The Rebirth of Whiskey

We have indulged in Wine, we have gotten drunk on Vodka made out of grapes. We’ve sipped on Brandy and gorged on Grappa. Now Sula is redefining Whiskey with Eclipse. A smooth scotch blended with Grape Spirit. Sounds weird doesn’t it? But it tastes awesome.

The way the whiskey came along organically explains Cecilia. Their Master Blender, Yogesh Mathur who was making their award winning Brandy ‘Janus’, took some of their Grape Spirit and blended it with some of the Scotch he had brought back for personal consumption. They were pleasantly surprised with the result.

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Through a few more trial and errors, they found the correct formula by blending 5 year old Peated Scotch from Lochlomond Scotland with Peated Malt Spirit and Grape Spirit, before maturing it in a Cogniac Oak Cask.

Even though Eclipse was almost a fluke, Sula’s foray into the highly competitive whiskey is not. Yogesh Mathur is quick to point out that he has been in the liquor industry for 30 years. He has worked for liquor giants like A.B.D., U.B. Group and handled more than 70 brands. So they knew that if they had come into the whiskey market with the traditional method, they wouldn’t have survived. That is why they chose to go with the Grape Spirit as their Unique Selling Point. Yogesh calls it “Whiskey with a twist”.

Cecilia Oldne asks us to smell the while explaining “If you smell the whiskey, you won’t smell the Peate you get from the normal whiskies. However if you taste it you will get the rich taste of the Peate.”

Sula is targeting a younger age group with this whisky, or the people who have just started drinking blended Scotch. This new entrant packs a hell of a kick and is available in the market for 1250/- for a 750ml bottle and 100/- for a 60ml miniature.

From the August 2017 issue of FHM India.