But the biggest surprise package, well at least for those who have never tasted the malt from this distillery before, was the whisky from Bangalore. It is not normally the first place you think of but Amrut is right up there all right. However this new version fusion surprised even myself and I have long banged the gong for underdog distilleries. It is one that commands a big mouthful, a chair and a headrest...and silence. You will chew for hours and never quite get to the bottom of its mystical complexity. It is a massive whisky but its genius is that you get the feeling that there is some almost invisible element keeping this malt together so the proportions are never less than perfect.

Distilled in Bangalore, Amrut Fusion scored an outstanding 97 points. "It makes no matter where in the world a whisky is made. If it is magnificent, then it stands a chance of being recognized in the Whisky Bible Awards. Amrut have been bottling astonishing whisky for a few years now. But this particular bottling just made my hairs stand on end. It is hard to find a whisky with better balance. India has unquestionably arrived as a whisky nation" added Murray.

The research was conducted among 15,000 men and 26,000 women aged from 29 to 69 who were followed for 10 years.

The results showed that those who drank a little – a glass of wine or a bottle of beer every other day – had a 35 per cent lower risk of a heart attack than those who never drank. Moderate drinkers, consuming up to a couple of glasses of wine a day or a couple of pints of ordinary bitter, had a 54 per cent lower risk.

The surprise was that heavy drinkers consuming up to a bottle of wine or six pints of ordinary bitter had a similar 50 per cent reduction in risk of a heart attack to moderate drinkers. Those drinking at even higher levels were still half as likely to suffer a heart attack as the teetotallers.