It is very unusual for our single malt tasting team to try a whisky more than once within the space of a few months.

However that is exactly what happened with Paul John Edited from John Distilleries in Goa.

We managed to sample it on no less than three occasions:

• Once ‘blind’ by our monthly single malt tasting group in January – 1st bottle
• Again by our monthly tasting group in March – 2nd bottle
• Informal evening with a few friends – 2nd bottle

The reason for trying so many times is we were treated to a Paul John quartet which featured:

• Paul John Brilliance Single Malt 46%
• Paul John Edited Single Malt 46% (1st bottle notes)
• Paul John Classic Select Cask 55.2%
• Paul John Peated Select Cask 55.5%

It was a delightful treat to be able to compare four expressions from the same distillery. And while Edited kick-started the John Distilleries tasting journey, it truly was just the gate-opener to one of India’s single malt distilleries. There is something distinctly ‘different’ and while hitting ‘home runs’ quite yet, it sure seems that Paul John is on the right track…

Paul John Single Malt Edited 46%

So here goes yet more impressions – focused only on reactions to the 2nd bottle.

Paul John Single Malt Edited NAS 46%

Nose

• 

  Paul John Edited

  Strong and peaty “Wow, good God!”

• Sweet tropical fruits, a bit of liquorice, some spice
• Roasted coconut, ripe bananas, jackfruit
• A medicinal quality, some vanilla
• After some time to breath a delicious custard apple

Taste

• After the initial spice, becomes surprisingly soft, settles more gently on the palate, unlike Brilliance which some thought went “BOOM!”
• Walnuts, turbo-charged oak, hint of cloves and apples
• Bitter chocolate/coffee quality that mellows

Finish

• Mild sweet finish, surprisingly minimal sense of peat
• A kind of fizz like cola, leaving a light tingling sensation

Water

• Smooth, especially with water

Comments

• Pouring “just a smidge” may be ineffective!
• A good “banquet” serve where folks enjoy quantity

While peat has been added to Edited, it is with a light hand –  there but after the welcome more the impression of mild peat than prominence.

Overall those who sampled it originally in January confirmed it showed promise, however both Brilliance and Edited were completely eclipsed by their cask strength cousins Paul John Classic and Peated. It is with these that a ‘Paul John character’ starts to emerge.

Edited label

Here is what John Paul says about Edited:

This is where you taste the sea off Goa.

This masterfully crafted Indian Single Malt Whisky brings to the fore a hint of peat, created from discretely chosen cask profiles to delight the ardent malt drinker. Grassy barley shows first, but then slowly makes way for their gentle peat notes. They dissolve into the palate and begins to build momentum and intensity.

Slow down now to a chocolate mint and mocha rush, as well as a sublime molasses note that overwhelms you with a sweet end.

Dreams are made of this.

Only during the March tasting did we read the Paul John descriptions after we sampled the whisky. They may not tell you much about the whisky but are amusingly descriptive of the feel the whisky is trying to evoke.

While I remain more curious about what else Paul John has in store, this is the only of the quartet to survive the tasting sessions so I will have the luxury of re-sampling it solo one of these days when the mood hits. That isn’t such a bad thing…

Paul John Quartet

What others are saying about Paul John Edited:

• Dramatic Whisky
• Edinburgh Whisky
• The Whiskyphiles

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