Paul John Edited Tasting Notes

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

Here is what the lasses thought!

Brilliance Single Malt NAS 46%

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”

Edited Single Malt NAS 46%

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!

Classic Select Cask NAS 55.2%

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.”

Peated Select Cask NAS 55.5%

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!”

Bold Single Malt NAS 46%

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!

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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…