A purple-blue flower that is home to the Nilgiri mountains, finds its moment only once in twelve years; the Kurinji also known natively as Neela-kurunji, meaning “blue Kurinji“, lends the slopes of these mountains a lovely rich violet hue. These Blue Mountains that are part of the larger Western Ghats are also popularly referred to as…
Tag: Indian whisky
Review : Royal Ranthambore Heritage Collection
My recent one week stint at Bangalore gave me the chance to get my hands on a few local whiskies, some of which aren’t either available in Australia, are scarce and rare or just costs dearer. Roaring its way into the month of October is a whisky that has both aesthetics and a name that…
Review : Paul John Nirvana
Having recently tried the Amrut Rajigala, I was scouting for an almost equivalent expression by the next big Indian Distillery that had made itself a name – Paul John. Enter Nirvana; a bit of a rarity this one is, knowing that once I moved it to my cart and went through with the purchase, there…
Review : Amrut Rajigala Review
This month’s review treads on familiar territory, within the realms of the Indian Subcontinent with this one diving into an expression from Amrut distilleries, the Rajigala. The whisky falls under their base category though from a price point there isn’t a large variation from other standard expressions from the distillery. The name Rajigala translates to…
Review : Kamet Single Malt Whisky
The Indian market over the last decade seems to have experienced an evolution; where consumers are more cognizant and appreciative of both quality and processes that go into concocting whisky and distillers themselves readily acknowledge this change in demand dynamics with a penchancy to push their brands aggressively into a market with great open potential….
Review : Rampur Sherry PX Finish
Slipping in another review towards the end of the year, this month’s tropical expression finds its roots from the Indian subcontinent, from one of the country’s oldest distillery – Radico Kaitan and its wing, the Rampur distillery. Though relatively new to the international single malt arena, the distillery does have a fair bit of experience…
Review : Amrut Portnova
A tribute to the Portuguese and its influence on India, this whisky takes inspiration from one of the many trading centres situated in southern India along the Coromandel coast, the Portnovo – modern day Parangipettai. The Portnova, isn’t shy in giving away its DNA, both in terms of colour or its name. Matured initially in…
Review : Amrut Amalgam
Indian whisky has spent much of its time in the shadows of obscurity, battling a dysfunctional, highly aberrant whisky production system, lacking quality control and an absence of any such handbook of sorts. The good news however is and there are a handful of distillers (more like a pinch really!) that are doing a great…
Review : Paul John Edited
King’s beer, Feni, beaches, shacks, psychedelic trance parties…all popular nouns, most if not all of the one billion strong would associate with Goa. But hidden away like a needle in a hay stack is a little known secret, the presence of an underdog whose venture into the Single Malt’s world would not exceed beyond the number…
Review : McDowell’s Single Malt
Whiskies are so much of an unexplored and unappreciated lot that it took me over a decade to realize what I was really missing. The outlook the world over has matured and continues to do so with more and more people appreciating the drink; not to mention distillers going beyond just age and ingredient in…
Review : Paul John- Brilliance
Dedication, passion and a love for doing things right can do wonders even for an amateur, something which echoes very strongly with the folks at the John Paul Distillery. They’re entry into the world of Single Malt whisky was quite recent; 2012 in UK, 2013 in Goa and much later in Bangalore. Within this short…
Tete-a-Tete : Japan & India | Part 2
Saki, incense sticks, honour, kaizen and the way of the Samurai; I’m sure after hearing the second reference you most likely had one of those light bulb moments screaming “Japan”! Oh yes, the Japanese might be famous for Saki and martial arts but there’s a new famous in town! And it’s whisky! Japan to me has…
Review : Amrut Fusion
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to brush shoulders with the Amrut Fusion. This relatively young player made an introduction in Glasgow in the year 2004. Coming from the Indian Subcontinent, it had faced stiff competition as most whisky connoisseurs felt Indian whisky to be inferior. A series of blind tasting events changed all that,…
Uisce Beatha | My Whisk'e'y Diaries 