Tag: Oloroso

Paul John Mithuna & the new Paul John releases

For fans of whisky looking for something new or different to explore, the choices and options beyond the shores of Scotland grow more and more each day. Many of the so-called “new world” malt whisky countries now have industries that have at least a decade under their belt (e.g. Taiwan, India, the USA and, of course, Australia) and the whiskies from these countries are now firmly established. Paul John whisky, from India, is a brand that burst out of the starting blocks 2012, and has been going from strength to strength ever since.  The new Paul John Mithuna release, together with the excellent Oloroso expression, take things to the next level again.

John Distilleries Pty Ltd, the company behind the brand, has been in the spirits business since 1992, and turned its hand to producing single malt in 2008. With its first release of matured spirit four years later in 2012, by 2015 Paul John had expanded to have a core range consisting of Classic, Brilliance, Bold, Peated, amongst others. (You can read Whisky & Wisdom’s early thoughts on these whiskies in our 2015 article here). Things went up a notch in 2017 with the release of their special Oloroso bottling, and the range is now increasingly exotic with three new expressions now available in Australia: Nirvana, Oloroso, and Mithuna.   Our tasting notes and reviews for these three are presented further below, but first some general background information on each one….

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The whisky lover’s complete guide to sherry

When you first start to explore the world of single malt Scotch whisky, you learn early on that the vast majority of whisky is matured in two different types of casks:  Casks that previously held bourbon, and casks that previously held sherry. 

With further exploration and perhaps some self-education with your nose and palate, you’ll probably begin to be able to identify when a whisky’s maturation journey has been influenced by sherry casks.   In other words, you’ll either smell or taste the sherry cask influence on the spirit.  And, like many people, you might even find yourself favouring the sherried style of whisky, and you’ll have a preference for the distilleries that make sherry cask maturation a feature of their house style and portfolio.  (Glenfarclas, Glendronach, and Macallan arguably being the three main front-runners in this regard, although the Aberlour’s a’Bunadh release is also a long-time favourite).

Whilst many people understand and appreciate the concept of using second hand sherry casks to mature whisky, few people actually understand or appreciate sherry by and of itself.  What is sherry, as a drink?  What are the different types of sherry?  Do some sherry types work better with Scotch whisky than others?  If you’re one of the many whisky lovers who enjoys a sherried dram, Whisky & Wisdom presents this complete guide to sherry to help you understand more about what you’re actually enjoying and why…..

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Five whiskies for Christmas

Need a whisky for Christmas?  Once upon a time, whisky was whisky, and Santa wasn’t too discerning when it came to what special dram you left out for him on Christmas Eve.  But as for us consumers?  Well, Christmas = Christmas pudding, and that means dried fruits, raisins, dates, boozy prunes, butterscotch sauce, toffee, cherries, currants, cloves, cinnamon, and spices.  And THAT, my friends, means a Christmas dram has to be sherried!

Here are five sensational sherry-matured whiskies that will fit the bill this Christmas.  Four are regularly and widely available; one is an Australia-only exclusive….

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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.

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The highs and lows of Macallan

Malt whisky drinkers around the world tend to fall into one of two camps:  Those that like Macallan and those that remember what it used to be like. So has the whisky changed? And why is Macallan so expensive these days?

Now before you leap to conclusions and dismiss this piece as a Macallan-bashing article, I can give you my golden promise that it’s not.   Stay with us…

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The Top Four Whiskies for Christmas

{Update: The article below was first written in 2014 and has been superseded/replaced with a more up-to-date article.  You should read the updated article here.}

Need a whisky for Christmas?  Once upon a time, whisky was whisky, and Santa wasn’t too discerning when it came to what special dram you left out for him on Christmas Eve.  In decades gone by, there was also less distinction – by both marketers and  consumers – about the significance of sherried versus non-sherried whisky.  Of course, with the huge decline in sherry consumption and the corresponding rise in the cost of sherried single malts, the distinction and noise around sherried whisky is now more stark and louder than ever.  (And that’s before we even mention words like European oak or sulphur candles!)

When I first started hosting whisky tasting events in 2001, I did a fair bit of freelance work for Macallan.  This was back when the core range was simply the 12yo, 15yo, 18yo, and 25yo – all of them made with Golden Promise barley, and all matured exclusively in sherry casks.   I used to describe the flavour of these sherried whiskies as being like “Christmas pudding in a glass”.  The really great sherried whiskies showcased all of the dried fruits you’d find in Christmas pudding (e.g. raisins, sultanas, dates, cherries, apricots, etc); as well as the butterscotch and toffee notes you’d associate with the brandy butter or Christmas sauce.   Some of them also exhibited a bit of the spice that we commonly associate with European oak, and occasionally there was also the pleasant bitterness of cloves and Christmas mince pies, or the sweetness of cinnamon.

As such, for me, if I’m going to drink a single malt at Christmas time, it’s got to be a sherried whisky.  And, certainly, when it comes time on the 24th to put out a dram for Santa, it’s been a Glenfarclas for jolly Saint Nick every year since my kids arrived on the scene.

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