There is a moment that keeps repeating itself at whisky tastings around the world, and the team at Rampur Distillery has come to know it well. Someone picks up a glass, learns where the whisky was made, and looks puzzled.
“We frequently meet whisky enthusiasts who are surprised to learn that India produces single malt whisky and even premium craft gin,” the Rampur team told us. “Once they taste Rampur, however, the reaction is often one of genuine surprise and excitement. We regularly hear comments such as, ‘I had no idea India made whisky like this.’”
Such whiskies are seeing an increasing presence in the global whisky market, and Rampur is one of the distilleries at the forefront of the push. So, I spoke with the Rampur team about six-row Indian barley, a punishing climate, and how Rampur is carving out its own identity amidst the ever-expanding world of Indian whisky.
The Climate Question
Ask anyone at Rampur what makes Indian single malt distinctive and the answer comes back to weather first. The distillery sits in the foothills of the Himalayas in the north of the country, a long way from the coastal humidity of Goa or the heat of Bangalore.
“Indian single malt is fundamentally influenced by climate,” the team said. “In Rampur, the interaction between spirit and oak occurs at a considerably faster pace than in cooler whisky-producing regions. The result is a whisky that develops remarkable depth, texture, and complexity at an accelerated maturation pace.”
Whisky matures as spirit moves in and out of the wood with rising and falling temperatures. In somewhere like Scotland, where the annual range is narrow, that exchange is slow, which is why age statements in double figures are the norm. In northern India, where summers are punishing and winters are cold, it happens far more often and far more forcefully.
The team credits the location too, noting that “being located at foothills of Himalayas in the midst of tropical fruit growing areas, the water, soil and air lent a distinct smooth, fruity and floral character to all Rampur expressions.”
Faster is not easier, though. Every warehouse loses stock to evaporation each year, the share Scottish distillers call the angels’ share. In India, those angels take considerably more.
“Very high evaporation losses (greedy angels) require thoughtful inventory planning and long-term stewardship of maturing stocks,” the team said.
Six-Row Barley and What Goes Into The Cask
The other half of the explanation lies in the grain and in what comes off the stills.
Rampur uses six-row Indian barley rather than the two-row varieties most Scottish distilleries work with. Six-row tends to give more husk and more enzyme activity, and it produces a spirit with more cereal weight to it. The team sees that weight as the point.
“While six-row barley is often associated with robust cereal character and greater extract potential, it also provides the depth and texture that allow the spirit to stand up exceptionally well to maturation in India’s dynamic climate,” they said. “The combination of a fuller distillate and accelerated maturation enables us to achieve complexity, balance, and a distinctive fruit-forward character while preserving the integrity of the spirit throughout its maturation journey.”
Put the climate and the barley together, and the regional logic clicks into place A lighter, more delicate spirit would be overwhelmed by that much oak contact in that little time. A fuller one survives it.
According to Rampur leadership, the objective is ”to produce a refined and elegant new make spirit that is naturally fruity, floral, and expressive, while possessing the depth and structure required for maturation in India’s unique climate.” They described a new make carrying “notes of ripe orchard fruits, subtle tropical fruits, soft vanilla sweetness, and gentle floral nuances.”
This versatile new make serves as the canvas for Rampur’s distinct core expressions.
The Rampur Range
Rampur Select
Rampur Select is the entry point and the clearest look at the distillery’s character. Matured mostly in ex-bourbon casks, it is built to show, in the team’s words, “the balance and approachability of Rampur’s core style,” with tropical fruit, honey, vanilla, soft oak, and gentle spice.
Rampur Double Cask
Rampur Double Cask starts in American oak ex-bourbon barrels and finishes in European oak sherry casks. The result “delivers greater depth and complexity, with layers of dried fruits, figs, apricots, spice, vanilla, and oak richness while maintaining the distillery’s signature fruit character.”
Rampur Asava
Rampur Asava is finished in Indian Cabernet Sauvignon casks and brings “notes of dark berries, plum, dried fruits, spice, and subtle tannins.”
Rampur Barrel Blush
Rampur Barrel Blush takes American oak ex-bourbon maturation into Australian Shiraz wine casks, giving “vibrant red fruit notes, black cherries, berries, soft spice, and a rounded sweetness.” The team reads it as evidence of the spirit’s “affinity for wine cask maturation.”
The Jugalbandi Series
The Jugalbandi Series is the experimental strand, and the name is the best clue to what it is doing. A jugalbandi in Indian classical music is a duet between two performers, and each release “explores the interaction of different cask types and maturation techniques.”
Virasat, the newest Indian Single Malt from Rampur Distillery, will be hitting markets globally, including the USA, very soon.
Rampur Asava, and The Case for Indian Provenance
Rampur Asava is one of the most interesting whiskies in the range, precisely because of what it says about Indian provenance. Instead of reaching for Spanish sherry or Kentucky bourbon casks, Rampur went to Indian vineyards.
“By utilizing Indian Cabernet Sauvignon casks, we sought to create a whisky that reflected not only the craftsmanship of Indian whisky-making but also the broader landscape of Indian agriculture and viticulture,” the team said. “It was an opportunity to move beyond conventional maturation pathways and create a flavor profile that could only originate in India.”
The spice is the part that tends to catch people. The team noted: “In Asava, notes of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and soft baking spices emerge alongside the fruit character, creating a complexity that many whisky enthusiasts associate with Indian single malts.”
Not only does Asava’s profile speak to India’s culinary culture, but it also demonstrates that India has the means to experiment with casks made in their own country. “Rather than following established models from other whisky-producing regions, it embraces local ingredients, local craftsmanship, and local innovation to create a whisky with a distinctly Indian identity,” the team said, adding that Asava “demonstrates that Indian whisky has the ability to express a genuine sense of place.”
Rampur’s Blending Philosophy
Expressing this sense of place and achieving the balance that Rampur is known for is a fast-paced and impeccably timed endeavour, with the blending coming down to timing.
“Working in India’s climate requires both precision and adaptability, as maturation progresses at a considerably faster pace than in many traditional whisky-producing regions,” they said. “Every cask evolves differently, making timing, cask selection, and continuous evaluation essential to achieving harmony between spirit and oak.”
The comparison they reach for is a kitchen rather than a laboratory, which fits a distillery that keeps returning to Indian food when it describes its own whisky.
“Indian cuisine is celebrated around the world for its remarkable diversity of flavors, aromas, and spices, and Anup views whisky in much the same way,” the team said. “Just as a master chef balances ingredients to create harmony and complexity, he seeks to achieve balance between fruit, oak, sweetness, spice, and texture within every expression.”
Where Rampur Sits, and What People Still Get Wrong
Rampur is the flagship single malt at Radico Khaitan, alongside Royal Ranthambore, Sangam World Malt, and Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin. The company exports to more than 100 countries and has built a substantial travel retail presence, which is where a lot of drinkers meet the brand for the first time.
The misconception the team runs into most often is a matter of expectation.
“Indian whisky is sometimes viewed through the lens of other whisky categories, particularly Scotch, with the expectation that it should conform to familiar regional styles,” they said. “In reality, Indian single malt is shaped by its own climate, raw materials, maturation conditions, and cultural influences. The category offers flavor profiles that are often richer, fruitier, and more spice-driven than consumers might expect.”
They are reasonably optimistic about where this is heading. “As more people discover Indian single malt, the conversation is gradually shifting from comparison to appreciation,” the team said.
The Last Word
The team’s closing argument is about the category rather than the brand, which is telling for a distillery that could reasonably spend the whole conversation on its own bottles.
“We would like whisky drinkers to understand that Indian single malt is not simply an emerging category, it is an established and evolving category with its own heritage, innovation, and identity,” they said. “Rampur is proud to be part of that journey, sharing the story of Indian craftsmanship, flavor, and whisky-making excellence with enthusiasts around the world, one dram at a time.”
Author’s Note: The responses to questions posed by The Whiskey Wash were developed collaboratively by the leadership team at Radico Khaitan and Rampur Distillery, and are presented here as a unified executive perspective rather than being attributed to individual spokespeople.
Contributing to the feature were Sanjeev Banga, President of International Business at Radico Khaitan; Kunal Madan, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer; and Anup Barik, Master Distiller and Master Blender at Rampur Distillery.
Read the full article at ‘I Had No Idea India Made Whisky Like This’: Inside Rampur Distillery
