Bought: Best of Whisky, Holland, 2nd February 2015
Ratings:
94.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2015 (for batch 10)
84.1/100 – Whiskybase (batch 27 – average from 12 member votes)
88/100 – Ralfy – (his YouTube review below)
Whisky from India shouldn’t be a surprise in 2015, especially as the Amrut distillery was founded in 1948. The word ‘Amrut’ means a golden pot containing the Elixir of life. And ‘Fusion’ refers to a combination of Indian barley and Scottish peat thrust together to form a single malt with a hefty 50% abv. At least that’s what it says in the book ‘101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die’ where I first encountered the Amrut Fusion. On the bottle’s tube it says “Indian and Scottish barleys” and makes no mention of “peat”. Perhaps the recipe has changed?
The Whisky Bible 2015 only lists two releases of the Fusion – Batch 1 (released in 2009), which scores the acclaimed 97/100 and Batch 10 (released in 2011), which scores a very healthy 94.5/100. I hope that standards have been kept up because my bottle is Batch 27, released in August 2014. But who knows because Jim Murray, author of the Whisky Bible, says Batch 10 should be “plotted on a different map to the now legendary Whisky Bible award-winning Batch 1”. If batches can be so different it makes a mockery having the 97/100 mark for Batch 1 on the tube of Batch 27 produced 5 years later. It’s not the same whisky! But it’s an award so Amrut naturally want to shout about it. Batch 27 scores over 84/100 on Whiskybase, which does suggest it’s an excellent single malt.
As of February 2015 Waitrose are selling the Amrut Fusion for £50, or you can get it from an online UK shop for £42, or from Holland for £28.
Here’s Ralfy with his thoughts about the Amrut Fusion on YouTube (Oct 2011):
Whisky Den 