Jose-Massu-Espinel
Amrut Greedy Angels
Single Malt — India
Reviewed
January 29, 2022 (edited May 12, 2024)
I think i have told you this one hundred times before: Amrut is one of my favorite distilleries. But here is one very interesting fact: the Angel's Share in India is about 14% per year; while in Scotland is between 2-3%.
That means, there are not 12 or 10 year old whiskies in India. The Angels have drank every drop of every cask by that time. (There is actually one 10yo Amrut called Greedy Angels as well).
The whole story of this expression is that the Angels have been "greedy" with this distillery casks, leaving almost nothing for the people after 8 years of maturation. It is well known that this hot places like India and Taiwan suffer from this high evaporation, but the oxygen that enters the cask make the whisky to "super mature" in a short time. That is why 5yo expressions from this countries tend to be acclaimed. Only few bottles appear every now and then, and they even come with an authenticity certificate. This one in particular, was bottled at 50%abv and it has a dark peach color.
On the nose, it is increidle, but it takes some time to develop everything. Starts very fruity, with a nice note old oranges, sawdust, coffee beans and dark chocolate. Peaches have appeared; there is definitively some spiciness. Peach halves with their syrup, It has the "naranjilla" (lulo fruit) note from most Amruts. Tiramisú dessert. The nose started dim but then it blew up to a Milk powder, Chocolate madness, Milk cream aroma. It is ncredibly complex. Definitively Mocha.
On the palate, it is sweet, oaky, powerful. There is a peach syrup, sawdust and caramel. Also a thick orange peel note. Sugar syrup, acid oranges, naranjilla (lulo fruit).
Aftertaste is where it really feels old and overly oaked. Very dry, oaky with chocolate hints. It is very woody, it completely dries your palate, like if it was an oak sponge that sucks your saliva. Some hints of sugar notes are here as well.
Overall, this really felt like a very old scotch whisky; i have had a few, and some of them, over 30 years tend to develop some overly oaked notes. Those profiles really appeared on the aftertaste here, not in a bad or off-putting way. Finish was not as good as the nose or palate, but it still managed to deliver a nice experience. A mythical single malt, that is really hard to come by, my score for this one is a solid 88 over 100.
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@Jose-Massu-Espinel i’ve had their 10yr Greedy Angels—-was stunning. I think the other Indian distillery that ranks up there with Amrut is Paul John. I find Paul John a bit more restrained than Amrut, less in your face and aggressive.