Amrut is an Indian distillery whose business J.N. Radhakrishna Rao Jagdale started in Bangalore in 1948, as Amrut Laboratories.1,2,3 It began as a bottler and built its malt distillery at Kambipura in 1987.2,4,5 From 2004 it bottled its surplus blending malt as Amrut Single Malt.2,6,7
Its first plant was a single bottling unit for Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), mostly neutral spirit with a little grain or malt whisky.1,2,3 In 1972 Amrut Laboratories became Amrut Distilleries, and the founder's son Neelakanta Rao Jagdale joined the business.
A satisfying, rewarding whisky combining peaches, apricots and cereal notes with cloves, ginger and allspice.
A magnificent and rather explosive fruitiness, with ripe mango, passion fruit, blood orange and unexpected saline notes.
In 1980 Amrut set out to make a premium whisky with malt, while most Indian distillers made whisky from molasses.4,6,7 In 1987 master distiller Surrinder Kumar set up its malt distillery on Mysore Road, about 20 kilometres from Bangalore, with two locally made pot stills.2,4,5 By 1995 less malt was going into its blends, so Amrut had malt to spare and let some casks age longer.4,6 By 2000 those casks showed that heat makes whisky mature faster in India, where 11-12% a year evaporates, against 2% in Scotland.4,6 Kumar has estimated that one year in cask in India equals three years in Scotland.4,6 On 24 August 2004 that surplus malt went on sale as Amrut Single Malt, at Café India in Glasgow.2,6,7
Amrut trebled its distillation capacity in 2018.9 Neelakanta Rao Jagdale died on 9 May 2019, and his son Rakshit Jagdale now heads the company as managing director.3,8,10 In August 2024 Rakshit Jagdale said demand exceeded supply and that Amrut would raise its distillation capacity by 30%.11,12
It makes its single malt from barley grown in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, and imports peated barley from Scotland for some versions.2,4 Wort, the sugary water from the mash, ferments for six days in stainless steel fermenters.2 The semi-conical wash still runs slowly, for 14 hours, which Kumar says allows "more reflux, more contact time with the copper".2,13 The spirit still has a boil ball, a bulb at the base of the neck that sends more vapour back down to be distilled again, for a lighter spirit.2,13 Copper condensers turn the vapour back into spirit.2 Its water comes by truck from a well on company farmland about 24 kilometres away.2
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