Review #11: Amrut Fusion
I’ll be honest: I was a skeptic for a while before we bought the Amrut Fusion 2 years ago. I had had Indian rum in the form of Old Monk, which held the reign as the world’s top selling dark rum until more recently. It tasted like cough syrup.
But since then, it’s become one of my favorites. It’s also a fantastic bottle to have on hand for friends that visit and inevitably one will ask “what should I have that is interesting?” It’s exotic (“No seriously, India makes really good whisky! Try it!!!”) and it’s such an easy-drinker. The peat is not very noticeable, which makes it an excellent choice for whisky newbies that may otherwise be turned off by a medicinal Laphroaig or Ardbeg.
*Update: According to the reddit thread, your mileage may vary because the quality is notoriously inconsistent.
Amrut Fusion Review
- Score - 7.5/107.5/10
Overall
Tasting Notes
Nose: Mandarins, peach pie, tropical fruits (mangoes and pineapples), and slight balsamic end
Palate: Starts out with happy and warm notes, some orange jam and peach cobbler, more mangoes, some strong vanilla flavors come out as you swirl around in your mouth, very light smoke
Leaves a bright orange-laced chocolate spice note with no heat
Very creamy mouthfeel
Overview
If it were a SMWS: “Orange mango creamsicle in summer.” Overview: This converted us into loving Indian whiskies. Japanese-esque easy drinking. A dessert dram – but not cloying.
Bought for: $67/bottle
Quick overview of our scoring system
Additional Information
- Fusion: distilled from barley from Scotland and India
- No age statement
- Aged in ex-Bourbon
- ABV 50%
About Amrut and Amrut Fusion:
- 97 points from Jim Murray’s 2010 Whisky Bible (and #3 Whisky of the Year)
- Amrut was founded in 1948 in Bangalore – and began creating whisky from barley blended with malt in 1982
- Whisky matures faster in India than Europe or the US, but loses a larger fraction (11-12% per year) to evaporation than Scotland (~2%). The master blender at Amrut has estimated 1 year in India is 3 years equivalent for aging in Scotland.
- Don’t try the Amrut rum