Awards pour in for Amrut Distilleries
Amrut Distilleries, the maker of India’s finest malt whisky, will be picking up the “New World Whisky” title in Chicago today, just hours after it landed the “Whisky Ambassador of the Year” award at the Icons of Whisky in London.
Amrut’s Two Continents malt whisky will be named Whisky Advocate’s “New World Whisky of the Year” at WhiskyFest at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Two Continents is made from 100% Indian barley grown in Punjab and Rajasthan, then mashed, distilled and aged in Bangalore. It was then transferred to Europe where it was aged in ex-bourbon casks and then bottled. This gives it a “rich, complex, unique, and exciting oral explosion” according to Whisky Advocate.
At Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky, Ashok Chokalingam, Amrut’s General Manager – International Operations, was named “Whisky Ambassador of the Year”. The judges praised the hard work of Ashok and Amrut Director, Rick Jagdale, since launching Amrut Malt in 2004. “The gamble and all the legwork has paid off for Ashok and Rick, with Amrut establishing its credentials as a serious award winning whisky” they said.
Ashok has been on ambassadorial duties this month in the United States. He has been on a four-city tour promoting the award-winning malts which are making Amrut Distilleries one of the most talked-about whisky makers in the world just now. Not only does it have some of the finest malts on the market, but they are also unique in coming from the tropical Indian city of Bangalore. Amrut’s malt whiskies have only had limited availability in the US market until recently, so this is an ideal opportunity for a first-hand encounter with what everyone is about.
In addition Amrut’s latest release is being unveiled at the Chicago WhiskyFest. Kadhambam lives up to its name which means “mixture” in Tamil, having been matured in a variety of containers – sherry butts, brandy casks and rum barrels – for different lengths of time. It captures a range of characteristics from this mix of maturation methods.
Notes
Background links:
Whisky Advocate Award http://www.whiskyadvocateblog.com/?s=amrut
Icons of Whisky http://www.whiskymag.com/awards/icons_of_whisky/2012/
WhiskyFest http://www.maltadvocate.com/whiskyfest_chicago.asp
FURTHER INFORMATION:
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 3,000ft above sea level. Amrut Distilleries has won many awards.
Last year, Amrut Fusion was named Grand Master of World Whisky at The Spirits Business Awards in London in December. Already named one of seven Masters of World Whisky by the judging panel of the prestigious event, Amrut Fusion came out as the “best of the best” in the final stage of the competition.
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 organized 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 February 2011, Fusion was named World Whisky of the Year at the Malt Advocate Whisky Awards. In a new category created to recognize “the wonderful whiskies” being produced in countries like Japan, India, Sweden, England, outside the major distilling nations, John Hansell, editor of Malt Advocate magazine, explained the choice of winner. “India’s Amrut distillery changed the way many think of Indian whisky. … Amrut is making whisky, and it’s very good.”
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 world 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 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. In 2011, Malt Maniacs awarded Amrut Portonova the title of Best Cask Innovation Award (Premium).
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.
Purple Valley Imports is the importer of Amrut in the USA. http://purplevalley.tv/
