Paul John Brilliance (46%, OB, 2018)

• Category: Indian single malt scotch whisky
• Origin:  Paul John distillery
• Bottling: Paul John, OB
• ABV: 46%
• Cost: £34.96

Image courtesy of Master of Malt

What they say

https://pauljohnwhisky.com/en/singlemalt/brilliance

All the brilliance of Goa is bottled up in this Single Malt. Its sparkling hues are reminiscent of sun-kissed beaches. The six-row barley for this whisky comes from the foothills of the Himalayas. Brilliance is matured in bourbon casks, to give you absolute sensory delight.
It couldn’t gather more brilliance than this!

Official tasting notes:

• Colour: Sparkling copper.
• Nose: The  Demerara sugars give off a whiff of sweet fragrances, with a hint of cinnamon, dash of honey and faint spices.
• Palate: Sweet and spice and all things nice, make this Single Malt. The honey-like smoothness is offset by the crunchy-bar-like crispness. Somewhere, there is also a tinge of cocoa.
• Finish: Brilliance has a smooth and beautifully relaxed finish, with a hint of mild spices and deep intense vanilla.
• Pairing: With its rich accents of vanilla and subtle hints of spice, this Single Malt is the ideal accompaniment to luscious fruit pies and Indian grilled meat dishes.

What I say

Revisited during Livingston Whisky Club Paul John Tasting hosted by their brand ambassador Shilton Almeida on 3rd August 2018.

Dram #1 was this Brilliance expression from their Flagship range.

Made from 6 row barley grown in the Himalayan foothills, distilled and matured in Goa, India where the climate results in quicker maturation and greater loss by evaporation (around 10% compared to 2% in Scotland). Shilton likened this to approximately 4x faster maturation, this Brilliance edition is ~ 4 years old minimum (or 16 in ‘Scotch years’).

My tasting notes:

• Appearance: Full gold (10/20), medium tears leave long fine legs.
• Nose: Sweet, cereal malted barley, honey and slightly earthy, with spices such as cinnamon, cumin and saffron.
• Taste: Oily and mouthcoating, barley malt, husky and gristy cereal, caramelised sugar, honey, highland toffee some green oak wood.
• Finish: Short, spiced honey and dry oak.

Overall

Still very delicious and drinkable, perhaps it was the heat we were sampling this at but it reminded me more of a mixture of bourbon and single malt scotch whisky. It has the cereal depth but the maturation heat and woody influences were more apperent, still a great starter dram from Paul John.

Score 84/100

Don’t take my word for it:

TOModera’s Whisky Reviews Paul John Brilliance

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