For a country as vast and as storied as India, it's a shame that not more quality rums come out from the country, much of which is to do with the lack of proper standards - even in Indian whiskymaking, there are next to no qualifiers for what can be considered as such.

These qualifiers, while potentially in the case of Scotch began to pose a serious limitation and continued to stay resistant to evolution out of a desire for traditionalism (well, traditionalism met with Diageo's capitalistic might and got smacked in the face), are also important to ensuring that the category grows and is recognised globally.

There must be a reference point from which we can put together a category - this protects and incentivises serious contenders to innovate and add to the canon of its category. It assures consumers that they're purchasing exactly what they think they are purchasing and can begin to decide if they enjoy it. All of which comes together to push for more consumption within the category, which leads to more investment into the space, and therefore growth, the pursuit of excellence and recognition.

I'd say Amrut is probably the only player in India seriously piggybacking the entire category. It sounds dramatic, but we could just base those qualifiers upon Amrut and it would probably be a spot on proper definition for Indian rum and would probably account for 99% of any progress made in the space.

Today we've got a bottle of Amrut's new 2015 Single Cask "Jaggery" Indian Rum bottled under the Habitation Velier banner and also doubles for La Maison du Whisky's 2022 Antipodes collection.

This bottle singularly justifies my belief that Amrut is the sole definition of Indian rum.

With these standards on what constitutes produce from a certain geographical indication, it is always tricky because it requires drawing a fine line that melds the questions "what is rum" and "what is Indian rum". It is key to make sure it can be globally recognised as part of the rum category but also not overly limiting to prevent any local influence. 

The use of "Jaggery", a type of unrefined sugar made by cooking sugarcane juice that is commonly found in Indian households used as a food ingredient, is what I think is a wonderful and perhaps the best example thus far of "Indian rum".

Like all rums, it is made from sugarcane, it is also fermented, after which it is distilled, and becomes an aged rum given its 7 years of aging in a single ex-Bourbon cask. What makes it "Indian" is the use of a sugarcane-derived base product that is unique to the country - Jaggery.

Hence, this bottle symbolises a serious contender for the definition of "Indian rum".

This bottling also underscores the sheer contribution by the Habitation Velier umbrella to our vocabulary of rums. It is incredibly exciting as the range continues to add to it more and more rums that bring us to nooks and crannies of the world that we can't even imagine, to push the boundaries of what we understand rum to be, to take us to the edges of local rums.

Perhaps something that I think should definitely be appreciated more so here is also that because it is part of the Habitation Velier range, it is also by definition pot still - which means we're not just getting a rare taste of a jaggery-based rum, but also one that is pot still distilled.

I've always thought it was incredible just what Habitation Velier has sought to achieve. Velier's success with the well understood categories of Caribbean rums could have been all it needed - done and dusted. But the creation of the Habitation Velier range has meant that Luca and his team has had to venture out into the field (no easy task mind you) and get their boots dirty as they seek to continuously open their minds to the diversity of interpretations of rums from so many cultures and localities. I truly believe it is one of, if not the greatest contributions to our understanding of rums. 

Velier Amrut 2015, 7 Year Old, Single Cask ex-Bourbon No. 225, High Proof, 62.8% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Amber 

Aroma: Very gentle but really aromatic, sort of wafts forth with a mix of lighter and darker notes - a very interesting slightly herbal waxiness like beeswax and manuka honey, reminiscent of traditional herbal medicine, honey sweetness but with a side of dried ginseng and cumin seeds. Soft notes of brown sugar, desiccated coconuts, white florals, fresh laundry, mixed with dried fruits - apricots and mangoes. There's a base note of dark cacao and alittle bit more on burnt toast or charred oak.  

Taste: It's definitely punchier here, brighter as well - butterscotch, wild honey - slightly herbal with more cumin, eucalyptus, angelica root, sarsaparilla. Honey coated dried pineapples, mangoes and apricots - a very concentrated fruit sugar. There's a light bit of mocha as well, or lightly bittersweet dark chocolate sauce. Some old wood as well, quite a deep old oakiness. It's slightly heftier than medium-bodied, silky but not as viscous as you might imagine.

Finish: Long drawn out with more sweetness of dried apricots and mangoes, more on chai spices, more heady florals, and a receding manuka honey. The oaky notes are more pronounced here and do get a bit more drying. 

My Thoughts

While not the most high octane rum (typically the further out you go from molasses and dunder, the less so), it did bring to fore quite an interesting and complex take of the rum repertoire. It had an incredibly herbal waxiness and loads of dried yellow fruits that was very concentrated in sweetness and fruit esters.

This was really equal parts fruit sugars and herbal notes - which is already much more flavor forward and complex than your average rhum agricole (made of sugarcane juice) and definitely more so than rums made of kokuto (the most simple in my opinion, not necessarily in a bad way). 

On the by and large, I found this very enjoyable and was quite delighted especially from the dried mango notes which I personally really liked, I also thought it had a good heftiness to its body and a nice enjoyable finish.

However, I will admit that for some reason, I had hoped for more oomph and something that jumped out more - rather this was incredibly solid and enjoyable with nice roundedness and great affable flavors - but it just felt like there was nothing particularly exciting or offensive about it flavor-wise. I guess I wished that there was more here to dissect and discuss about the tasting experience - it kinda left me wanting something more. 

That said, if I ever got a chance to buy this bottle would I? I'd buy an entire case - I really enjoyed it that much. I guess unreasonably high expectations come with anything that's new to the scene.

I tried this at Whisky Live Singapore, and given the really small outturn, I think your best bet is to keep a lookout on the auction boards like Rum Auctioneer.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot