Paul John 6 Year Old - Cadenheads Warehouse Tasting

Paul John is one of India’s pre-eminent single malt whisky distilleries. Owner Paul P John began distilling various spirits in the early 1990s, including a traditional Indian ‘whisky’ made with molasses - the company’s Original Choice, a blend of malt whisky and molasses neutral spirit, now sells over 150 million bottles annually in the domestic market. 

Paul John is headquartered in Bangalore and has a total of three distilleries, with Paul John single malt whisky made at a large distillery in Goa with 6-row barley sourced from the foothills of the Himalayas. The company began distilling single malt whisky in 2007, launching its first single malt whisky in 2012 to widespread acclaim. Paul John’s malt whisky distillery was expanded to four stills in 2017, the same year that the American whiskey company Sazerac took a 43% stake in the business.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.