With @whiskylivesingapore just around the corner, I thought I’d better get on with a tasting that has been long delayed, partly because I’ve been getting way too many rums and samples, one that was selected specially for WLS and a world premier for that matter - the @habitation.velier @amrutmalt 2015.

The Amrut Distillery itself was founded in 1948 in Bangalore, South India, and has been known for its known for its single malt Indian whiskey. But it has also been producing rum since 1955, and while I am not entirely familiar with the rums that Amrut have traditionally produced, @maisonduwhisky’s 2022 catalogue tell us that Amrut produces its own rums from “Jaggery”, a local form of solidified, unrefined sugar that is diluted before fermentation and distilled. This form of jaggery rum has been in use for its Two Indies rum, blended with other rums from Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana.

What distinguishes this HV release from Amrut’s own rums is the fact that this is probably the first time pure jaggery rum has been bottled on its own. In total, there were three single cask releases of Amrut rum by HV, all pot-distilled in 2015 and aged for seven years in ex-bourbon casks in India before bottling in 2022 at 62.8% abv:

• Single cask #225, 130 bottles for Whisky Live Singapore
• Single cask #226, 130 bottles for Collection Antipodes
• Single cask #227, 121 bottles for the USA

The nose was round, rich, very delectable and warm, almost like a marsala chai tea, or what is locally known as teh tarik (local black tea with condensed milk). Layered immediately underneath that were much brighter and fruitier notes, apricots, citrus fruits, and golden raisins. There was a nice floral-ness about the rum too, although I could not really pin it down to anything specific, but indeed quite unlike any other rum I’ve had.

The palate was oily, rich, rather dry and a slight astringent, almost a world apart from what I had on the nose. There was some slight honey sweetness at first, but then developed rather heavy, medicinal and herbal flavours, perhaps having spent a bit too much time in the oak than it should have. The finish was long, and lightened up slightly as it stretched on, with some of the sweetness returning, once again lightly medicinal, perhaps akin to cherry-flavoured cough syrup (pleasant of course), with some dried apricots, marsala chai tea, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. With a little water, the profile changed quite a bit, with all the heavy medicinal notes in the middle disappearing, and the rum turning into a creamy, sweet, strawberry and vanilla laced candy, and rose syrup. I must say it worked perfectly with some water as the flavours were significantly much more pleasant and forthcoming.

When I first had this at WLS, I admit I wasn’t immediately blown away by the rum, but as we all know, whisky/rum shows aren’t exactly the best place to properly decipher and work out tasting notes. Having sat down properly this weekend with a dram of Amrut’s 2015, I’d say I am properly impressed, a wonderfully complex and pleasant rum, and here’s hoping we’d see more of such pure jaggery rums coming from Amrut soon.

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu