Indian Whisky
Indian whisky includes some of the top-selling whiskey brands in the world, but it is defined and regulated very differently than American or European-made whisky. In fact, most of the whisky produced in India, which is designated IMFP or “Indian-made foreign liquor,” contains spirit distilled from molasses (essentially rum). Indian whisky may also be flavored or blended with other spirits (often imported Scotch). While most Indian whisky is made in this way, some 100% grain-based whisky is also produced that adheres to international standards, most of it by two distilleries: Amrut Distilleries and John Distilleries (makers of Paul John Single Malt). Whiskies from these distilleries are typically bottled much younger than their European competitors (3 to 5 years old), owing to India’s extremely hot and humid climate which reportedly ages whisky roughly three times faster than in Europe.
Top Indian Whisky Posts:
Tasting Indian Rum and Whisky with Amrut’s Ashok Chokalingam
Paul John Bold Indian Single Malt Whisky
Amrut Spectrum 004 Single Malt Whisky
When we last checked in on Single Cask Nation, the indie bottlers had just released an impressive American single malt from Virginia Distillery Co. From the looks of it, they’ve gone much further afield for their recent releases, sourcing a wide variety of unique expressions from whisky-makers all over the world. As a reminder, these…
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More and more whisky from India continues to land on our shores, the most recent a single malt from Piccadilly Distilleries called Indri, which is distilled in Indri, Haryana, and made from indigenous barley grown in Rajasthan. This is the first Indian whisky to be produced in three different wooden barrels, hence the “Three Wood”…
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Last summer, Indian whisky-maker Amrut released this special edition single malt, dubbed Bagheera. Bagheera also happens to be the name given to the black panther character in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (who appears to be skulking around in the foreground on the label). That, along with a gilded image of the grand Mysore Palace…
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After a five-year hiatus, Amrut is bringing back its ultra-rare and ultra-unusual Spectrum bottling. As with the 2017 release, this is Amrut single malt aged for an unspecified amount of time in ex-bourbon casks and then finished, again for an unspecified amount of time, in special “Spectrum” casks constructed from four different types of oak…
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This is our third round with India’s Rampur whisky, and I can assure you up front of its distinct uniqueness. The single malt carries no formal age statement, but it’s a double casked expression, spending the bulk of its time in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished in Indian Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks. Rampur says that’s…
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Paul John’s Christmas Edition 2021 is upon us, an exotic peated single malt whisky produced in Goa, India, aged in ex-bourbon barrels and “finished in a mélange of Port and Madeira casks.” As always, the whisky is made from six-row barley instead of the more typical two-row, non chill-filtered and with no added colors or…
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Goa, India’s Paul John is back with another single malt. Mithuna, and this one swings for the fences, touting right on the box that it is “the 3rd finest whisky in the world,” which is apparently something Jim Murray has decided. It’s the second whisky in Paul John’s Zodiac series, Mithuna being the Indian equivalent…
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Paul John, made in Goa, India, has launched a new single malt called Nirvana. It’s made from six-row barley grown in India and matured in ex-bourbon casks. Aside from the origins of the grain (and the spirit itself), the unique element here is the six-row barley, as the lower-protein/higher-starch two-row barley is more commonly used…
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Earlier this month, we reviewed Amrut’s peated single malts, made with sourced Scottish barley. Now we’re rounding out the core line up with a look at two single malts distilled in India from 100% Indian ingredients. Both single malts, a standard and cask strength, are distilled from barley reportedly sourced from the states of Haryana,…
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Hailing from the humid Goa region of India, Paul John has established an impressive portfolio of more than a dozen different single malt whiskies, most available to the US market. We’ve reviewed three of the “Flagship” releases already (here and here), but the distillery also features a Select Cask range which consists of single malts…
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