Collection: Indian

It depends where you want to start. Paul John Brilliance at $69 is the gentlest way in, unpeated and built on honey and cereal sweetness. Amrut Single Malt at the same price runs drier and more oak-forward. From there, the Peated Cask Strength at $110 goes big and smoky, while Paul John PX at $129 leans into sherry richness and dried fruit.

The better question is whether it is doing the same job, and it is not. Bangalore and Goa sit in tropical heat, so spirit takes flavor from oak roughly three times faster than it does in Scotland, and far more of each barrel evaporates. A four-year-old Indian malt can carry the depth of a Scotch three times its age, though it arrives with more tropical fruit and less of the cool maritime character. Neither is the better version of the other.

Going first, then being taken seriously. The distillery began exporting Indian single malt in 2004, when few expected an Indian producer to compete with Scotland. Six years later Jim Murray's Whisky Bible named Amrut Fusion the third finest whisky in the world at 97 points, and the category has never looked the same since. Fusion itself marries Indian barley with peated Scottish barley at 50% ABV.

This gap is wider than most people expect. The majority of whisky sold within India is distilled from fermented molasses, which puts it closer to rum and means it cannot legally be sold as whisky across much of Europe. Single malt works the other way: 100% malted barley from one distillery, run through copper pot stills, matured in oak. Every bottle on this page belongs to the second group.

Blind judging changed the picture. When a panel scores without seeing the label, provenance stops carrying weight, and Indian malts started placing. Amrut opened the door in 2010, Paul John has collected World Whiskies Awards medals across its range, and Indri's Diwali Collector's Edition 2023 took Best in Show Double Gold at the Whiskies of the World Awards, finishing ahead of Scotch, bourbon, and Canadian entries. The common thread is distilleries that committed to malted barley and pot stills while the domestic market still paid better for cheap volume.

Indri comes from Piccadily Distilleries and takes its name from the village in Haryana where it is made, near the Himalayan foothills. It launched in 2021 with Trini, billed as India's first triple cask single malt, matured in ex-bourbon, ex-French wine, and ex-sherry wood. The Diwali Collector's Editions are its limited peated releases, built on six-row barley and PX sherry casks. It is the youngest of the major Indian names and the fastest growing.

Neat, at room temperature, in a tulip glass that gathers the aroma. These whiskies carry a lot of fruit and spice on the nose, and ice shuts most of it down. Cask strength bottlings such as the Amrut Peated Cask Strength open up with two or three drops of water, so add it slowly and taste as you go. Save these for sipping rather than mixing.

Yes, though the selection is narrower than it is at home, because only a handful of Indian distilleries export here. We ship at a $15 flat rate to any state that permits it, and Rockaway ZIPs 11692, 11693, and 11694 get same-day delivery from the Queens warehouse. Someone 21 or over has to show ID and sign for the order.