John Distilleries is based in Bangalore, India and its single malt distillery is located in Goa. The distillery has two sets of Indian-made copper pot stills that can produce 6000 litres daily. Maturation takes place in a climate-controlled underground cellar that has around 10,000 barrels. The company had been making blended whisky since its foundation in 1996, but decided to manufacture single malt whisky in 2008 in an attempt to enter the premium end of the market. Master distiller Michael D'souza chose to use Indian ingredients in the making of the single malts, to give the whisky characteristics of its country of origin. The wash he created had an abv of 5%, lower than the standard 8% for most whisky. This creates a sweeter flavour in the final product. The whisky is put in the casks at 55% abv, but the alcoholic strength increases as it ages due to the heat, giving the final product an abv of 57%. Goa features a tropical monsoon climate, and being in the tropical zone and near the Arabian Sea, has a hot and humid climate for most of the year. The month of May is the hottest, with day temperatures of over 35°C coupled with high humidity. The monsoon rains arrive by early June and last till late September. Goa has a short winter season between mid-December and February. These months are marked by nights of around 21 °C and days of around 28 °C with moderate amounts of humidity. The hot weather makes whisky mature faster in India than it does in Europe or the United States. The fraction lost to evaporation during aging, known as the angels' share, is also higher in India, at 8-10% per year, than in Scotland, where the annual evaporative loss is about 2%. This leaves a hogshead with only 150 bottles left in it, after three years, compared to around 350 in a Scotland. Michael D'souza describes it this way, "Whisky matured at these temperatures simply cannot be aged for the kind of time expected with Scotch, even trying to mature our whisky for just 10 years would leave barely a bottle of liquid in the barrel. Fortunately, the heat actually speeds up the maturation process considerably. As a result, whisky that has been matured for just 4-5 years – as is the case with Paul John Edited and Brilliance – is equivalent to a Scotch that has been aged for around 15 years". The first bottling of Paul John whisky, branded "Paul John Single Cask 161 Whisky", was officially launched on 4 October 2012 by Sanjay Paul, CEO of Alcobev Communications, at the Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was a non-peated whisky single cask whisky, made from Indian malted barley distilled twice in traditional copper pot stills, aged for an unspecified period in first-fill charred American casks. It was bottled at cask strength: 57% abv and 150 bottles were made from the cask. It sold exclusively through the Whisky Exchange priced at £60 for a 700 ml bottle. Whisky connoisseur Jim Murray gave it 94.5 points and the "Liquid Gold" award in his Whisky Bible. The brand's second release, also in 2012, was "Paul John Single Cask 163 Whisky" having 57% abv and priced at £60. Following the single cask release, Sanjay Paul CEO, Alcobev Communications released two further Paul john single malt whiskies in May 2013. They were branded Paul John Single Malt Whisky Brilliance and Paul John Single Malt Whisky Edited. The company plans to focus on single malts, while also releasing occasional single casks and are also planning special releases. Presently the flagship expressions of Paul John whisky include Paul John Brilliance, Paul John Edited and Paul John Bold as well as Select Cask Classic and Select Cask Peated. It occasionally releases special editions such as Kanya by Paul John and has released a limited edition, Mars Orbiter, as well. The single malts are now available across 38 countries in the world and have won over 200 prestigious international awards as well. As of May 2017, John Distilleries had a malt production capacity of 60,000 liters per month. The company sold 20,000 six-bottle cases of Paul John branded whisky in 2016.
Variants
Paul John Single Malt Whisky has 10 variants - Brilliance, Edited, Bold, Classic Select Cask, Peated Select Cask, Kanya, Oloroso, Mars Orbiter, Nirvana and Single Casks Peated & Unpeated.
