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| Original photo provided by Tim Grant and used with permission. |
What is it?
Distillery: Paul John
Name: Classic Select Cask
Make: Indian Single Malt Whisky
Extra Info: The Paul John distillery is situated in Goa, on the west coast of India. Indian single malt whisky is produced primarily for the export market. An Indian 'whisky' is produced and sold locally made from blending a molasses-based spirit similar to Rum with either grain whisky or blended Scotch whisky. This cannot be sold as 'whisky' in most of the world and is often referred to as a 'spirit drink.' However, according to Forbes, in 2014 one such 'spirit drink,' Officer’s Choice sold 28.4 million 9-liter cases - about 255 million litres and enough to fill over 100 Olympic-size swimming pools. By comparison, that is over 14 times the volume of global Johnnie Walker sales!
Why did I buy it?
I didn't. This is a review of a sample bottle kindly provided by Paul John. I usually only review full-size bottles since I can take my time and drink as much as I need to finalise my impressions. That is more difficult to do with a sample bottle, but I have done my best.
What did I think of it?
Presentation: Paul John whisky has an unusually uniform design language across their entire range. In fact, it can be difficult to distinguish between expressions from a distance, since the label differences are very subtle and the colour of the whisky look very similar. Bottled at 55.2% ABV.
Appearance: All the whisky in the Paul John range looks the same golden hue to me, but Paul John proudly claim their whisky contains no artificial colouring and are non-chill filtered. I can only assume that some form of distillery wizardry must take place to achieve such a consistent colour across the range.
Aroma: A delectable blend of nutmeg spice, sweet honey and faint vanilla notes.
Flavour: Oily mouthfeel, sweet and peppery.
Finish: Smooth, medium length, late spicy pop with some bitterness at the last moment.
Would I buy it again?
Yes. Paul John Classic Select Cask is an ideal whisky for when you want to just wile away the hours savouring the aroma and taking the occasional sip. Depending on your tastes, you may want to add a little water due to the relatively high alcohol content, but I found it to be great neat. Paul John Classic Select Cask is the kind of whisky you can nose incessantly and where a single dram can last an age. I really enjoyed it.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to have the nose and palate of a Master Sommelier, however, I am working to train my senses to better identify whisky aromas and flavours. Consider all my whisky 'Impressions' to be a work in progress and I hope to come back to each of them in the future to see if I notice anything different. Most importantly, I'm not just throwing around random aromas, flavours and adjectives for the hell of it; I am trying really hard to critically describe each whisky I taste - WhiskyDad.
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