Whisky Focus - Amrut Naarangi

Amrut Naarangi, the new orange flavoured single malt from Amrut, but is it controversial?

Amrut Distilleries who is known for their popular range of Single Malt whiskies such as Amrut Fusion and Amrut Peated has launched Amrut Naarangi, which they are claiming to be the world’s first single malt whisky that carries orange notes. Amrut Naarangi takes its name from the Hindi translation for 'orange'.

The latest offering derives its name from the Hindi word, Naarangi which means Orange. They claim that it is the only single malt whisky ever produced in the world to have expressions of Orange, which brings forth a new level of experimentation to the malt world.

EU regulations for malt whiskies state that adding anything to a whisky disqualifies it from being called a whisky, however, Amrut who had been contemplating adding Orange notes to whisky have developed a novel solution to create Naarangi which meets all EU guidelines.

To produce this whisky, Amrut procured Olorosso Sherry from Spain and matured wine along with Orange peel in it for a period of three years. The oranges for this were sourced from the tourist haven, Madikeri located in the picturesque Western Ghats of India. The wine and orange peel concoction was let to mature for 3 years in Bangalore, lending the barrel a unique Orange essence.

The wine and peels were then spilled and the barrels were filled with three year old matured single malt whisky and allowed to mature for three more years. In this period, the barrels have lent the Orange characteristics to the whisky and the result is the new Amrut Naarangi single malt

Ashok Chokalingam, GM – International Markets, Amrut commented: "The whisky is not dominated by the Orange but remarkably balanced out. The finish is of subtle orange notes while in the middle ground you can find the traditional Amrut signature."

The first batch of 900 bottles which was bottled at 50% ABV has been shipped to markets in Europe, Asia Pacific and Canada. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that this flavoured expression follows EU guidelines, meaning it can include the word 'whisky' in its name. The single malt whisky has been matured for three years in Oloroso Sherry casks that had previously held wine mixed with orange peel for three years prior.

Will this be the start of a new method to flavour whisky and still be able to call it whisky?

Amruts range of Indian single malt whisky is available from whisky specialist shops such as  The Whisky Exchange
 

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