It’s ironical that the bulk of the product known as Indian whisky technically cannot even be sold in the European Union (EU) as whisky. A part (or whole) of the spirit is molasses-based and not grain-based, as it should be to qualify as whisky in the EU.
Ironically, three brands from India have turned this on its head by going ahead and making single malt whisky, a term they are allowed to use. Unlike Scotch, this is not the exclusive purview of Scotland.
Sanjeev Banga at Radico Khaitan, which has just launched the newest whisky on the block, acknowledges the debt to Amrut Rampur single malt. After all it was Amrut that blazed a trail for Indian whisky in the West and, more importantly, perhaps gave other Indian companies the confidence to take on Scotch.
Rampur wears its heritage proudly on its sleeve. The distillery from which it comes dates back to 1943, and is the property of Radico Khaitan, one of India’s largest spirits companies, better known for mass-market brands such as 8 PM and Magic Moments. Rampur itself is known for its rich traditions of being a home of Urdu poetry, fine cuisine and, interestingly enough, knife-making (the Rampuri chaku is an Indian knife with a daunting reputation).
In 2014, I had the opportunity to visit the home of Amrut, where I interacted with their technical head Surrinder Kumar, who told me how Amrut was created using only in-house expertise.
Home-grown perhaps it was, but it was the seal of approval from Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible in 2010, anointing Amrut Fusion the third best whisky in the world that took the drink’s popularity to a different level altogether. So much so that its demand across the world, and in India, today far outstrips its supply.
A common factor across the single malts from Indian companies — John Distillers, Amrut and Radico Khaitan — is the eschewing of an age statement. This is a smart move, given that the world over, large-scale shortage of aged whisky has led to several brands either dropping age claims on existing brands or replacing them with new brands that don’t have an age claim (what is now known in the whisky trade as NAS whiskies, or No Age Statement).
“Age is just a number” is the new chorus, also sung happily by Indian companies. To give credit to them, however, the maturation of whisky in India is an extremely tricky process. Bengaluru possibly has a slightly more equable climate, but Rampur sees large temperature variances over the course of the year, something that is definitely not good for the whisky maturing in those warehouses.
On my visit to Rampur in 2013, I visited the warehouses where malt whisky lay maturing in barrels, some for more than 25 years. But it was just nine months ago that Anup Barik, the master blender, gave the go-ahead to bottle what would become Rampur’s first release.
Between Amrut and Rampur, however, comes the Paul John single malt from the house of John Distillers, also like Amrut, a Bengaluru-based company.
However, unlike Amrut, Paul John is distilled and bottled in Goa, where its two initial editions, Edited and Brilliance, are made. Bottled at 46 per cent, Paul John Edited was recommended to me over Brilliance by the owner of Casa Barreto, a liquor store in Panaji.
And a great choice it was, well worth the Rs. 2,600 I paid. Michael D’Souza, master distiller for Paul John, explains that Goa was chosen due to the quality of the water they found there. The team at John distillery made several trips to Scotland to understand the intricacies of the distilling process and the role played by water.
Mountains surround their distillery in Goa and water is drawn from underground sources and nearby streams. Much like the passion for malt that drew N.R. Jagdale into creating Amrut, Paul John, the chairman of John Distillers, developed a fondness for wines and single malts, in particular the latter, from his extensive travels across the world. Impressive though it may be to see the emergence of Indian single malts, celebrated by both critics and consumers, it has its share of sceptics. Anand Chintamani, an NCR-based whisky collector and educator, feels that quite like the early years of the Indian wine industry, inconsistency dogs the desi single malt.
In the wine industry, the show of confidence by multinationals such as Pernod Ricard and Moet Hennessy indicates that the industry and the supporting ecosystem have come a long way. The sector has also benefited enormously from “travelling wine makers” who have lent their expertise to several companies.
We are still to hear of such experts coming into the Indian whisky sector. India does bear the label of being the world’s largest whisky market (by volume) and, perhaps taking comfort in numbers, our companies have so far eschewed the foreign hand.
Back during the days of the British Raj, the Nawab of Rampur was entitled to a 15-gun salute, and as Sanjeev Banga gets ready to launch Rampur into overseas markets, I am sure he’s hoping for a similar response!
Vikram Achanta is co-founder and CEO of tulleeho.com and Tulleeho, an alcohol consulting firm.
