Whisky Off The Beaten Path

Amrut Distilleries has been distilling since 1948, but only began producing single malt whisky back in the 1980's (prior to that, it was brandy). When they had a surplus of whisky back in the mid 1990's they decided to let it age a bit longer than they previously had been. Well, that changed everything. Hello world, there's a new style of whisky on the market!

As the climate is quite warm and tropical where it is aged (Bangalore), the single malt whiskies are aged only 4-5 years. Amrut Fusion is made using both Indian and Scottish barley. Mashed, distilled, and aged separately, they are then married and aged for a further 3 months in Bourbon barrels.

This Indian whisky was originally matured in either ex-bourbon casks or virgin oak casks. The whiskies then went through an intermediate maturing process in Sherry butts at Amrut’s Bangalore distillery. Amrut then transferred the whisky back into ex-bourbon casks for another round of aging.

This single malt sources its barley from the Himalayas and ages the whisky at an altitude of over 3,000 feet above sea level in Bangalore. In this climate, the angels take way more than their share as up to 15% abv of the whisky is lost per year.

Bushmills 21 Year features triple distilled single malt which has been aged for a minimum of 19 years in former bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. Then the single malt whiskey is matured for two years additional years in former Madeira wine casks before bottling. (SRP $299.99)

Bushmills 16 Year is a triple-distilled single malt aged around 15 years in a combination of oloroso sherry and bourbon casks. Then the whiskey is finished in port wine pipes to finish maturation. The single malt is bottled at 80 proof. (SRP $149.99)

Bushmills 10 Year is the youngest single malt expression for the brand. It is triple distilled in copper pot stills and is aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. (SRP $49.99)

Produced about 60 miles north of Belfast in the town of the same name, Bushmills is a blended whiskey comprised of triple distilled malted barley and grain whiskey aged in ex-bourbon barrels. (SRP $29.99)

Bushmills Black Bush is aged for 7-11 years, primarily in oloroso sherry casks with some ex-bourbon barrels in the mix. This Irish blend also includes a very high single malt whiskey percentage for a blended whiskey at 80%. Bottled at 80 proof. (SRP $31.99)

This bottling from Utah based High West is a combination of three different whiskeys. It combines straight bourbon (71% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt) and straight rye (95% rye, 5% malted barley) both distilled at Indiana's MGP distillery. Also included is blended malt Scotch whisky from an undisclosed (per the contract) source. The whiskeys range in age from 5-8 years. Note: This product has been updated to include High West's own rye distillate to the blend.