Side by side : Paul John Select Casks

Following on from my Oloroso & PX review of Paul John here, I've now written a comparison of their two Select Casks.

A pair of unpeated and peated drams at just over 55% ABV

Side by side: Paul John Christmas Editions

Each year Paul John release a 46% Christmas Edition.

Here I try the full set.

Core Range: Paul John

The first in a new series of posts showing a distillery's core range of bottlings.

This time looking at Paul John of India.

Side by side : Oloroso v PX from Paul John

A side by side of two sherry cask finished whiskies - Oloroso v PX both from ex-bourbon stock from @PaulJohnWhisky

Let's see how they compare!

BTC3 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 3rd #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Mark @Mark_BCWS

Side by side : #BoutiqueyWorldSeries

Following the success of the World Whisk(e)y Summit hosted by TBWC back in May, the independent bottler announced they’ll be releasing a special batch of world whiskies, featuring many of the participating distilleries.

The bottles have now been released - let's see what some of them are like!

Southport Whisky Festival

How do you organise a Whisky Festival during Lockdown? People aren't allowed to meet in large numbers, suppliers can't or won't get onboard...

You find an enthusiastic team... maybe an existing whisky club... with a leader with strong industry links.... and put a plan together!

Side by side : Paul John Peat

I received a couple of interesting drams from a sample swap with @dram_gazette and was able to split them to allow @ScotchB78 to join in the fun!

I've tried a few Paul John drams in my time so was really looking forward to these!

Paul John Single Cask (#686 Peated)

Paul John is an Indian distillery established in 1992, it's whiskies have won many awards and are available all over the world. This is the second of their's I've tried, the first being Brilliance.

As well as their core range they also offer a number of single cask bottles, which due to the high temperatures in Goa and the greedy angels, are often low in number! This particular dram if from one of only 156 bottles and I'm grateful to @Andrews_Share for the sample.

Whisky : Single Cask #686 (Peated to 35 ppm)

Characteristics : 700ml, 59% ABV.

Distillery's info : "Produced using Himalayan barley and Islay peat and was bottled from ex-bourbon cask number 686"

Price : £100 Discontinued

Colour : Dark Gold

Nose : The smoke hits you immediately after pouring, as does the alcohol. Left to rest in the glass for 10-15 minutes allows the dram to calm down a bit! I get hot porridge with some orange marmalade.

Palate : The strength get you - started a coughing session! It's not oily like some peaty Islay malts, more syrupy, quite sweet - more orange marmalade and quite a bit of spice on the tongue.

Finish : Very warming, some malt, spice and quite a bit of smoke.

Overall : I really enjoyed this dram, much better than the Brilliance I bought from M&S which I still can't quite make my mind up about! The smoke is there, the orange marmalade is always present and there are nice hints of spice!

Paul John Brilliance (with a little help from Jason!)

A bit of an experiment with this blog entry! Can you believe what those vloggers spout on YouTube (or those bloggers on Blogger or Wordpress for that matter!)

So what I've done here is follow along a tasting which Jason has put on to YouTube - you can watch the whole review here or I've embed the more relevant parts here and added my taste-along comments below!

Please let me know what you think!

So tonight's dram in Paul John Brilliance

Intro to Paul John Brilliance

Glance

I agree with Jason on this one it's a lovely non-coloured Amber, in the glass it has very fast legs perhaps showing it's young age.

Nose

For me the vanilla hits you straight away with some creamy butter - similar to Jason, I also get a winey aroma, like a good red wine. There is a sweetness like what you get from biting into a piece of dried pineapple that's juicy in the middle then there is some green apple skin - my Grandma used to peel apples and throw the skin to the birds - I used to love eating it - it's very similar on the nose. Jason also got tropical fruits - Mango, papaya and sultanas - so a little different! We both got nuts - him almonds and pistachio but I get Christmas walnuts. There is a lovely spice which develops from the glass - Jason mentioned cinnamon and citrus marmalade, I was getting nutmeg.

Palate

Both of us loved the smooth buttery mouth coating honey from this dram, I got immediate spice like fresh ground black pepper followed by some chocolate flavours. Jason also got the pepper but instead of the chocolate he got spiced fudge (sounds yummy!), candied citrus and some barley.

Finish

We both agreed on a long warm spicy finish - definitely a winter warmer dram! I detected vanilla with some spicy Allspice and a sweetness left in the mouth. Jason also got sweetness with his honey and creamy vanilla.

Conclusion

Well first of all the whisky - it has taken a while for my appreciation of the Brilliance to grow, I think from all the 'hype' I read I was expecting a brilliant dram, but you have to remember that this is Paul John's entry level dram and when you think of it that way it is very good. I'm not about half way down the bottle and it has become a favourite - definitely a winter dram so sip around a real fire.

Finally other people's views - bloggers and vloggers! There's a simple answer to this - everyone's nose and palate is different and yes we might detect some of the same aromas and flavours they won't be identical. If I'd compared my thoughts to someone else we may have day different differences! So by all means read and watch what other people are saying about a dram but there's no subsistute for sticking your own nose in the glass and taking some of the beautiful liquid into your own mouth! Then you can compare and discuss with the rest of us!


Thanks to Jason for letting me 'borrow' his clips!