...where distraction is the main attraction.

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Amrut Bagheera, batch 1

Next up, Black Panther and the Amrut Multiverse, or something. Amrut has framed Bagheera as a limited special edition, but I'm not sure what's so special about it. It's an NAS sherry-finished whisky packaged with two little glasses but without a clear reason for its existence. Wouldn't an NAS sherry-finished whisky would fit right into their core range? All I really know about Amrut Bagheera is that a bottle of it appeared at April's Columbus Scotch Night. And here's my review of the liquid.

Distillery: Amrut
Region: Bangalore, India
Expression: Bagheera
Batch: 1, September 2020
Age: ???
Barley: allegedly 99% unpeated + 1% peated malt
Maturation: probably bourbon casks first, then sherry casks second
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? probably not
Color added? ???
(sample spirited away from an event)

NOTES

The nutty and sulfurous start to the nose recedes into a mix of figs, baked apples, cloves and cassia bark. Notes of molasses chews and funky honey appear later. Black pepper, salt and clover honey cover the palate's foreground with bits of ginger and bitter citrus in the back. Earthy walnutty dry sherry gives way to something sweeter after 20+ minutes. It finishes with cinnamon red hots candies, raw walnuts, candied citrus peels and candied ginger. Like the palate, it gets sweeter with time.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It is drinkable, but its raison d'etre remains unclear. Seems like it could sit side-by-side with the standard Amrut Indian Single Malt and Amrut Peated Indian Single Malt bottles on mid-shelves, especially since it has the same 46%abv presentation, and is not an upgrade in quality. Serge thought it both weirder and better than I do, FWIW. If anyone knows more about this release, please let me know in the comment section below. Cheers.

Availability - North America, Western Europe and South Africa
Pricing - $85-$100 in The States
Rating - 81