Category Archives: India

BMC go ‘blind’ – Old Pulteney 17 year, Westland Sherry, Amrut Bourbon

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Til date, our Bombay Malt & Cigar (BMC) gents have proudly shown off their bottles. And who wouldn’t? We’ve had some rare treats like the Balblair 38 year or whiskies all filled by hand.

However sometimes half the fun of a whisky tasting evening is to have a surprise – discover something new about a distillery you thought you could readily spot or have your notions challenged by something completely different than expected!

Our most recent BMC night adopted a ‘blind tasting’ approach, with our whisky curator carefully covering each bottle. He was rather excited to see what we thought before the unveiling… prompting us to try to guess the region, if not distillery.

old-pulteney-westland-amrut

What did we sample? And what did we guess?

Gleefully the whiskies were uncovered to show that while we guessed the right region for the Old Pulteney and the distillery was named at one point, it didn’t have the clear maritime stamp we now associate with Old Pulteney…

As for Westland? Wow! I will confess to shouting out my delight as it proves once again the folks there know exactly what they are doing!

And Amrut? The verdict is still out…

If we were betting, the house clearly would have won this round!

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India’s greedy angels – an experiment

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Have you ever wondered just how ‘greedy’ the angels are in a warm climate like Bombay?

One of our whisky tasting club members decided to do a little experiment. Only we had no idea!

We started with two whiskies… sampled blind with no further information. Here is what we found….

1st whisky “Citrus”

  • Nose – Lemon citrus, sweet, lightly organic, honey, fruit, banana, floral though not specifically distinct, bit of pale hay
  • Palate – Tangy citrus, a little sour bitter, cough syrup, linear with no spice
  • Finish – There and gone

A light, sweet start with subtle perfume notes… One member immediately recognized the whisky. Another dubbed it “White shirt, white pant”

2nd whisky “Wood”

  • Nose – Wood shavings, saw mill, varnish, a bourbon-y feel, pepper, mint steam, dry spices, sweet, an attic full of wood furniture or an antique store
  • Palate – Spice, black liquorice, pepper, very dry, quite sour, thin, astringent
  • Finish – Spice pepper

Not at all complex….

cask-experiment

So what was the experiment exactly? Our host managed to get a hold of a new oak mini cask!

His plan was to see the affect of wood on whisky at quarterly intervals:

  • 0 Months – Into the cask went 2 Litres less a 250 ml sample
  • 3 Months – Remove approx 250 ml
  • 6 Months – Remove approx 250 ml
  • 12 Months – Bottle the balance, timed perfectly with hosting the October session

The control sample and 3 month sample went fine but then… by 6 months… nothing. Seriously – nothing! Not a drop!

So to answer the original question posed… just how greedy are the angels? Very verrrry greedy indeed!

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Paul John Single Cask Peated

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We’ve had a few brushes with Goa’s answer to the world whisky challenge… The Whisky Ladies were smacking our collective lips with the yummy bacon in the Paul John Peated Select Cask….

However there is a Single Cask avatar of the Paul John Peated too tempting to resist…

Paul John Peated Cask 780

Paul John Single Cask Peated

  • Nose – Sour curd yet also honey caramel like breakfast muesli, peaty bacon, grilled prawns, campfire smoke, then chocolate orange, musty rancio element, as it airs light rose, dry supari
  • Taste – Very smooth, not in the least sharp, lots of body, as much going on in the palate as nose, toasted almonds, green applesauce
  • Finish – Long finish, burnt charcoal that mellows into apple sauce then grapes
  • Water – Fabulous! Adds more to the nose enhancing the supari and boiled rice

Comments:

  • “I feel like frolicking around the campfire!”
  • “Smells like stinky brie but tastes delicious”
  • “It is a voluptuous woman with attitude”

Overall, all that promise and bursting character in the Select Cask? Even better in the Single Cask. Wonderfully balanced, lots of body, it opens beautifully with a small splash of water. More importantly, it has a distinctive ‘Indian’ quality.

What do the folks at Paul John have to say?

Open your taste buds to the burst of a blood orange and kumquat blast, with an undertone of marmalade, framed by the soft, but confident and compelling peat reek. The profound contrast continues: the mouth watering maltiness plays hide and seek with darker, drier, smoky undertones and the myriad shoes and subtleties of smoked cocoa butter… Quite a handful of attitude in one bottle, this is for serious whisky drinkers.

Other Paul John whisky experiences:20151224_Paul John Quintet

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Whisky Ladies of Mumbai turn “One”

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One year ago, a chance conversation about whisky lead to a fabulous evening… Each month since, a remarkable group of women have met in Mumbai to explore whiskies combined with witty conversations.

Whisky Ladies 1st Anniversary

Together we’ve had 12 fabulous sessions:

  1. Whisky Ladies Welcome – Compass Box Asyla, Kilchoman Coull Point, Nikka ‘Yochi’ 10 yr, Caol Ila 12 yr, Ledaig 1997
  2. With Karen Walker – Caorunn gin, Balblair 03, Old Pulteney 12 yr, Speyburn 10 yr, AnCnoc 12 + 22 yr
  3. Cask Strength Diwali – Glenfarclas 105, Chichibu 2009, A’bunadh #35
  4. World Tour – Forty Creek Confederation Oak, Nikka Blended, Oban 14 yr, Sheringham William’s White Double Distilled Grain
  5. Go Goan! Paul John Brilliance, Edited, Bold, Classic & Peated
  6. Go American! JD, Hudson Single Malt, Jim Bean, Knobs Creek 9 yr (with Shatbhi Basu)
  7. Sweetly smokey – Dalmore 15 yr, Mackmyra Svensk Rök, Smokehead Rock
  8. Chocolate with Hibiki Harmony, Lagavulin 16 yr, A’bunadh #46
  9. Far East – Kavalan Concertmaster + Solist, Nikka Coffey Grain, Chinese baijiu
  10. “I like the label” – Compass Box Great King Street – Artist’s Blend, Starward, Smoky Goat
  11. European Tour – Teerenpeli (Finland), Danica (Denmark), Kornog (France), Slyrs (Germany)
  12. 5 Region Tour – Glenkinchie 12 yr, Jura Turas-Mara, Clynelish 14 yr, Cardhu 12 yr, Ardbeg 10 yr

Whisky Ladies in Mumbai

And the whiskies for our 1st anniversary celebration? Count them… yup that’s 13 whiskies from left to right…

  1. Amrut Single Malt
  2. Amrut Fusion
  3. Paul John Edited 46%
  4. Paul John Peated 55.5%
  5. Cragganmore 12 year 40%
  6. Smoky Goat 40%
  7. Highland Park 1998 40%
  8. Aberfeldy 12 year 40%
  9. Monkey Shoulder 40%
  10. Dalmore 15 year 40%
  11. Glen Grant 10 year 40%
  12. Caol Ila 12 year 43%
  13. Ardbeg 10 year 46%

Along with a bottle, our potluck approach to nibbles resulted in a fabulous spread.

Whisky Ladies Spread

Here’s to wonderful women that make up this Mumbai malty tribe! May we continue to enjoy many more sessions together!

In celebration, we now have a special Whisky Ladies Corner sharing:

  • Blog posts from our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai (other than mine!)
  • Recognition of evenings we’ve enjoyed courtesy of a few kind benefactors
  • Other nights with whiskies we sourced with different themes
  • Related women centric whisky posts

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Winnipeg Cabinet’s Paul John Peated experience

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Yes another Paul John post, however it is such a treat to be able to share this tropical delight from Goa, India in my country of birth – Canada!

We’ve enjoyed more than one Paul John‘s Select Cask Peated:

  • 1st bottle graced two tasting occasions – an evening with our original tasting group with partners and then revisited with a mad bunch of friends
  • 2nd bottle made its appearance with the Whisky Ladies Goan send-off in December 2015. It was completely memorable and created a fan following amongst the Whisky Ladies…. so much so that one of our intrepid lasses made the trek to the distillery doors to help source further bottles…
  • 3rd bottle wound its way from Goa to Mumbai to London to Toronto and finally Winnipeg for a special peaty evening with the lads from The Cabinet

Paul John Select Cask Peated

Here’s a few impressions from the Canadian evening with a bottle from the 2016 batch:

  • Nose – Fruit, flowers and tropics, raisins, some toffee coffee, then back to fruit… dark cherries, berries with curl of smoke
  • Palate – Rum… did we mention rum? Exceedingly smooth, smoky yet sweet
  • Finish – Smoke tar with a sweet chaser…

Now my companions must have wondered a bit as I kept (annoyingly) going on about “where’s the delicious bacon??” Between the 1st batch and this batch, the gorgeous yummy glazed ham, back-bacon drizzled in maple syrup was… well… notably absent. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a rather good dram but oh… that meaty peaty sweetness I was greedily looking forward to was simply… different.

I returned to India to confer with my fellow Whisky Ladies – sure enough they all had the same reaction. Still a mighty fine whisky, still very enjoyable however…. “where is the bacon???”

My friends at the Cabinet had no such pre-conceived notions. And it was therefore all the more enjoyable to experience afresh through their reactions what Paul John has to offer to the world of whisky!

Here’s what they had to say…

And finally the genesis of the peat theme this evening: Carissa had brought a bottle of Paul John peated single malt whisky from Goa, India. Yes, Goa. It’s hard to imagine a locale less associated with single malt in most people’s minds. Right up there with Fiji or Egypt. But indeed, since 2012 there has been a distillery in Goa and what a distillery.
PaulJohnPeatedTo those of you for whom Indian whisky means Amrut and for whom Amrut is a byword for crap, Paul John is a revelation. Not only is it not crap, but it is in fact very good. Not only is the quality a surprise, but the entire whisky is a surprise.
To begin with, although peated malt was apparently used, the peat character is completely submerged under an intense sweet dark fruit flavour overlay, like raisins, like molasses, like… rum. This whisky tastes like a lovely aged rum. Perhaps an 18 year old Flor de Cana.
And the colour. For a whisky whose oldest components cannot be more than four years it has the deep mahogany colour of a 21 year old sherry cask finish. Apparently the tropical heat greatly accelerates aspects of the aging process.
And then finally the alcohol. This is a 55.5% fire bomb, yet none of us added water. The rummy sweetness smooths it and softens it. 
Very interesting. Thank you Carissa! It’s really an “apples and oranges” scenario when it comes to comparisons with traditional scotch whiskies. In fact last night the Rosebank and Paul John beautifully illustrated opposite ends of a series of spectrums: old and new, light and dark, astringent and sweet, austere and complex. As the rhinos dwindle away other species begin to proliferate…

Thank you Cabinet gents for a most memorable evening in Winnipeg! And thank you once again Michael of Paul John for the bottle that made its way from my adopted home to the city of my birth.

Interested in what else we sampled? Read on…

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Winnipeg’s The Cabinet “Peat” evening

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Some folks know that I originally hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada though long ago adopted Mumbai, Maharashtra, India as home.

During my June 2016 trip back to the ‘Peg, I had several whisky treats – not the least of which was a most enjoyable evening spent with the lads from “The Cabinet” – a venerable whisky tasting group based in Winnipeg.

During an earlier trip several years ago I had the distinct pleasure of joining a Cabinet session and was introduced to their constitution, traditions and lore. Since then these merry men (and yes they are ALL men!) have further evolved during their 9 odd years of gathering.

They update a chalk board that lists what currently resides inside “The Cabinet“,  which is unlocked precisely at the given hour and the session is called to order.

The Cabinet Whisky ListAs guest, I had the pick of the open bottles to whet our whistle before the real evening commenced. Purely as it is increasingly rare to come across a bottle, my eye spotted the Rosebank 21 year… What can I say? I’m a sucker for indulging in  discontinued distillery samples when the opportunity arises!

Post my selection, we had a decidedly peaty tour with the room scented with peaty smoke. Our host shared insights from his most recent Scottish whisky tour and even managed to acquire ‘peat pellets’ from Manitoba, wondering why oh why isn’t there a good peaty single malt made in Manitoba?

The Winnipeg “The Cabinet” evening featured:

The lads at The Cabinet maintain a most amusing blog and already have their post on the evening published! It is, quite simply, a ‘must read!’ and can be found here: “Peat”

Thank you again gentlemen and I look forward to our continued tasting adventures!

Whisky Cabinet

Fabled Winnipeg Whisky cabinet

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Revisiting the Paul John Bold 46%

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As I’m in UK/Canada, prepared this post during a sweltering Mumbai May evening for your reading pleasure while I’m off gallivanting… read on…

Whenever possible, I like to revisit a whisky for a 2nd opinion. While I absolutely love sampling with others, there is also something to be said for sipping solo and distilling your own unique impression.

When the Whisky Ladies first sampled Paul John Bold, we found it enjoyable but slightly tame. In part this was because we had it after the fabulous Peated. In short, it was overshadowed.

At the time, I expected to soon revisit after our first brush with Bold but it took a quiet evening in May to finally pull it out and sample solo.

2016-05-08 Paul John Bold
Here’s what we initially found with Bold Single Malt NAS 46% compared with what I found solo…
  • Nose
    • Whisky Ladies: Bergamont, light, restrained, not quite sweet, a sense of being a bit more sophisticated, with a little vanilla
    • Whisky Lady revisit: Much sweeter and more ‘malty’ than I remembered, some citrus or tart green apple rather than the burst of tropical fruits I normally associate with Paul John expressions, a pronounced curl of peat too which we missed in our initial tasting. Yes honey too with a vegetal spicy undertone… as it aired became even a bit milky?
  • Taste
    • Whisky Ladies: Dare we say… after a name like BOLD we expected the whisky to jump out at us, swaggering into our senses… instead it was… um… almost tame? Light, honey sweet, some citrus, a puff of smoke, lovely but a step back from the luscious Peated
    • Whisky Lady revisit: More burn and ‘oomph!’ than I remembered…. some coffee and malted cereals, delightfully peaty
  • Finish
    • Whisky Ladies: Here was where we found peat – a lightly peaty finish with walnut. Some found it slightly bitter, others found it wasn’t bitter at all – particularly when compared with the bitterness of  the Edited finish
    • Whisky Lady revisit: Nice and peppery, still find the bitter walnut, oak and a hint of cinnamon spice

Did I agree with our initial assessment? Yes and no. Once it sang solo, Bold stands out.

I also found it went well with water and… yes… I will admit, a cube of ice kicks up the spice while cooling the dram – most welcome. What can I say? It is May and hot in Mumbai!

Whereas if I was to pick a season for this whisky? I’m reminded more of fall, all leafy, wood fires and crisp cool air. As I stared my risotto slowly cooking, couldn’t help tip the bottle to add a splash. Bold added a dash of spicy smoke – yum!

2016-05-07 Paul John Bold

The Bold I sampled was from Batch No 1, released in Aug 2015. I understand it is made with Indian barley smoked using Islay peat to around 25ppm. This is different than a short-cut many other distilleries outside of Scotland adopt, which is to import peated barley rather than go through the process of importing just the peat to then play around with peating desi barley.

Here’s what the folks at Paul John have to say about Bold:

Bold is a journey that leads you down the unexplored, unchartered terrains of Goa. It offers you a slice of its best-kept secrets, unravelling the mysteries, bit by little bit. This expression of ours invites you to leave the trail, tread the path less taken and plunge headlong into the delicious depths of Goa.

  • Nose – After the slightest whiff of smoke, a dizzying array of Manuka honey, prickly spice and bourboneque red liquorice takes over.
  • Palate – This melt-in-the-mouth malt has the most profound flavours crashing in like waves. At first, the delivery feels sublimely silky and studded with oak-like honey. And just when you think you’ve savoured it all, you are surprised by a hefty second wave of spice. This is followed by a cloudy, smoky feel that coats the roof of the mouth and leaves a tidal wave of dry molasses, peaty soot and a degree of copper in its wake.
  • Finish – Bold has a light finish with a tinge of copper slowly making its presence known. You can also sense a gorgeous smoked mocha shaped by delicate and intricate spices.

More sampling adventures with Paul John:

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Paul John Distillery in Goa – Guest Post by Paula McGlynn

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As I’m off gallivanting around merry old England then the colonies (aka Canada), am delighted to introduce another guest post by the lovely Paula McGlynn from her tour of Paul John distillery taken while in Goa for a recent film shoot.

Guest Post by Paula McGlynn

Guest Post by Paula McGlynn

“Don’t go by the map!” he said. Michael D’souza warned me that I would get lost if I tried to find the distillery by the Google Maps location. .. I didn’t listen and got lost anyway. However, after I realized my folly I turned around and found it the old fashion way; by asking people on the street.

Tucked away in the southern corner of Goa, the Paul John Distillery is to whisky lovers what the Golden Idol is to Indiana Jones… a treasure worth the effort and adventure required to find it!

I first had the pleasure of tasting whisky from Paul John distillery at our December 2015 Whisky Ladies tasting session in Mumbai. While we usually go through many efforts trying to source different whiskies from our travels, this was one night where we didn’t have to venture very far. Michael had generously provided a selection of the entire Paul John range (five different single malts) for our tasting pleasure.

The Paul John Distillery is in a large, earthy red building in a surprisingly quiet and green industrial estate.  Michael D’Souza, the Master Distiller, was soft-spoken and gracious as he showed me around. He explained that they plan to start distillery tours later on this year so make sure you fit it into your next winter trip to Goa!

Paul John Distillery

Paul John Distillery

We started with a walk through the massive storehouse where the whisky barrels are stacked for aging. We then proceeded to the cooler area downstairs where there are again many barrels stacked for whiskies for a slower aging process. Currently, the oldest whisky is bottled at only 7 years of age because the warm Goan climate causes the whisky to take on the character of the barrels and climate much faster than in the cool grey hills of Scotland.  Goa is also considered to be the party state of India, which might help explain why the ‘angel’s share’ is so high. (wink wink)

We proceeded to taste straight from Michael’s favorite select barrels and I sampled both peated and unpeated whiskies. The unpeated was extremely smooth, with tropical banana and coconut, while the peated was rich and nutty with some citrus notes.

After leaving the storehouse we took a tour of the distillery. Before going into the barrels, the alcohol goes through the fermentation processes where the malted barley is converted to a kind of beer. To take a peep inside the chambers is like looking into a giant test tube and watching the yeast form bubbles on top of the liquid. It is then passed through two large copper stills to clarify and concentrate the alcohol. It then goes into charred oak barrels and begins its relatively short (in whisky terms) seven year wait at the Paul John Distillery before bottling.

Paul John Select Cask Peated

Paul John Select Cask Peated

If you are in India, a visit to the distillery is a must because Paul John is currently only distributing the “Bold” and the “Edited” expressions of the whisky within India. However, the entire range must be sampled to understand how versatile and complex an Indian whisky can be! When Paul John Distillery opens for tours it will be possible for people to sample the entire range. Those not living in India can find the entire selection available for purchase in many countries including the UK, France, and America.

When you have a chance to sample, do try for the Peated Select Cask if you’re a fan of bacon and peat! It’s a personal favorite of many of our Whisky Ladies as well.

For your own interest, do check out the website for Paul John Distillery: http://pauljohnwhisky.com/ and slot it into your next trip to Goa.

Also, I have added a new location for the distillery on the map so you don’t need to go Indiana Jones looking for the place if you don’t want to: https://goo.gl/maps/CTNi8bK6mHz

Related posts about Paul John whisky samplings:

The surprising Amrut Spectrum 50%

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Sometimes our sessions have a small ‘bonus’ offering. A little something extra tagged on after the main show. Call it an ‘encore’ performance.

Usually there is a specific reason it is kept separate from the main trio of whiskies sampled. Hosts often have a little ‘surprise’ like my sharing a rather unique tequila like Tapatio Excelencia Gran Reserva Extra Anejo or another evening with a post dinner El Dorado Rum.

Amrut Mystery Malt

In this case, after dinner we were offered a sample of a sample… introduced blind with no context.

  • Nose: Immediate in your face sherry replete with all the usual dried fruits, diwali crackers smoke, burnt brown sugar, kopra, dry roasted coconut, chokecherry, port wine, rubber and kokum
  • Taste: Dry… then stewed prunes, hint of spice, chilli chocolate, honestly a bit peculiar – very much on the dry spice side without sweetness, different
  • Finish: Wine finish, prunes, closes with spice

Observations: Prunes were consistently there in nose, palate and finish. Distinctive and difficult to adequately describe. None could place. And frankly it wasn’t exactly the kind of whisky that appealed immediately. Like a novel experiment but not necessarily one you would run out to repeat or share with the world.

Our mischievous supplier of the mystery malt then started to drop obscure clues to prompt our guessing the whisky like:

  • Single malt that is a mixed palate
  • If in Scotland, may not meet the rules
  • James Bond…

We gave up.

Reveal? A sampling of Amrut Spectrum which has sparked both controversy and admiration for the innovation of its approach.

Amrut Spectrum (www.amrutdistilleries.com)

Amrut Spectrum (www.amrutdistilleries.com)

Here is what the folks over at Amrut have to say:

One of the uniquest whisky malt in the world, to make this whisky malts were initially matured for a period of 3 years in ex-Bourbon barrels after which they were transferred to a custom built barrel. This barrel was constructed at an undisclosed location in Europe with the help of a few experts. Whisky is traditionally aged in a barrel made of one type of wood, which lends the flavor and complexities to the malt, however, Amrut Spectrum in matured in a barrel with five different types of wood. 

Tasting Notes from Biskopen Gustavs Maltklubb
  • Nose: raisins, rum, nougat, figs, oranges, tiramisu, cocoa, caramel, coffee, dried fruit, burnt rubber.
  • Palate: sherry, rum, butterscotch, chocolate, prunes, molasses, pecans, walnuts, almonds, English wine gum.
  • Finish: caramelized almonds, old cognac, apricots, Brazil nuts.

Those who’ve followed Whisky Lady tasting adventures for some time would know that I’m very proud of my adopted home India. I’m also delighted to see its nascent single malt whisky experiments begin to garner attention.

However I’ve had mixed experiences with Amrut whiskies sampled til date. In large part that is because what is available in India is NOT the same as what folks outside India rave about!

Case in point, the Fusion we buy in Mumbai does not have the same alcohol strength as what I sampled in Singapore last December. Fusion at 50% is certainly much more interesting than what you can pick up from your local Mumbai ‘wine shop.’

Spectrum is certainly different. And there is something to be said for pushing the boundaries… so bravo for that.

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Whisky Ladies Go Goan! Paul John Quintet

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After our Whisky Ladies conquered a cask strength Diwali and then went on a mini ‘world tour’ in November, you might think we would go slow for December. After all – our collective livers need to survive the holiday season!!

What we decided instead is to go Goan.. in honour of a merry malt member abandoning Mumbai for SanFran. She, quite understandably, wanted to squeeze in every desi moment remaining. Naturally this was a perfect excuse to pull out the Paul John expressions, courtesy of master distiller Michael John.

Paul John is India’s “other” single malt whisky distillery found in South Goa. Since launching their first whisky to the world in 2013, they have been making their mark.

We were first introduced to Edited in a blind tasting early 2015. Then, Michael reached out with a generous offer to send our tasting group more expressions leading to a most enjoyable evening! After those bottles were gleefully polished off, came a new set with the brand new Bold expression added to tempt our Whisky Ladies…

Whisky Ladies Paul John Evening

Whisky Ladies Paul John Evening

Here is what the lasses thought!
  • Nose – Caramel, mango, papaya, jackfruit a whiff of ahem.. Formaldehyde, then a chocolatey flavour when ‘aggressively’ inhaled
  • Taste – Sweet with lots of caramel, buttery caramel popcorn, marzipan, a little malty too
  • Finish – Soft and easy… warming… a bit of black pepper, slightly bitter finish a la dark chocolate
  • Water – Better… much better
  • Comments – “A step up from Blue Ribbon and Old Monk! Multiple steps…. Possibly full flights” “A good ‘intro’ whisky for new whisky ladies”
  • Nose – Bursting with fruit especially pineapple, more citrusy than Brilliance. Soft butter, a curl of peaty smoke playing peek-a-boo… a little cocoa, most of all… it is “Like breathing in pina colada!”
  • Taste – Hugely sweet rush, smoked pineapple with a hint of banana, has a bit more of a ‘manly’ kick, meatier and richer, some woodsy spices
  • Finish – Some found it unremarkable, others found a sweetish note with a hint of bitter, perhaps a dash of oak. One remarked “Better than most recent dates!”
  • Water – Much preferred with a few drops of water
  • Observations – Pairs well with food – especially cheese!
  • Nose – Back to being almost overly fruity! This time with a hint of floral elements, some lemon citrus sweetness, a bit of caramel, white pepper, with a good inhale – heavy vanilla, lots of white pepper and some sage
  • Taste – Sweet and a bit spicy if you take a serious swig, hold and let it linger. Nice warm burn.
  • Finish – A bit of a bitter aftertaste, yet still sweet – almost like cough syrup
  • Comment – “It is making us nice and warm… but alas not hot.” 
  • Nose – Yum! Now we are talking! Delicious bacon jam, some pastrami, think procsutto and cantaloupe, with a caramel glaze
  • Taste – Hickory, smokey, warm and sweet, rich, a little rough with character – in a way that we like! Fabulous balance of peat and sweet, fruit and earthy elements. Again – yum!
  • Finish – Leaves its mark like a scratchy stubble burn…
  • Water – A little citrus orange high note peeps out then settles back into bacon goodness
  • Comment – “It is like a really GOOD Canadian man – Bacon, maple syrup, lumberjack fantasies and ice hockey!”
  • Nose – Bergamont, light, restrained, not quite sweet, a sense of being a bit more sophisticated, with a little vanilla
  • Taste – Dare we say… after a name like BOLD  we expected the whisky to jump out at us, swaggering into our senses… instead it was… um… almost tame? Light, honey sweet, some citrus, a puff of smoke, lovely but a step back from the luscious Peated
  • Finish – Here was where we found peat – a lightly peaty finish with walnut. Some found it slightly bitter, others found it wasn’t bitter at all – particularly when compared with the bitterness of  the Edited finish.
  • Overall – Character of the whisky contrasts with the name. We realised afterwards, we should have tried it together with Brilliance after Edited, as part of the ‘Trio’ of entry level Single Malts vs the ‘Pair’ of cask strength whiskies. Particularly after the fabulous Peated, the Bold was a bit overshadowed. Me thinks this one needs to be re-sampled just on its own…

As you can see… the Peated was ‘dipped’ into again after our initial tasting. I do believe that is a rather obvious sign that we liked it rather a lot!

20151224_Paul John Quintet

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