Oak

Amrut Fusion

Amrut Fusion

Amrut has a special place in our collective memory. The first time we tasted the standard offering before we’d even begun our collective exploration, the results were…memorable. And horrific. Fast forward two years of developing our palates and, while perhaps still not our first choice at the bar, we can better appreciate what the distillery is trying to do. The history of whisky in India is a proud and interesting one. Amrut started over 65 years ago; a large company, only a small percentage of its revenue is from whisky. While most Indian distilleries serve their domestic tastes, Amrut is focused primarily on foreign markets. Their single malt line has only been available for the past decade or so, and this heralded Fusion combines barley from India with barley from Scotland, which has been peat smoked.

GlenDronach 15 Year Revival

GlenDronach 15 Year Revival

GlenDronach is known for crafting single malts that are richly sherried. Though the 14 Year Sauternes Cask we reviewed early last year is no longer offered, several others have been introduced (or reintroduced) to take it’s place. The GlenDronach 15 in particular has received a lot of positive attention, having been an excellent single malt from years ago recently brought back. Since we’d gone through a number of Sauternes finished whiskies, we decided to sample the sherry finish to compare.

Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask

Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask

One of the things Balvenie likes to do in its standard offerings besides various age statements is experiment with different cask finishes. Unlike other whiskys, who often use a cask finish for their NAS releases, Balvenie displays both age and finish. Unlike some distillers, who buy their ex-wine or spirit barrels from around the world, Balvenie takes American oak casks and chooses the West Indian rums (i.e. Cuba, but renamed to get past picky U.S. import law) that fill them. The master distiller chooses when these barrels are ready to empty and be filled with the 14 year old whisky for finishing. How does the smoothness of the base whisky mix with the rum casks?