Pioneering blend of Scotch and Indian whisky to honour Scot who helped shape modern India

The team that created a pioneering blend of Scotch and Japanese whisky is launching a whisky to celebrate the historic ties between India and Scotland and honour the Scot who helped modernise India’s railways and link the cities of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Karachi by rail.

Edinburgh-based Fusion Whisky Limited launched The Glover series of premium whiskies last year in honour of “Scottish Samurai” Thomas Blake Glover. Made by blending Scotch with extremely rare whisky from Japan, The Glover pioneered the concept of fusing malt whiskies from international distilleries.

Now the company is launching The Kincardine brand to celebrate the historic ties between India and Scotland and honour the life of Victor Bruce, the 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine, who served as Viceroy and Governor General of India between 1894-99.

Victor Bruce was a Scottish liberal politician who distinguished himself both in Britain and in India. Among his achievements as Viceroy of India, he pushed through massive improvements to India’s rail system, helped secure its economy by stabilizing the rupee, pacified its volatile border with Afghanistan, and sought to alleviate the worst effects of drought and famine through a pioneering work-relief programme. A keen walker, Victor Bruce was nicknamed the “Walking Viceroy”.

This latest whisky is a fusion from Glen Elgin and Macallan distilleries in Scotland and single malt whisky from India’s celebrated Amrut distillery in Bangalore.

The Kincardine whisky was blended by Victor’s great-grandson Alex Bruce, master blender and managing director of Adelphi Distillery, based in Fife.

He said: “With The Kincardine, we’ve blended two single casks of malt whisky from Amrut Distillery in Bangalore with Scotch whisky from Glen Elgin and Macallan distilleries. The fruitiness of the mature Speyside malts works beautifully with the Indian whisky, creating a very complex, international flavour. It has its own unique profile, showing both the individual elements that different maturation climates can offer and, at the same time, capturing a new overall style. I was really excited by both the challenge and the outcome.

He added: “It was a genuine privilege to create this whisky in honour of my great-grandfather, and great to develop a product that it is an example of the strong, positive and long-lasting relations between Scotland and India.”

Only 800 bottles of the whisky will be released, although Fusion Whisky said there was scope to produce more variants of both The Kincardine and The Glover in the future.

David Moore, a Director of Fusion Whisky, said: “The concept of using fusion whisky to celebrate the historic ties between Scotland and so many countries around the globe is something we pioneered with The Glover. This innovation was so successful – selling out almost immediately and exporting to 15 countries – it was always our ambition to create another fusion whisky.

“With Alex’s personal connections to Amrut distillery, as well as the story of his great-grandfather, it was clear we had an excellent opportunity to create another unique and ground-breaking whisky.”

Mr Moore said the company’s new approach to blending whisky tapped into a growing international demand for new and innovative whiskies, adding that the company had recently secured the welcome support of Scottish Development International to help them expand the business.