Indri is the latest single malt brand to emerge from India, and it’s wasted no time in garnering accolades and attention. Like so many other “overnight success stories”, the real story reveals that success is actually the result of years of effort and development, and not some sudden, lucky strike of lightning. Trini (fully styled as Trini The Three Wood) is the flagship offering from the Indri stable, and it’s a whisky worth your attention. Indri Trini’s credentials, as we’ll see in a moment, make for a worthy pedigree.
Tag: Indian Whisky
Paul John: The Man and the Whisky
If there’s one message the whisky industry is sending to Consumerville right now – both implicitly and explicitly – it’s that for malt whisky drinkers looking to try new drams, your options extend well beyond the shores of Scotland. Malt whisky is being made all over the world, both from serious contenders set up for large scale production, and from the plethora of craft distilleries forging small but new ground. The new Paul John Oloroso release is yet another reminder that great whisky is coming out of India.
The trouble for many of these newer distilleries in the “new-world” whisky countries is that finances and cash flow almost demand that they put their product out to market early. Yes, we all know that these early releases are works in progress and that these “Hey, I’m here” bottlings at two, three, and four years old are all immature and not a true reflection of what the whisky might one day become. But one wonders if such producers might do their brand a favour if they were to simply sit back and patiently wait until the spirit was truly ready? Nonetheless, regardless of the marketeers or the accountants, every distillery has to get through its awkward years of puberty until it can put world class whisky on the shelves.
Meanwhile, one country that continues to press on and build on an already firmly established foundation is India. Paul John is certainly one distillery that has its teething years behind it and is now bottling impressive whisky. Very impressive whisky. Whisky & Wisdom has previously told parts of the Paul John story, and you can read much of the background information, plus read tasting notes on the core range here.
Amrut Spectrum
Previously whilst writing a feature article on Indian whisky and reviewing the excellent Paul John whiskies, I – perhaps a little flippantly – introduced the piece by explaining and asserting that Indian single malt whisky had not previously impressed me. Prior to tasting Paul John, I had tried many expressions of Amrut over the years (my first back in 2009) and on a reasonably regular basis since. The simple truth is that I have not tasted an Amrut that made me think, “Wow, this is a great whisky.”
Of course, whilst those comments set the scene for the subsequent article on Paul John, they also simultaneously raised a few eyebrows amongst Amrut fans, not to mention the wonderful folks at Alba Whisky, who are the local Amrut distributors within Australia.
Paul John – Indian whisky gets serious
Paul John whisky ? Well, I’ll come out and say it up front: I’d not previously been a fan of Indian whisky, having tried numerous expressions of Amrut over the years. Early experiences (2009) were very forgettable; several return visits between 2011 and 2013 left me wanting, and even when I tried some of the more recent releases of Amrut at The Whisky Show earlier this year, I struggled to get enthused. But you cannot dismiss an entire country’s single malt production on the basis of one distillery.
So when the good folks at Paul John got in touch with me from India after their recent Australian visit and offered to send me their core range for critical analysis and review, I was happy to have my Indian whisky experiences challenged and changed. And if you want to read the Executive Summary, here it is: This is good whisky!