Amrut Portonova Single Malt

I had the good fortune to attend an Amrut tasting event tonight with one of the brand ambassadors at the Seven Grand whiskey bar in downtown Austin. I got to try five different expressions from Amrut over the course of the evening, plus some delightful punch made with their peated single malt. Wow, what a whisky! I haven't had too many port finishes, as they're damn expensive usually and I'm not the biggest fan of wine finishes, but this one almost reminded me of a sweet red wine mixed with bourbon. The nose was just incredible. I wish my whole house smelled like this one. That being said, the brand rep said there were 60 bottles allocated to all of Texas, which likely means a high price tag. I was most glad I got to try this one though, and it ranks #2 out of 5 for my tastings tonight.

Chocolate.

Amazing! Loaded with flavors of chocolate, raisins, figs, spices, cherries, toffee, vanilla, and raspberries.

This thing is pure gasoline - you need water and a bandaid with this one. The nose is cognac; port eludes me. The palate is definitely bourbon influenced - spices and lightly charred oak. Finish is somewhat on the bitter side. I'm a sucker for high ABVs so I like it.

Nose - (w/o water) Very tropical fruity/floral, coconut, pineapple, hints of dark stone fruits, lemon cake (w/ water) More pronounced tropical vanilla, toasted coconut, less port influence. Taste - (w/o water) Dark fruity honey, fruity black peppercorns, strong white pepper heat/burn, pomelo, "dark" tasting yet fruity/tropical, pineapple, drying, light fruity bitter like a dark chocolate/coffee covered dark toffee, lightly briny (w/ water) more tropical fruity honey, grilled pineapple, floral saffron, sharp citrus/hoppy sweet. Finish - (w/o water) Lingering white pepper burn, charred pineapple bittersweet, tropical honey, weird splenda sweetness (w/ water) Less white pepper burn, lingering tropical saffron simple, fruity honey. Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - When I first opened the bottle, my impression was great nose, not so great on the palate, but after having this opened for a few weeks, it's mellowed out a tad. Nose is still fantastic, both with and without water in that it retains the tropical vibe I get from Amrut. The port influence is more prominent without water and oddly seems to vanish quite quickly with water. On the palate, it's super hot without water, and gives a very tropical/fruity honey vibe which is somewhat tamed with water and makes it more of a lighter/tropical vibe with dark honey undertones. Without water, it burns from the instant it hits your tongue to the finish, a bit of water tames it a bit, but you need to be careful as it's easy to overdo it. I'd suggest a dropper to get it to the level you want as it's easy to add a bit too much, which is what I think I did. Overall a very interesting dram, hard to tell the youth from the heat and the dominating tropical flavors but that's a good thing.