Amrut releases world’s first ever multi-wood barrel Single Malt Whisky – Amrut Spectrum
Amrut Distilleries, Bangalore known the world over for their popular single malts such as the Fusion, Naarangi, Herald and Greedy Angels have launched the Amrut Spectrum ® single malt, the first ever whisky in the world to be produced in a custom barrel made with not one, but five different types of Oak. This whisky is expected to be at the forefront of innovation in the world of whisky and has anticipations running high amongst the whisky pros.
Amrut Distilleries, based in Bangalore, India is a boutique distillery known for their award winning single malt whiskies. Amrut recently concluded 10 years after the launch of their malts in 2004 in Glasgow, Scotland by N.R. Jagdale, the Managing Director through his son Rakshit & his friend Ashok. The brand peaked in the limelight in 2010 when acclaimed whisky writer, Jim Murray rated the Amrut Fusion with 97/100 points voting it the ‘3rd finest whisky in the world’ putting behind over 4000 whiskies. Amrut is also the only Indian whisky to feature in Ian Buxton’s ‘101 whiskies to have before you die’.
The latest offering from Amrut – the Spectrum, is expected to put Amrut on top of the game, yet again. To make this whisky, malts were initially matured for a period of 3 years in ex-Bourbon barrels after which they were transferred to a custom built barrel. This barrel was constructed at an undisclosed location in Europe with the help of a few experts. Whisky is traditionally aged in a barrel made of one type of wood, which lends the flavor and complexities to the malt, however, Amrut wanted to experiment with a barrel with five different types of wood. This however presented a challenge, as each wood stave had different thickness and properties.
The problem was addressed in Europe with an indigenous solution; five different barrels were made, each of a different type of wood, and corresponding staves removed to be stitched together in one barrel. The barrel therefore consisted of a mix of new American Oak, new French Oak, new Spanish Oak, ex-PX cask sherry cask stave & ex-Olorosso sherry cask stave. The five different woods, some old, some new, were expected to unleash a level of complexity on the malt unlike ever before in the
centuries of whisky making.
Testing the malt:
Once the malt had aged in these new casks for a period of three and a half years and bottled, Amrut decided to take another bold stand by not releasing the tasting notes themselves and let the consumers decide. So off went Ashok Chokalingam, Senior GM, International Operations, to Malmo, Sweden for a tasting session at the leading whisky club:
Press Release – 12 November 2015 | Amrut Distilleries Private Limited, Bangalore, India.
Biskopen Gustavs Maltklubb. The session was also attended by Ingvar Ronde, the author of Malt Whisky Year Book, Sweden and he along with the 40 other people in attendance were absolutely amazed. To quote Ingvar after the tasting, “One of the most innovative whiskies I´ve tried in a long time and one of the best this year. With three years in ex bourbon barrels and another three and half years in casks made of – wait for it – new American oak, new French oak, new Spanish oak, ex PX sherry cask stave and ex Oloroso sherry cask stave. That´s right, five different types of oak in one cask. I can´t remember when I last experienced such a complexity of flavours in one whisky and at the same time, everything was in balance. I got coffee, chocolate, tobacco, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, orange preserve, sandalwood, walnuts, pecans, stracciatella and cocoa. This is pushing boundaries and whisky making at its best and I love it!”
Says Ashok after the tasting, “It is the most exciting time at the distillery. As a team we have stitched this together and yet another time pushed the boundaries of innovation in whisky making. Perhaps for the first time, we have asked a whisky club to give a go on Official Tasting Notes. In a way I am happy with that as I am dealing with perhaps the most knowledgeable consumer group in the world on single malt whiskies. This is another approach from Amrut to show the inclusiveness of the high end and knowledgeable consumers to be part of our business. My sincere thanks to the people of Biskopen Gustavs Maltklubb for their contribution”
A limited release of 1000 bottles priced at £100/ bottle @ 50% abv, these malts will soon be available with select retailers in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Canada.
About Amrut Single Malt
Amrut Single Malt was launched in 2004 as an experiment by Amrut Distilleries, a Bangalore based conglomerate that started operations in 1948. Amrut was the first ever-Indian single malt and was launched in Glasgow, right in the heart of Scotland. The whiskies were received well across the world owing to their quality and have grown aggressively. Amrut now bottles around 18 expressions of single malts, which are sold in 40 countries and growing.
Tasting Notes from Biskopen Gustavs Maltklubb
On the Nose: raisins, rum, nougat, figs, oranges, tiramisu, cocoa, caramel, coffee, dried fruit, burnt rubber
On the Palate: sherry, rum, butterscotch, chocolate, prunes, molasses, pecans, walnuts, almonds, English wine gum
To the Finish: caramelized almonds, old cognac, apricots, Brazil nuts
