Amrut Greedy Angels 10 YO - regular and cask strength

Amrut Greedy Angels 10 YO, 46 % and 71 %

I have now tried the Amrut Greedy Angels 10 YO, from Indian distillery Amrut. A couple of years back I tried the first Amrut Greedy Angels, an 8 YO that was the by far oldest Amrut release to date. That record is soundly beaten with this 10 YO. Now why is a 10 YO such a big deal, you may ask. Well, this quote from Amrut will make that very clear:

Given the high temperatures and humidity in India the loss of whisky during maturation is close to 10-12% in comparison to Scotland’s 1-2%. This makes ageing of these malts a very tricky affair and the quantity left for bottling quite meagre compared to what was started off with. A total of 320 bottles of these exquisite bottles are available with 284 bottles sailing to Europe & 36 to the United States of America. The specially designed package consists of a 700/750 ml crystal decanter bottled at 46% ABV and a 50 ml miniature decanter bottled at full cask strength of 71% ABV.

The Amrut Greedy Angels 10 YO sold at around GBP 540, but is now sold out.

Nose: Regular: Oranges, chocolate and soft barley notes. Banana, vanilla, licorice, caramel and milk chocolate. It has some wine-y notes as well. Cask strength: All of the above, but with tons of added aromas. Raisins, coffee beans, cola, rum cake and in general rum notes. Absolutely divine! 

Taste: Regular: Rich and full mouthfeel. Milk chocolate and fruit drops (oranges and other exotic fruits). Cask strength: Super rich! Lots of oranges, vanilla and soft spices.

Finish: Regular: Long and a bit oaky finish. Soft and sugary towards the end. The mouthfeel is thinner (almost watery) by now. Cask strength: Still a long finish, and much the same as the regular expression. Still appears a bit thinner, but much improved over the regular ones.

Comments: Regular: Really nice dram, and quite typical in its Amrut style, but I do feel that is suffers a little under the ABV of 46 %. We are normally treated to much higher ABV from Amrut. Cask strength:  Well, I cannot complain about the ABV here, as it has been taken to silly heights! This is a real cracker though. I wish this was the big bottle, and not the other way around!

Score (Regular version: 87/100, Cask strength version: 90/100)

Image from Master of Malt.

Sláinte! - Thomas