Great Scott! Indian single malt whisky going global

BANGALORE: The young and the happening are moving to a new love, laced with heavy, thick oak and barley-sugar notes shrouded in soft smoke, with a gentle hint of cool mountain air. The taste of the single malt whisky. Yes, single malt is no more a drink only of the old or retired.

Whisky currently accounts for 55% of all IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) sales in the country. While mid and premium segment whisky contributes 90% of the market share and the premium scotch market is growing at 25%-30 %, a new luxury segment is evolving within Indian brands in the form of single malts.

Five-star hotels confirm the trend. The consumption of single malt has increased significantly over the past couple of years, such that single malt sales alone contribute around 5% to 10% of the total beverage revenue.
“There is a growing demand for the luxury segment of whisky in our country,’’ says Neelkanta Rao Jagdale, managing director, Amrut Distilleries.

An official in the country’s largest spirits manufacturer, United Spirits, that produces single malt Scotch whisky brands like Isle of Jura and Dalmore, says there has been “an acceleration in the number of people asking for single malts.’’

While imported single malt Scotch brands like Glenfiddich , Glenlivet and Glenmorangie are the usual crowd pullers, a recent development is the emergence of quality products from non-Scotch countries, including from India . Amrut Distilleries’ Amrut Indian Single Malt brand, which was launched in the whisky capital — Scotland has joined the global bandwagon of single malt and has won several global awards. Renowned whisky writer Jim Murray recently rated its ‘Amrut Fusion’ as the world’s third finest whisky in his 2010 edition Whisky Bible, UK’s largest selling whisky book.

“The arrival of Indian whisky will act as a wake-up call for the Scotch whisky industry . If these guys in Bangalore can produce exceptional , worldclass whisky, why can’t Scottish distillers who have been around for 100 years or more?,’’ wonders Murray, who was in Bangalore recently.