural Cask Whisky in the Daily Drams Category at the Malt Maniacs Awards 2009. It picked up the award for the best whisky matured exclusively in “untreated”, regular cask(s) in the category for whiskies with an average street price of up to 50 euros. It was also awarded a silver medal.

One of the Amrut Single Malt Whisky bottlings by Blackadder International won “The Best Daily Dram” category of Malt Maniacs 2008 Awards. All the Amrut brands entered into the same competition won silver and bronze medals.

Amrut Peated Malt Cask Strength Whisky won Silver and Amrut Single Malt Cask Strength Whisky Bronze at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2008.

Amrut is now sold widely in Europe (UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Spain), Canada, South Africa, Australia and the United States.