A presentation with passion & whisky from afar
When: 23rd October 2025
Where: Thirsty
Host: Anees from Paul John
Cambridge Whisky Club took a big step forward with this tasting – our first time welcoming a brand ambassador! Anees brought 7 bottles with him to share with us the wonders of Goa, India, in the form of Paul John whisky. I enjoyed the opportunity to sit on the receiving end for a change and felt quite comfortable with the room full of other engaged and curious whisky drinkers. I feel it is important, when presenting whisky, to allow people a chance to see the breadth of what’s available to them, and I think it’s fun to provide this with plenty of contrasting bottles; I hope that is reflected in the line-ups I choose. While presentations from a single distillery may seem at odds with that mission statement, I think they actually fit in quite well.
Firstly, being able to step through a full range from one producer helps to show what is possible within one distillery – a focus on a characteristic spirit style, a willingness to experiment, or simply a common perspective behind the production. A brand ambassador spending the evening with us also has more time than I can afford to go into details, sharing their research and behind-the-scenes anecdotes; we learn more about the distillery than just its whisky. Then there’s the chance to see an evolution within the whisky, maybe that’s with different ages or cask profiles, or entirely different recipes. When you think about a line-up of events, rather than a line-up of bottles at one particular event, with brand ambassadors slotted in around me, we start to get contrast and breadth across the industry, differences in perspective, not to mention all of the whiskies we’ll sample.
So what insight and experience did our Paul John tasting give us? Well, Anees was a wonderfully warm and engaging presenter, covering many topics within the production and operational realms of whisky understandably and approachably. He was clearly well educated on all aspects of Paul John whisky too, giving us a great tour through 7 of their expressions, and offering us glimpses behind the curtain at how the brains behind the distillery like to run things.
The big takeaway he wanted us to recognise was the power of tropical ageing. In Goa, on the west coast of India, average monthly temperatures are 25-30°C, with a lowest average low of 20°C and a highest average high of 34°C. Compared to Scotland, with a highest average high of 18°C, whisky production is a wholly different beast. Relative humidity and temperature mean that evaporation from the cask (the angel’s share) is more like 8% for Paul John, whereas Scottish distillers have 2% to deal with, although for both it is the alcohol they’re losing (with distilleries in drier parts of India and the world experiencing mostly water evaporation). The estimate Anees gave us was that 1 year for a Paul John aging cask is like 4 years for a cask in Scotland; more active cask interaction means more spirit evolution in a shorter time. Plus, if you leave it for too long, what’s left in the barrel might just be downright undrinkable, or gone entirely!
Note: The line-up photo above is missing the Oloroso bottle, as it was hiding behind it. Plus, the order isn’t reflective as they were grouped by range. Below, the bottle is included, and the order matches.
The Whisky
(Click on the images to buy a bottle)
Paul John – Nirvana
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 40%
This expression isn’t one of the first Paul John bottles released, but it is a big seller for them in their home country, where single malt isn’t always a top earner. Aimed more for the highball crowd, it’s lower ABV and chill filtered, but it was a great opener and start of the story.
It is, like all of the Paul John whiskies we tasted, 100% Indian barley. It spends its time in wood, about 4 years of that tropical aging, entirely in ex-bourbon barrels.
Notes: 👃🏻Nectarine, sponge cake, crackers, white grape/wine, orange liqueur 👄Creamy, salty, vanilla, damp wood, white pepper, bitter honey.
Paul John – Brilliance
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 46%
Bottle two begins to show why Nirvana was a great story opener: Brilliance is born of the same exact spirit, but given 1 extra year in those ex-bourbon barrels. This next chapter is bottled at a more traditional ABV for those wanting to sip it straight, and, like the remainder of the whiskies, is non-chill filtered.
This is part of the 3 core expressions, with Bold featuring later also in that trio – we didn’t try Edited, which is sort of between those 2. While Nirvana might sell more in India, Brilliance is pitched as the foundation for all of their other single malts – that is, the base 5 year maturation in ex-bourbon of this Indian barley spirit.
It was quite interesting to me how that extra year, the 6 points of ABV, and the lack of chill filtering bolster the depth and flavour-darkness of this compared to Nirvana before it. Not something that’s necessarily easy to appreciate unless you sample them next to each other.
Notes: 👃🏻More grain/cracker, milk choc, ginger beer, BBQ sauce (sweetness, not smoke) 👄Red wine/sherry berries, aniseed, cherry.
Paul John – Classic Select Cask
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 55.2%
Another step through the story along the trajectory we’ve been following. The Select Cask series, in general, is about adding more to that Brilliance blueprint. This edition, Classic, adds 2 more years to the clock, bringing us to 7 years of that tropical ageing in ex-bourbon barrels. Being partly owned by Sazerac means that the company can access some very high-quality bourbon barrels, so more time in those with that increased-activity environment leads to something quite formidable, especially at this heavier ABV.
Notes: 👃🏻Grapefruit, green chilli/pepper, earthy farmyard cereal 👄Butterscotch, mango, salt, black pepper.
Paul John – Oloroso Select Cask
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 48%
Next up, a different path in the story as we explored more of the Select Cask offerings. This one, named Oloroso, again starting off with that 5 year old Brilliance base, was treated to a finish between 18-24 months. Now, Anees was clear that it technically isn’t a sherry finish, as the casks do not come from Jerez (with their sherry rules similar to Scotland and its whiskies), but rather a finish born of other oloroso-style fortified wines; an interesting technicality I’ve not seen made so refreshingly transparent before.
Notes: 👃🏻Brown sugar, shredded wheat, port, rye, hazelnut 👄Green grape sherry, fiery ginger beer.
Paul John – PX Select Cask
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 48%
Similar to the previous Oloroso Select Cask, this is a PX-style finish of up to 2 years on that Brilliance starting point. Another grand opportunity to go back to back with two bottles that, if you tried them as far removed as even just two neighbouring tastings, you might struggle to remember and appreciate their differences.
Notes: 👃🏻Cola sweets, chlorine, orange liqueur, watermelon syrup 👄 Dark red wine/gravy, milky choc, PX berries, tobacco, leather
Paul John – Christmas 2022
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 46%
Unfortunately, Anees, who was genuinely apologetic and disappointed (I think a little selfishly as well 😉), couldn’t get his hands on a bottle of this year’s release of the Paul John Christmas edition. Instead, he brought one of his favourites, and a story about how these releases differ, again, from the core bottlings and Select Cask range.
He has been lucky enough to visit the distillery in Goa and spend some time with master distiller Michael d’Souza. Anees’ description of the long metal lab bench that he works from to marry different casks together in search of the next great release explains the idea behind the Christmas editions. More than a simple, single cask finish, they are experiments in blending different outputs of the distillery.
Throughout the range, there’s been extra finishes, marriages of casks, and tweaks on that original Brilliance recipe. For 2022, a trio of casks were involved: ex-bourbon (that Brilliance again), ex-brandy (also made in Goa from local grapes by the Paul John distillery), and ex-Oloroso casks that had already previously held Paul John whisky (which was peated… more on that to come with the final bottle).
Notes: 👃🏻Peaches + savoury shortcrust, grapefruit, balsamic, tomato 👄 soft, smokey, salty, pineapple, meringue.
Paul John – Bold
Indian Single Malt Whisky – 46%
Peat isn’t native to the Indian climate – it’s also, apparently, not something that leads to a flavour profile which is typically enjoyed in India. However, Paul John (the man, not the distillery) has a real soft spot for smokey whisky, and he wanted to do it right: wet peat is imported from Scotland, which dries out during the journey.
There are a couple of things that ensure the final whisky has the smoke incorporated in a way that harmonises with the Paul John tropical style. To empower the barley, rather than burning the peat directly underneath it during malting, it’s burnt in an adjacent room and piped in. This allows greater control over the degree to which the barley is smoked. Then there’s the peat itself which, rather than a medicinal, polarising Islay peat, is obtained from the highlands, giving it a more floral, delicate smoke.
Notes: Super floral smoke finish, powdered sugar parsnips, peri peri chicken, Brussels pate.
The Winners
Anees took a show of hands for the whiskies that people enjoyed, encouraging us to vote for all of them that piqued our interest. And the result was a lot of hands for a lot of whisky. I think it’s safe to say that the evening, the whiskies, and our presenter were all a hit. The Indian sweets came out after that, allowing us to chat and finish off our glasses (and enjoy more from the bar), and chat a little more with Anees.
Tropical ageing appears, at least to this writer/drinker, to genuinely have a noticeable and believable effect on the Paul John whiskies we tried. I’m not entirely convinced that, for example, the cask strength, 7 year old Classic Select sample was as detailed or deep as something aged for a required competing length of time in a colder climate. But, I am definitely convinced that all of these whiskies were flavoured impeccably for their age, beyond it, and in general ignorance of any aging data!