According to Indian mythology, when Gods and Rakshasas, or demons, churned the oceans inside Mount Meru (a mythical mountain thought to be the center of physical, metaphysical and spiritual worlds), a golden pot containing the nectar of life sprang out of the mountain. The nectar was called “Amrut,” which literally translates into “immortality.”

Amrut Distillery traces its history back to 1948 when, just one year after India declared its independence from Great Britain, Radhakrishna Jagdale began manufacturing rum and brandy, which he supplied to army canteens throughout India. After his death in 1976, the mantle was passed to his son, Neelakanta Rao Jagdale. When the younger Jagdale became Chairman of Amrut Distillery, he began experimenting with more innovative whiskies.

Amrut Fusion Single Malt Whisky is a marriage of whiskies made from peated Scottish barley and unpeated Indian barley. The Indian barley, nourished by the waters of the Himalayan mountains, is grown in a region known as Punjab (meaning “the land of five rivers”), where the cold winters and fiery summers create a unique quality of grain, rich in nutrients and flavor. The malted Scottish barley, which is dried over a peat fire, is imported from Scotland to India.

The two barleys are taken to Bangalore where they are mashed and distilled separately. Then, they are individually aged for three to five years before their arranged marriage finally takes place in used, American bourbon casks, where they are aged together. While the intense Indian heat causes whisky to age nearly three times as fast in India as compared to Scotland, it also leads to much greater rates of evaporation — approximately 12% of the whisky is lost to the angels each year in India, compared to just 2% in Scotland.

The combination of peated Scottish barley and unpeated Indian barley makes Amrut Fusion an incredibly complex whisky. With subtle notes of peat, vanilla, chocolate fudge and fruit, Amrut Fusion was rated the third best whisky in the world by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, scoring an incredible 97 points in 2009.

“There is demand, but we can’t service it,” says Jagdale, Amrut’s Chairman. “We cannot accelerate the maturation process. A good whisky can never be a mass product.”

Try some good whisky today!