Browse Category

Bangalore

Copper pot stills Amrut factory

Amrut Distilleries factory tour (with Vir Sanghvi)

Date: February 12, 2014

I was invited to visit the Amrut Distilleries factory on Mysore Road, just outside of Bangalore city. I was going to get to see the manufacturing process for making the famed Amrut whisky — with a special guest in tow. Noted journalist, writer and TV personality Vir Sanghvi was going to drop by the factory for a tour.

Amrut whisky display Bangalore
The award-winning Amrut whisky range
Barley peat for whisky
Barley to the left, peat to the right
Amrut distillery office awards display
We were waiting for Vir Sanghvi to arrive
Amrut awards Jagdale old photo
Gave me enough time to check out the awards and the history of the company Shri Radhakrishna Jagdale founded
Amrut distillery test lab Bangalore
This is the lab where they sample and test whiskies — Amrut’s own production batches and the competition
Jagdale gifting flowers to Vir Sanghvi
Vir Sanghvi had arrived, and so had the present chairman of Amrut Distilleries, Mr. Neelakanta Rao Jagdale. After a formal greeting, the Amrut team led us all to the factory.
Amrut factory tour with Vir Sanghvi
Senior VP Surrinder Kumar led the factory tour

Continue reading “Amrut Distilleries factory tour (with Vir Sanghvi)” »

Whisky sample glasses The Glasshouse

An afternoon with Amrut whisky, hosted by The Glass House

I was invited for a blogger gathering at the invitation of Amrut Distilleries, makers of the renowned Amrut Single Malt whisky. I had heard of the brand, but never knew much about it nor had I ever tasted it. It’s not easy to find it in liquor stores and I think I have seen their whiskys more at airport duty frees. Amrut XXX rum on the other hand, that’s far more common. None the less, we were asked to come for a tasting session to be held at The Glass House on Lavelle Road.

The Glasshouse Lavelle road Bangalore
There was a bit of space across from The Glass House to park my bike
The Glasshouse lounge restaurant Bangalore
This was my first time at The Glass House, and first impressions: “Wow!”

We were instructed to first go upstairs for the Amrut event. Continue reading “An afternoon with Amrut whisky, hosted by The Glass House” »

Cow staring dairy farm Karnataka

Visit to Amrutha Dairy Farm, a learning experience

I have gone to my friend Santhosh Singh’s farm before, but quite a lot has changed since our visit. First, Santhosh gave it name — Amrutha Dairy Farm. But later decided to not put up signs anywhere. Why? We’ll get to that later.

Amrutha Dairy Farm is located in Haalenahalli, Madhure Hobli, Doddaballapura.

I mean, here’s a map of its location.

Beyond that, all I can say is: good luck finding it on your first try!

Sunrays through clouds-bangalore
The weather seemed nice for this visit

It is a bit of a challenge to find the farm, but if you follow the direction path highlighted on Google Maps, you can get there with relative ease if you use your phone as a GPS device.

Farmhouse Bangalore Karnataka
We parked inside the farm. This is the farmhouse Santhosh and his brothers built.

The dairy farm was set up nearly 4 years ago. The initial plan was to setup a milk processing center, but when Santhosh realized the heavy investment that was required, he realized it would be better just starting off with just producing milk for the time being, and slowly ramp up.

Cows shed dairy farm Bangalore
Santhosh *only* has around 30 cows

Santosh is parallely working on a heifer rearing project (heifer is a young cow before she has had her first calf). This is to contain the operational costs on the business, such as drought in the area for consecutive years. So yeah, like many Indians, even these guys suffer from water and electricity problems. They also have a hydroponics system which can produce very nutritious green fodder (up to 1ton per day) and this was built completely from scratch by them after taking technical help from some guys in Europe and New Zealand.

Growing hydroponics greenhouse
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. They have such a facility in the farm.
Cow shed dairy farm Bangalore
They feed the cows a hybrid napier grass grown at the farm and maize procured from nearby farms along with prescribed nutrients
Cows feeding dairy farm Bangalore
This might look like a lot of cows but only 6 cows are ready to produce milk
Cow staring dairy farm Karnataka
Hello
Farm land Hallenahalli Karnataka
The farm has some extra land which Santhosh and his brothers are contemplating how to best make use of.

When word spread about Amrutha Dairy Farms, a Netherlands-based group came to India and approached Santhosh to join hands with the farm to set up a milk processing plant to produce products like khova, paneer and cheese. Continue reading “Visit to Amrutha Dairy Farm, a learning experience” »

Related Posts with Thumbnails