In these final 10 reviews leading up to review #1000, we've decided to take a look at whiskies from distilleries which, at one point or another in our exploration of whisky, have become more meaningful to us than most others. These 10 distilleries had impacts on journey for a variety of reasons, reasons which we'll dig into in each review.
For review #991, we're looking at India's Amrut distillery, and specifically their Fusion single malt. Our love of this brand goes back to a tasting we attended in 2023 with Amrut's Head of Distilling, Ashok Chokalingam - we tasted 9 whiskies on the night, including a variety of their single malts, as well as a malted rye and some whiskies sourced from other Indian distilleries.
While we had dabbled in world whiskies before that, the vast majority of our focus has been on American whiskies and Scotch whiskies to that point; this Amrut tasting experience opened our eyes to how much other countries had to offer in the whisky realm. There was such a diverse range of flavors across the different offerings, and many of them displayed a fruity, tropical quality that isn't replicated in many other categories of whisky. One of the whiskies we tried that night - a triple distilled malt called Triparva - quickly became one of our favorites due to its focus on those bright, tropical, creamy fruit flavors.
We didn't taste the Fusion single malt that night, but this is one of Amrut's best known whiskies. It takes its name from the fact that it's created with two types of malted barley, which creates a fusion of the Indian whisky and Scottish whisky styles; Scotch whisky, after all, was the biggest external influence when it came to developing an Indian whisky industry. This whisky uses roughly 75% Indian barley which is unpeated and grown in the Himalayas, but also 25% Scottish barley, and that portion is peated.
These grains aren't combined into one mashing process, though - they're mashed and distilled separately, and then the maturation process also takes place in separate parcels of casks. They use a combination of new and refill American oak ex-bourbon casks for the maturation, and while there isn't an age statement on the bottle, the aging time is rumored to be 3 to 6 years. That seems young, but considering the intensely hot and humid climate in many parts of India, the oak has an impact much faster than in other places.
After maturation, the two spirit styles are combined and blended into batches, and the bottling strength is set at 50% ABV. The bottle we have here was filled back in 2022, as a part of Batch no. 124.
Amrut Fusion
India - Single Malt
Price: USD 75 (2026)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 50% ABV
Cask Makeup: New and refill ex-bourbon casks
Details: Batch no. 124, bottled August 2022
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 3 years; bottles at 90%, 80%, and 50% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Stone fruits like nectarine combine with savory orange, spices of pepper and cinnamon, as well as an earthy peat note. It's mildly funky at times, and we get dry driftwood, nutmeg, and lots of malt. Clove arrives, followed by crisp apple and juicy pear.
Palate: Bright stone fruits - peach, nectarine, apricot, then some orange seeds. Brown sugar, black pepper, and cinnamon bring a spicy baking aspect, and we get orange oil, drying oak, and some charred wood too. The fruits grow more juicy and tropical; we get subtle nutty notes and dusty hay later. The mouthfeel has a medium thickness.
Finish: Subtle smoke, wood smoke, and again we get a nutty side to the wood profile. Sharp orange fruit, maybe blood orange, and a bit of a peppery kick... unripe peach, nectarine, caramel, and ginger beer arrive. In the aftertaste, dusty malt and vanilla linger; it's a medium length finish.
Final Note: This bottle evolved quite a bit across the time we tasted it; then again, it was over a period of about 3 years, during much of which there was a decent amount of air in the bottle. It changed for the better over that time - at first, it was more wood dominated and sharp, but the fruits began to show more and more, especially those juicy stone fruits. There's a decent amount of complexity here for a young whisky, and the texture and length of the finish are solid as well. Overall, we think it's good a nice entry in the Amrut range, but it does lack a little bit of that 'wow factor' that certain other Amrut whiskies have.
The value on a lot of Amrut whiskies suffer in our books due to the price - it's high quality whisky, but many of the releases are also very expensive. This Fusion single malt is much more reasonably priced at about $75, though, and due to the good score, the value is good here, too.
Our Rating: 7.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.68
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
