Indian single malt is not the easiest category to walk into. If you have spent your drinking life around Scotch or bourbon, the distillery names will mean very little to you, and there is no equivalent of the regional shorthand that tells you roughly what to expect from an Islay malt or a Kentucky bourbon before you have even opened the bottle. Working out where to start is mostly guesswork unless someone points you at something.
So, in the interest of helping you dip your toe into the world of Indian whisky, I have put together a personal list of the whiskies that swayed me. The five bottles below come from five different distilleries, spread from Goa’s humid coast to the edge of the Rajasthan desert, and they each showcase a different side of Indian whisky. If you’re a beginner, this is a great place to start.
Indri Trini “The Three Wood,” 46%, £41 / $52 / ₹3,700
Indri Trini is the flagship expression from the brand: a rich, fruity, and approachable. There is peach and pineapple, honey, raisin, and a bit of orange zest, with some hazelnut and clove behind it and a warm, lightly spiced finish.
It is made at Piccadily Distilleries in Indri, Haryana, from Indian six-row barley, and matured in three cask types: ex-bourbon, French wine, and Pedro Ximénez sherry. The three are vatted together rather than used as a sequence of finishes. Master blender Surrinder Kumar oversees the whisky and spent years at Amrut before joining Piccadily.
I was given the chance to try this initially thanks to a friend posting a sample, and I pretty much immediately bought a full bottle. Nothing about it is difficult, and you do not need any prior knowledge of Indian whisky to enjoy it. It is fruit-forward, balanced, and has weight without being overwhelming.
Bottled at 46%, non-chill filtered, no added color, and widely available in the UK and much of the US. Drink it neat. At this price it is super affordable, and an easy recommendation.
Amrut Fusion, 50%, £56 / $75 / ₹3,050
Amrut Distilleries was founded in Bangalore in 1948, though it spent its early decades producing Indian Made Foreign Liquor rather than malt whisky. Malt distillation began in the 1980s under Neelakanta Rao Jagdale, and the single malt was launched in Glasgow in 2004, the first Indian single malt to be marketed internationally. Fusion followed a few years later and is still the bottle most people name when the category comes up.
The name refers to the barley, as roughly three-quarters is unpeated Indian barley and the rest is peated Scottish malt, fermented, distilled, and matured separately before being vatted together.
There is plum and dark cherry, a thread of woodsmoke running through it, then coffee, chocolate, and baking spice, with a long finish and a marmalade edge. At 50% there is some heat to it, and a drop of water will open it up if you want.
If you already drink Scotch, particularly Highland or Island malts, this is the obvious place to go. The smoke is present without dominating, so it also works if you have been curious about peat but not ready to commit to Islay.
Rampur Double Cask, 45%, £60 / $90 / ₹6,380
Rampur is made by Radico Khaitan at its distillery in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas. The site dates back to 1943, making it one of the older distilleries in India.
Double Cask is named for its maturation: American bourbon barrels first, then a period in European oak sherry casks. It is made from Indian six-row barley, double distilled, bottled at 45% and non-chill filtered.
Of the five bottles here, this is the one that will feel most familiar. There is vanilla and stewed fruit, then raisin, plum, and a little tobacco, with butterscotch, cinnamon, and dark chocolate over a long finish.
It is also the most expensive bottle on this list, so I would not necessarily start here. Once you know you like Indian single malt, though, it is a sensible second purchase, particularly if you drink sherried Scotch. Available in the UK and fairly widely in the US.
Paul John Nirvana, 40%, £33 / $34 / ₹1,850
Nirvana is the entry point to the Paul John range, and the cheapest bottle on this list by some distance. It is light and honeyed, with vanilla, ripe apricot, and a faint salinity, and the finish is short and clean. The lightness is the trade-off at 40%, so treat it as an introduction rather than a destination.
I tried this at a whisky festival at The Whiskey Jar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, where brand ambassador Anees Saboowalla took me through the range and explained how the distillery works. Being talked through a whisky by someone who knows it properly is a good way to meet a category, and it is worth seeking out festivals for exactly that reason if you are starting out.
John Distilleries has been making single malt in Goa since 2008, using Indian six-row barley, unpeated, matured in second and third-fill charred American oak barrels on India’s humid coast.
At £33 it is the lowest-risk way to find out whether Indian single malt is for you. Drink it neat, though it is the one bottle here that will take ice or a splash of soda without falling apart.
Godawan 02 “Fruit & Spice,” 46%, £65 / $81 / ₹3,200
Godawan is Diageo India’s single malt, made at the Alwar distillery in Rajasthan, and it is the most unusual bottle on this list. Series 02 is matured in cherry wood casks and finished in ex-bourbon barrels that have been conditioned with Ayurvedic botanicals, specifically Rasna and Jatamansi. Cherry wood is rarely used in whisky maturation, and botanical-treated casks and practically unheard of.
The whisky itself is not as challenging as the production suggests. There is dried mango and orange on the nose, then cherry, raisin, and cinnamon with a lift of lime zest, drying out toward cocoa and oak on the finish. It is rich and sweet without being heavy.
Alwar sits on the edge of the Thar desert, and the brand is named after the Great Indian Bustard, an endangered bird native to the region. Godawan reached the UK in December 2024 and is available here at around £54 to £64 depending on where you look, and in a growing number of US states.
If you have worked through the other four and want something that does not resemble Scotch at all, this is where to go.
So Which Bottle Should You Buy?
If you are buying one bottle and you want it to be the right one, make it the Indri Trini. It is fruity, well made, easy to like, and at around £44 it is great value for money.
If you would rather spend less while you work out whether the category is for you, the Paul John Nirvana is £33 and will tell you a lot for the money.
Scotch drinkers should go to the Amrut Fusion, or the Rampur Double Cask if you prefer sherried whisky. Bourbon drinkers will find the Nirvana familiar, with the Rampur as the next step up. And if you want something genuinely different, the Godawan 02 is the one.
Have you tried any of these whiskies? Are there any you are tempted by? And if you have found Indian single malts that deserve a place on this list, let me know in the comments.
Read the full article at The Best Indian Single Malt Whiskies for Beginners in 2026
