Amrut

A Bangalore family firm distilling since 1948, Amrut spent half a century making blends and brandies before Rakshit Jagdale, fresh from an MBA in Newcastle, asked a simple question: would Scots drink an Indian single malt? The answer came in 2004, when Amrut launched its malt in Glasgow — poured blind in pubs to drinkers who guessed Speyside. At 900 metres on the Deccan plateau, maturation runs about three times Scottish speed, and 2009's Fusion — Indian barley married with peated Scottish malt — was soon ranked the third-finest whisky in the world by Jim Murray.