India is a whisky paradox. They produce and consume more whisky than any other nation on earth but with their own unique production and labelling requirements much of what they call ‘whisky’ we would be more inclined to call rum.

Unfortunately this faux whisky industry has detracted from the work of a small number of pioneers who are producing international award winning malts (real ones) on the subcontinent.

Paul John is one of these distilleries winning acclaim around the world. They exported their first single malt in 2012 and have gone from strength to strength ever since.

The mash is an all Indian affair. It starts with six-row barley harvested from Rajasthan and as far north as the Himalayan foothills. This grain produces an oilier spirit than the two-row barley typically used in Scottish malts. The water comes from the Western Ghats mountain range.

Located about an hour from the Arabian Sea in the state of Goa, the distillery uses twin custom made copper pot stills. The tropical latitude provides maturation conditions more akin to a Kentucky summer than anything you might see in Scotland. This leads to both high interaction between whisky and wood and a very high angel’s share of 8-10% per year.

This particular whisky has had tropical ageing of five years in an ex-bourbon cask followed by two more years in an ex-PX sherry cask. Dark copper to the eye, the nose has fig and apricot and maybe a hint of banana. The palate shows sweet barley, creamy butterscotch, dried fruits and Christmas cake leading into a long and exquisite finish with chocolate fudge an orange peel.

This whisky pays homage to those old-time heavily sherried malts of Scotland and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

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