The Malt Fusion
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Most of the staff at Amrut Distilleries involved in bottling and packaging are women; (below) Surinder Kumar, the master brewer at Amrut standing in front of an American oak barrel t was the most expensive stain I Advocate and Whisky Magazine made us created. The dark golden liquid that aware of the brand which led to many spilt when I accidentally knocked inquiries from clients. For the most part, over my tulip tasting glass was response has been nice especially with the priced at a handsome £80-85 a bot- The malt Fusion... An estimate for Amrut sales Itle (roughly ~6,000). But this was no single would be around 200 bottles.” malt from Scotland’s Speyside — what the pages of my notebook were soaked in was Amrut Single Malt Intermediate Sherry, distilled and aged in Bangalore. The spill Single malts are made from a single grain at came just a few moments after Surinder OF INDIA a single distillery (as opposed to blended Kumar, Amrut Distilleries’ vice-president, whiskies, which combine cereals). In the (production) and master brewer, indul- Indulekha Aravind walks through Amrut case of Amrut, the grain is barley, sourced gently said that for a novice like me, the sin- from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. “The gle malt would go down better with a little Distillieries near Bangalore to find out how the first ingredients needed are malt, water, yeast more water. Even without the water, the and wooden oak barrels,” says Kumar, as he Intermediate Sherry is distinctly more Indian single malt is made guides us through the plant. The barley is fruity and seems to be more flavourful than converted to malt by steeping it in water, the light golden Amrut Fusion, which slips and it then goes through distilling, followed down slightly more easily. by fermenting, which has to be in “ex-bour- The tasting was the culmination of a bon” American oak barrels. Bourbon is walk through Amrut Distilleries’ plant on matured in casks of virgin oak, which are Mysore Road, roughly 20 kilometres from then used by other distillers. Much of the Bangalore. “Tandoori meets tartan in the flavour comes from these casks. Amrut cur- Amrut single malt whisky, which experts rently has 4,000 barrels of whisky “sleep- believe will be capable of holding its own in ing” in four cavernous warehouses. With a crowded market,” says an August 24, the sherry variant, the whisky is fermented 2004 article on the front page of the in 400-litre sherry “butts” from Spain and Scottish newspaper The Press and Journal, Portugal. After the aging, it is poured into announcing Amrut’s launch in Glasgow’s bottles imported from the UK and put in its Cafe India, which has been framed and cases, with a picture of the Himalayas, by hung on the wall. “We were a 60-year-old hand. “Each box alone costs ~90,” says distillery competing with the 400 years old Kumar, weaving through the rows of staff, — you need guts just to be in the ring,” says mostly women, bottling and packing. Kumar, a food technologist trained at the Spread over four acres, the plant also Central Food Technological Research makes other spirits such as rum, brandy Institute, Mysore, who has been with and blended whisky. Despite the laurels it Amrut since 1987. may have brought to the company, the sin- gle malts contribute a mere 4-5 per cent of evaporation (known as angels’ loss because launch in India, says Kumar. Indeed, the the company’s revenues, targeted at ~200 angels were supposed to have skimmed off single malt was launched in the domestic crore in 2011-12. And even with the acco- Amrut Distilleries, started by Radhakrishna the missing whisky). “But because the mat- market only in 2010, in Bangalore, where lades and encouraging reviews, marketing N Jagdale in 1948, was primarily a manu- uration was accelerated it meant that one 800-1,000 cases is the FY12 target. In con- an Indian single malt abroad remains a facturer of rum and brandy, supplied to year of maturing in India would be equal to trast, the foreign market target is about challenge, says Ashok Chokalingam, head army canteens. The production of single three in Scotland,” says Kumar. 11,000 cases. Acclaimed whisky writer Jim of international operations, though he says malt came as a result of Amrut having malt So in 2001, Amrut Distilleries Managing Murray rated Amrut Fusion (in which connoisseurs are beginning to acknowl- that was fermenting far in excess of what Director Neelkanth Rao Jagdale asked his Indian barley is combined with peated bar- edge Amrut. The company had initially was needed for its medium range son, Rakshit, who was studying MBA at ley imported from Scotland) as the third gone through the Indian restaurant route, Prestige malt whisky. Unlike other Newcastle, to explore whether there was finest whisky in the world in his annual used by brands like Cobra and Kingfisher, Indian whiskies that used molasses, a market for Amrut Single Malt abroad. global rankings. Amrut now sells its single but this was abandoned as “the resources Amrut was using barley. Another Intense research followed, including malts in 22 countries and retailers include needed are too high, both financial and thing in its favour was visits to numerous pubs and restau- Harrods in London and the Park Avenue human,” says Chokalingam, who studied Bangalore’s climate, much rants across Scotland and Liquor Store in New York. “India’s Amrut with the junior Jagdale in England in 2001. warmer than frigid Scotland, England while UK consultants distillery changed the way many think of Marketing is done through tastings and which meant a higher rate of Tatlock and Thomson spent Indian whisky — that it was just cheap exhibitions, depending on the market. two weeks at the distillery to Scotch whisky blended with who knows Both Sharma and Chokalingam say it help hone the process, cul- what and sold as Indian whisky. Amrut is will be a while before Amrut launches all its minating in the launch of making whisky, and it’s very good,” writes variants (10, currently) in India. For one, Amrut Single Malt in John Hansell, editor of US magazine Sharma says demand outstrips supply. Glasgow in 2004. It was a Whisky Advocate, which declared Amrut “Single malts are not mass-market prod- conscious decision not to Fusion its world whisky of the year in 2010. ucts and it’s a conscious decision to starve Says Jonathan Goldstein, vice- the market,” he says. Chokalingam, mean- That’s the spirit: Amrut has president of Park Avenue while, has the same plaint as most liquor ten variants in its single malt Liquor Store, in an emailed industry players: “The India strategy is portfolio amd it sells in 22 response on why the store going to take time because of our compli- countries across the world chose to stock Amrut “Whisky cated alcohol policy.” .