Paul John Edited Impressions

Original photo provided by Tim Grant and used with permission.

What is it?

Distillery: Paul John

Name: Edited

Make: Indian Single Malt Whisky

Extra Info: The Paul John distillery is situated in Goa, on the west coast of India. Paul John Edited is distilled from a mix of unpeated Indian malt and malt dried with fires fuelled by peat imported from Islay and Aberdeen in Scotland. Approximately 15% of the final whisky uses the peated malt, producing a lightly peated profile for this ex-bourbon cask matured Indian single malt whisky.

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 46% 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: Big leather notes, perhaps some lanolin and charcoal.

Flavour: Thin mouthfeel with a clearly medicinal taste and a little spice.

Finish: Smooth, medium length with a lasting tingle on the tongue.

Would I buy it again?

No, it is not my favourite expression in the Paul John range. I stand by my own impressions but my tasting notes differ quite a lot from some other opinions I have read. Although I found the strong leather nose to be pleasant, it was also rather overpowering, leaving the whisky's aroma a little unbalanced. The flavour tasted like what I would imagine a lightly peated Laphroaig to taste like, so if you like your peated malts with a more medicinal flavour, you will most likely find a lot to enjoy in the Paul John Edited. 

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.