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Holiday Shopping Guide: Ten Great Whiskies To Buy

Filed under: Spirits

There are few things a whiskey connoisseur likes better under the tree than a long, festively wrapped box containing something special.

It has been a good year for new whiskey expressions, so there is no shortage of options. And I would recommend something new to the market to help the receiver usher in a new year.

Sure, you can buy your Glenmorangie or Glenlivet loving gift recipient a bottle of 12-year old. But put a bit more thought into it, and a bit more brass, and you can turn a grin into a broad smile. For holiday gift-giving, I always thing it's better to give someone a limited edition or otherwise special expression of the brand they prefer. The other route to go is to introduce them to something unique in the category that will capture their interest and sense of curiosity.

These days, almost every brand of Scotch, Irish or American whiskey has a "special," whether it's a single-barrel, cask-strength, extra-aged or barrel-finished.

Here are some gift suggestions of new whiskies Luxist has tried this year and reviewed. Most of these will be found at better whiskey shops in major cities, as well as duty-free travel retail, rather than the corner store.

Gallery: Holiday Shopping: Ten Great Whiskies

Tags: Amrut, Ballantines Scotch, Bowmore, Compass Box, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, holiday gift guide, Jim beam, Whiskey gifts, whisky gifts, WhistlePig

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India's Amrut Readying Ultra-Premium Rum

by David Kiley (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Indian distiller Amrut, which caused a sensation in the West last year after having its single-malt whisky rated #3 in the world by The Whisky Bible, has its eye on extending its new-found brand cachet into premium or ultra-premium priced rum.

Amrut makes most of its revenue, in fact, from selling rum and brandy inside India--Old Port Rum and Silver Cup Brandy. The company's chairman says Amrut blenders have been working on a luxury-priced rum that would be a blend of Caribbean and Indian rums. No release date is set yet.

Tags: alcohol, amrut, amrut intermediate sherry, Amrut Kadhambam, glenfiddich, rum, single-malt whisky, The Glenlivet, whisky

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Amrut Launches the Limited-Edition Kadhambam Malt

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Indian whisky distiller Amrut has been making a name for itself with its creative experimentation with different wood finishes. Just a couple of weeks ago we reported on their Intermediate Sherry finish, now the Bangalore-based distillery has announced the launch of its limited-edition Kadhambam malt.

Taking its name from the Tamil word for "mixture" (Tamil being one of the languages spoken on the subcontinent), Kadhambam is first aged in Oloroso sherry butts and then Blue Brandy and rum casks from the distillery's own stock for an intriguingly complex flavor.

Only 234 bottles of the malt will be offered, launched at the Potstill Festival in Amersfoort, Netherlands, and distributed exclusively by Dutch tobacconist and spirits distributor Van Wees Holland.

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Tags: amrut, Amrut Kadhambam, Kadhambam, single malt, single malt whisky, whisky

Amrut Intermediate Sherry Single Malt Whisky

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Transporting the barrels in which malt whisky is typically aged is no mean feat. The casks themselves are often made in the United States or Spain, filled with bourbon or sherry (respectively), then emptied and shipped overseas to the distillery. That's complicated enough when the distillery is in Scotland, but when you're shipping half-way around the world to India it's another story entirely.

That's the challenge which the Amrut Distillery faces when acquiring new casks from Jerez, Spain, and though their single malt whisky has been met with rave reviews, they saw a challenge to overcome. Due to the temperature changes to which the wood would be subjected on its voyage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, there was a risk of sulfur accumulating and later damaging the whisky.

Amrut's solution was rather novel. First, they shipped their whisky to Spain and had the coopers roll it around inside the barrel to kill any bacteria. Then the casks were sent to the distillery in Bangalore, but instead of the usual approach of first aging the whisky in bourbon wood and then in sherry, Amrut took a different approach. After finishing the whisky in the sherry butts, they then placed it back into the American oak casks for another year or so.

The result is called the Amrut Intermediate Sherry, a potentially very delicate and flavorful malt just released from the distillery. 85 cases (each containing six 750ml bottles) are earmarked for the US market, each bottle expected to sell for $134.99 in stores.

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Tags: amrut, amrut intermediate sherry, sherry, single malt whisky, whisky

Indian Whisky Amrut Hits U.S. Stores in March

by David Kiley (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

To a serious whisky drinker, the idea that India could produce a world class whisky has been a fanciful idea. Until now, that is.

Amrut whiskies from Bangalore-based Amrut Distilleries will finally hit U.S. liquor retailers in March after five years of distributing single-malts in the European Union countries, Canada and South Africa. Talk about bursting on the scene: Just prior to its U.S. entry, noted whisky writer Jim Murray rated Amrut Fusion" third best whisky in the world in his 2010 "Whisky Bible," rating it 97. The rating stunned the whisky establishment, especially in Scotland.

Amrut will be introducing all five of its whisky expressions at once: Amrut Single-Malt; Amrut Single-Malt Cask Strength; Amrut Single-Malt Peated; Amrut Single-Malt Peated Cask Strength; Amrut Fusion. Prices range from $45.00 for the Single-Malt to $72.00 for the Peated Cask Strength.

India is well known for its consumption and appreciation of whisky. And it's distilleries have long turned out mostly inferior "whisky" blends made from all manner of grains as well as molasses. Additionally, the climate in India hardly lends itself to gentle aging.

The altitude and temperatures of India, in fact, make Amrut's aging very short compared with whiskies from Scotland, Ireland and Canada, and even Japan. None of the Amrut products will carry an age statement. It may not be a problem. Scottish distillery Ardbeg, for example, has created a near cult following for its whiskies with very few age-statement products.

Despite inhospitable aging conditions in India, Amrut has clearly cracked the code. Fusion, for example, gets its name from the fact that it is derived from two barleys: Indian and Scottish. The Scottish barley is peated. Amrut's barley comes from the Punjab region. Distillation takes place in Bangalore at 3,000 ft. above sea level. The spirits are matured separately in oak, for less than 4 years! After each reaches peak, the two are married in Bourbon casks in proportions only Amrut blenders know.

The result is a complexity of fruit and smoke that I have never tasted in a Scotch whisky. Since it is Winter Olympics time, I'll use a handy analogy. Drinking Fusion is like watching a skater who breaks all the rules and combines quad and triple jumps in a totally unexpected way, and saves big jumps until the last quarter of the routine when most skaters are too tired to attempt the big jumps. You keep expecting the skater's routine to fall apart, and he never does. And neither does Amrut. Murray's unexpected high rating for Amrut has made the brand one of the biggest curiosities of the year among whiskey drinkers who have not tried it abroad.

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Tags: amrut, indian whisky, IndianWhisky, whisky

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