Pairing Cigars & Alcohol – Amrut Fusion
Cigars and alcohol. Two luxury products that go hand in hand, and sometimes even meet on business level. Aging tobacco in whisky, rum, or cognac barrels is a practice several brands do to achieve extra flavour to the wrapper for certain lines. The famous bourbon brand Maker’s Mark has their own cigar, sold in tubes with the signature wax coating. Drew Estate works with Pappy van Winkle and used to make Kahlua cigars. Mombacho used to have the Diplomatico series. General Cigars works with Sazerac, which resulted in Fireball cigars, Weller by Cohiba and collaborations with Buffalo Trace. And there is the Diesel Whisky Row, a collaboration with Rabbit Hole Distilleries. Fratello Cigars also sells craft beer. Most famous are probably the Cuban collaboration between Martell Cognac and Cohiba. Dominique London, the European retailer with more than 20 shops in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland and the Canary Islands takes it one step further. They bought a distillery in Wales and produce whisky, gin, rum, vodka and liquors.
Amrut Fusion
Amrut is a brand of Indian single malt whisky, manufactured by Amrut Distilleries. It is the first single malt whisky to be made in India. The name is a Sanskrit word which can be translated as “nectar of the gods” The brand became famous after whisky connoisseur Jim Murray gave it a rating of 82 out of 100 in 2005 and 2010. In 2010 Murray named Amrut Fusion single malt whisky as the third best in the world. That’s pretty amazing for a brand that was introduced only in 2004. The distillery is much older though, dating back to 1948 but before 2004 they made other spirits and whisky for the domestic market under other names.
The Amrut Fusion is where east meets west. Two whiskies are made and mixed. The first vintage is made from malted barley harvested at the foot of the Himalayas, while the second is produced using malted Scottish barley that has been dried with peat smoke. But before the mixing, each spirit is aged for four years under tropical temperatures, which makes the aging go much faster than aging of spirits in cold climates.
Neat
The nose is very fruity with plenty of citrus, some barley with spices. Creamy and rich in aroma. Where the fruit is strong in the nose, it is not as strong in the flavour. It’s there, but hidden behind oak, dark chocolate and a mild peaty flavour. There is even a bit of coffee in this whisky. Now, I hardly ever smoke infused cigars but I think this will go very well with a coffee infused cigar such as Rocky Patel’s Java, Drew Estate’s Tabak Especial, the coffee infused Nubs or the PDR roast series. If you think of traditional cigars, I bet the Sobremesa Brulee would be nice, or the Macanudo Inspirado Tercio Aged.
In a rocks glass, the nose is not as strong but the spirit feels a bit stronger. There is a bit more peat while the fruit is mellowed out. The whisky also has a slight burn. Therefore I would not go with the coffee infused flavours but with something stronger. Something with a darker, earthy and coffee flavour profile with some pepper as well. Something like Sin Compromiso by Dunbarton, Añejo by Joya de Nicaragua, Liga Privada or Partagas, Bolivar or Cohiba if you’re a Cuban smoker.
Old Fashioned
The little orange peel makes all the difference in the nose. Actually, it’s all I get in the nose. All right, not all, the Angostura bitters are on the background of the nose. The cocktail has a perfect amount of sweetness, a nice viscosity, the orange is well balanced and the few drops of bitter work well with the oak, coffee and dark chocolate in the whisky. The peat seems to be a little muted compared to the neat sample. But as someone who’s not a fan of peat, I don’t mind. But even neat I can handle the peat in the Amrut Fusion as it’s quite gentle. Anyway, a nice medium to medium full bodied cigar would be nice. Something that enhances the chocolate flavours works nice, something with a nice and thick Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper for example. Or a nutty Corojo wrapper would work as well.
And now for the Old-Fashioned recipe:
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 oz or 60 ml of whisky
orange peel
Put the sugar cube in a highball glass, add the dashes of bitters and a splash of water. Muddle the sugar cube. Add ice and the whisky. Stir for 10 seconds, then add an orange peel.
Masala Bond
This is not a well known cocktail. In fact, there is only one recipe online and it looks like a signature cocktail from one bar in Australia. It is a very simple cocktail, maybe it doesn’t even deserve the name cocktail, but because of the name it sounded like a fitting mix with an Indian whisky. That’s all I know and all I could find, but it seems fitting for an Indian whisky to be used in a cocktail named after a bond issued outside of India but denominated in Indian Rupees.
The nose has some of the peat, but very muted due to the ice and the lemon soda. The gentle peat of the Amrut Fusion mixes very well with the lemon lime soda. The fruity flavours of the whisky appear too but the coffee, oak and dark chocolate are all gone. It is a very refreshing cocktail, perfect for a lazy summer evening. Perfect for a weekday as it’s low in ABV so it won’t affect you the day after. The sweetness of the soda make this cocktail not the best cocktail to pair with a sweet cigar. So no maduro but I would recommend a stronger, peppery Habano cigar. The Oliva series V Torpedo is the first that comes to mind, bold, strong and peppery. The RoMa Craft Neanderthal KFG or the Anthology Cranium are second on the list. Maybe an Ashton VSG if you want something Dominican.
And now for the Masala Bond recipe:
1 ounce or 30ml of Amrut
2¼ ounce of 70ml of Lemon Soda (I used Sprite)
Ice.
Fill a Collins glass with ice. Pour the whisky and the lemon soda in, stir and enjoy.
Inspector X
