Bengaluru-based Amrut Distilleries has raised the bar for single malt whiskys from India.

The company on Tuesday announced a 15-year-old homegrown single malt whiskey called Expedition, the oldest in terms of age in this category in India, at a price pont north of $10,000 per 700 ml bottle (~ ₹8.72 lakh), making it the most expensive single malt that is made in the country.

A total of 75 bottles of Expedition will be available of which nine are reserved for India and 66 will be sold overseas including Europe, America, Australia and Asia Pacific region.

"We are launching India's oldest single malt whisky. It is matured for 15 years. Nobody has done this before us. There will just be only 75 bottles. It will also be the most expensive Indian single-malt whisky ever sold globally. It's likely to be retailing between $11,000 to $12,000 a bottle," Rakshit N. Jagdale, MD Amrut Distilleries, told The Telegraph.

"If we mature a whisky for 15 years in India, it is equivalent to almost maturing it for 50 years in temperate climate conditions like say Scotland or Europe. The thumb rule is if you mature any alcohol, be it whisky, brandy, rum, gin for one year in tropical condition, it is equivalent to 3-3.5 years in temperate climatic conditions," Jagdale said adding that the losses are on account of heat and humidity.

"This is made from 100 per cent Indian barley (sourced from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan) which was distilled almost 15 years ago and it is matured in a combination of casks that adds to the uniqueness of this variant of Amrut," Jagdale said.

"We will be making it available in select outlets and select states including our home market in Bengaluru. Duty-free is another market we are looking at for exports," he added.

Radico Khaitan had earlier announced Rampur Signature Reserve Single Malt Whisky achieving a price of ₹5 lakh per bottle.

Market ready

Jagdale said that single malt consumers in India are ready for premium products and Indian brands are also gaining recognition overseas.

"We are gradually coming in the league now with 30-40-year-old Scotch single malt or Irish ones and people globally are recognising this because of the quality that we can make," he said.

In the domestic market, the single malt category is growing steadily. "It is clearly above 15 per cent per annum. We expect the industry will witness this kind of growth for the next few years," he said.

On the prospects of availability of bottled in origin single malts at lower duties in the domestic market following the India-UK trade pact, Jagdale said that Indian manufacturers are geared up to compete on this front.

"It is quality over quantity and Indian single malts are ready enough for the challenge. It will no doubt be challenging once duty is dropped, especially with the India-UK FTA where the Scotch whisky industry is lobbying very hard. We have to wait and watch how this plays out but at the end of the day consumers want good quality and Indian single malts can meet those expectations today," he said.