Paul John Classic Select Cask - Batch 1 - 2016 Release

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.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.