Who Really Invented the Spectrum Cask?
Amrut Distilleries is one of the leading distilleries in India and continues to wow the industry with the release of interesting and incredible new spirits every year. One of their most unique releases to date is Amrut Spectrum, a single malt that boasts a mosaic of tastes and flavors lent by a variety of Oak.
Initially matured in Ex-bourbon barrel, the single malt is transferred to a custom-built, unique barrel that is constructed out of not one but four varieties of oak - American Oak with level three charring, French Oak with slight toasting, Ex-Oloroso Sherry Stave and Ex-Px Sherry Stave. The result is a complex single malt that will both engross and delight you in equal measure.
This approach is incredibly rare and was invented by none other than Amrut’s own Head of Distilling and International Sales, Ashok Chokalingam. Keep reading to learn the fascinating story behind the one-of-a-kind Spectrum cask?
A middle of the night epiphany
We all know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with a thought that we can’t shake. For Ashok, his idea for Spectrum came at 230 in the morning when he was engrossed in taking Amrut single malt to the international market. He gave into his insomnia, brewed a pot of coffee, and called his colleague in India. The question he posed was “Why isn’t anyone making whisky that is matured in a barrel that encompasses different types of oak wood?”
After the initial shock of a middle of the night phone call, his colleague gave it some thought and gave Ashok the green light to pursue this wild idea. He went to work acquiring different types of wood and set off for Spain to a Cooper he knew well. Ashok approached this family-owned business with his vision and even though no one had ever asked them to make a barrel like this in over 40 years of business, they were up to the challenge.
How to create this new type of cask
While it seems easy enough to assemble a barrel using a few types of wood, it is actually quite challenging to ensure they fuse properly. For example, French oak has 10x more tannins than American oak, so you can’t char the woods the same way. After a day of brainstorming and discussing all the ways that this could work, Ashok and the Cooper came up with an idea.
The cooper would need to char or toast barrels individually, then cut them into an exact shape / size and assemble. They then crafted 5 barrels and selected two different barrel heads; American oak with char 3 and new French oak. These barrels were shipped to India in 2012 and whisky that was originally aged in ex-bourbon barrels were transferred to these new Spectrum barrels.
Trial and error
Each year, Ashok tasted the flavor of the spirit in each of these Spectrum barrels. The flavor the first year wasn’t great, but the second year it began to develop a little more. By the third year, the flavor was fantastic, and he was confident they had developed a rare spirit that whisky enthusiasts would love. While the original concept of spectrum included five different oaks, Amrut found that the subsequent maturation of the Spanish oak had become a little bit spongey and had undesirable characters on the 2nd and 3rd part of maturation. Because of this, they removed Spanish oak to get the optimal flavor and 004 (4 barrels) was born.
The response to Spectrum
When asked what the response to Spectrum has been, Ashok stated “over the past 400 years of whisky making no one has attempted to do something like this. The fact that this is coming from an Indian distiller fascinates people in the market. The whisky is so complex and would never be mass produced because of the high cost it takes to make one bottle. It’s encouraging to see people waiting for the next release to come.”
Spectrum in the United States
Spectrum 004 Single Malt Whisky is now available in the United States through Glass Revolution Imports wherever Amrut is sold. Click here to find a retailer near you that carries Amrut so you can purchase a bottle for your own collection, and make sure to sign up for our newsletter and become a Glass Revolution Dram Hunter so you’re always the first to know about exciting new releases like this one.