Rampur Distillery Tasting Notes

Rampur Distillery Indian Single Malt 43%

Tasted: Aug 2017

A dense and very herbal nose, which bears a similarity to Langatun, although the herbal character is less Provencal in character. Oily apricot, lime, lemon, thyme and barley mingles with a subtle earthiness. With time a touch of oxidised fruit appears along with hints of cider apple and vanilla.

The palate is subtly oily, opening with the oxidised apricot and apple. Again quite herbal in character with some subtle marc-like spirit notes. Dense and barley’d middle and a good herbal and citric finish with lingering oak and subtle spice.

Paul John Distillery (Goa) Tasting Notes

Paul John Brilliance 46%

Batch: 8.NO-001/ Btl: July 2013/ Tasted: Dec 2013

Aromas of glossy barley with a slight nutty and gristy note. Lightly perfumed with a touch of orange blossom and vanilla. Fresher and less oaked than the Amrut with a sliver of lime, gentle crumbly spice and a light herbal note. With time the American oak does fill out but it doesn’t overwhelm the spirit.

The palate is full of silky barley and gentle, lightly oiled orange blossom. Stunning depth with the lightly sugared vanillins coming through brining a light custard powder intimation. Very long and spicy with a fresh citrus note balancing. It finishes with the returning barley, dusted with cocoa powder and the citrus lingering.

Paul John Brilliance 46%

First and Second Fill American oak barrels/ Batch 3 Oct 2016/ Tasted: May 2017

Full, Fragrant, aromatic, juicy and barley’d aromas with hints of manuka honey, sweet oak and a touch of barky, cinnamon spice, liquorice and salt. The aromas darken a little with time as the malt appears and the oak becomes wonderfully nutty and creamy.

The palate is quite salty to begin with, followed by barley, juicy apricot, vanilla, manuka honey and gentle wood spices. Wonderfully deep and a lovely, grippy, spicy middle. Long and continuing salty with marzipan, sugared almonds, malt and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Paul John Edited 46%

Peated/ Batch: 8.NO-001/ Btl: July 2013/ Tasted: Dec 2013

The aromas are fresh and herbal with a slight mintiness, before the dry, slightly dusty and lightly violet scented peat drifts in along with a touch of molasses/ tar. This is followed by gristy, sweet barley notes and some taught, chocolaty oak notes. Very juicy and elegant.

The palate opens with the polished barley followed by some lightly herbal notes before the gentle dry peat and light molasses notes appear. Lovely balance and intensity with the barley becoming very juicy and a lovely dark/ milk chocolate battle happening on the middle. Vibrant and fresh with a salty, lightly oiled vanilla, crunchy spices, peat and chocolaty tannin finish. Very impressive.

Paul John Edited 46%

Vatting of peated and un-peated whisky (5-7 years old). Overall 8-10PPM

First and Second Fill American oak barrels/ Batch 3 Oct 2016/ Tasted: May 2017

The nose is fresh and crisp and reasonably phenolic with sweet honey beneath. Hints of minty, almost medicinal herbs, liquorice, tar, spice and violets. The peat becomes quite gritty and possibly a little Bowmore-like. With time and the vanilla oak and salt puts in an appearance.

The palate opens with the barley and honey, followed by a gentler, earthier and smokier peat character. Hints of tar and oak come through on the middle along with some developing medicinal and violet notes. Seriously juicy with a dry, peat smoke and dark chocolate finish and lingering vibrant salty notes. There’s a lovely complexity to the peat character.

Paul John Bold 46%

Whisky peated to 25-30PPM (5-7 years old)

First Fill American oak barrels/ Batch 1 May 2016/ Tasted: May 2017

The nose has a very Laphroaig-esque, violet scented peat character. Bold, tarry,briny, chlorinated and medicinal. Underneath lays some lovely honey, barley and citrus. More focused and tart (as opposed to the edited) but the lovely sweet barley and oak balances.

The palate kicks off with the almost tart citrus and barley, followed by dusty, medicinal-peat, tar and salt. Intense, vibrant and sooty with developing notes of treacle, liquorice and mocha. Lovely mouth puckering coastal finish with lingering peat dust and faint parma violet notes. Yes, that’s bold alright!

 

Paul John Select Cask Classic 55.2%

Tasted: Feb 2016

Nose: Very intense and very winey and petrol with hints of straw, white fruit and honey. With time a touch of herbal rye-like notes and coffee.

Palate: Again straw-like white fruit and honey. Quite alcoholic with a hint of rose oil and gentle, herbal spice.

Finish: Long and herbal.

Conclusion: Very intriguing, wine finished perhaps?

Paul John Select Cask Classic 55.2%

Re-Tasted: July 2016

Nose: Heavy and oily with barley, oak and honey so thick you could cut it with a knife! Lightly perfumed with guava, lime, apricot, vanilla and heather-like notes. Water emphasises the lime and makes it fresher.

Palate: Full and honeyed with fleshy apricot, malt biscuits and barley. Seriously deep and concentrated with a beautiful seam of refreshing lime. Water makes it extremely juicy and unctuous.

Finish: Long and remaining honeyed and herbal with a suburb sweet/ dry balance.  Water brings out a touch of dry spice.

Conclusion: The depth and complexity of this malt is simply breathtaking.

Paul John Select Cask Classic 55.2%

Batch 1 May 2016/ Tasted: May 2017

Intense aromas of dusty barley, banana fritters and rye-like herbs, along with straw, coffee, malt and charred oak. It develops a light coastal note but the oak and oily barley intensity is what steals the show. Stunning depth and balance.

Rich and dense on the palate with with oily barely, straw and rye-like herbs. Again there’s plenty of charred oak and a touch of honey and spice. Long and intense with a light rose petal marc, which makes it feel younger than 7 years old, and marzipan . Slightly biscuit and malty after-taste.

Water brings out a lightly perfumed, estery tropical bananary fruit and malt biscuits, now the oak has receded. There’s also hints of honeycomb and salt. The palate is likewise less oaky and more honeyed, sweeter and maltier with a lovely, soft, tropical dénouement. Very malty finish with some slightly tannic and grippy spices.

Paul John Select Cask Peated 55.5%

Tasted: July 2016

Nose: Initially sharp and astringent with plenty of peat and coffee. Then the honey arrives to balance. Hints of malt biscuits, earth and light medicinal notes follow along with charred beachwood.

Palate: Weighty and full with barley, oak and honey. It takes awhile for the peat to arrive but it builds pleasantly with a lightly medicinal character. Water makes it quite citric with the oak becoming slightly grainy and a hint of kerosene appearing.

Finish: Long and intense with mouth-coating, slightly sooty peat and lingering medicinal notes. Water makes the peat very herbal and again brings out a touch of kerosene.

Conclusion: It doesn’t matter what country it comes from, but great whisky is still great whisky.

Paul John Select Cask Peated 55.5%

Re-Tasted: Feb 2017

Nose: Intense, phenolic, briny, coastal laced peat. Hints of burnt wood follow and a touch of sweet barley adds a counterpoint. Vibrant, windswept and Ardbeggy in character.

Palate: Full and gloriously rounded with the barley up first. The peat is subtler and dustier in character with hints of tar, coal and earth. Good complexity with building burnt wood, rope, salt and iodine.

Finish: Long, astringent and salty with a lightly smoked after-taste.

Conclusion: Now, that’s good!

Paul John Select Cask Peated 55.5%

Batch 1 June 2016/ Tasted: May 2017

The nose is quite subtle on the peat and like the edited shows a lovely complexity of earthy peat and gently medicinal Islay peat. Fresh, salty and malty with a touch of toasted toffee, Demerara sugar, tar and salty infused citrus. Multi-layered and majestic with an underlying robust barley’d spirit.

The palate opens with the sweet barley and subtle honey before the medicinal and sooty, sweet, earthy peat arrives. Like the nose it is very fresh and citric with plenty of coastal notes. Light mocha finish with mouth-watering citric notes and lingering menthol and dry, medicinal peat.

Water emphasises the tar and violets. Seriously fresh and crisp now with a nostril coating saltiness. The palate is softer and sootier with more honeyed fruit and malt. The peat is subtler now but still present, although it’s still pretty salty. Now, that’s a damn fine malt!

Paul John Single Cask 59.7%

Cask 1444/ Tasted: Jan 2015

Nose: Woody and spicy with malt so thick you could cut it with a knife! Quite herbal with dark wheat, hops, young and herbal rye-like notes .Bready and biscuit with hints of honey, green apples and almost grainy note. Excellent complexity and intensity with a light vanilla oak note coming through. Water emphasises the honey and herbal notes but does make the aromas a little soapy.

Palate: Sweet barley, malt, herbs and digestive biscuits and masking alcohol. Water softens and makes it maltier and brings out hints of wheat, treacle and herbs, which like the nose seem quite rye-like.

Finish: Mouth-watering and intense with the herbal notes out distancing the alcohol.

Conclusion: Wow, this has come out of left field. Is it made from some kind of multi-grain mash?

Paul John Single Cask – Peated 59.2%

Cask 777/ Tasted: Mar 2015

Nose: Dusty and spicy – cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, sooty peat and powdered cedar wood tannins. Quite herbal with a light medicinal demeanour along with a light salty astringency. The lovely, mature oak adds structure in the background.

Palate: A little more robust than the nose would suggest as the oak is a little more forward but not dominating. Again dusty, spicy-peat, treacle and a touch of dried fruit appear. Quite herbal on the middle with an alcohol accented astringency.

Finish: Mouth-watering with coal/peat dust along with herbal/medicinal peat coated fruit. Yep! It’s dusty!

Conclusion: Reminds me of a dusty, mature Bowmore. Stunning stuff.

Amrut Tasting Notes

Amrut Single Malt Whisky 40%

Tasted: Mar 2007

A very sweet nose, with some sherried fruit(?), mature honey and oily vanilla-butter and toffee’d banana custard. Damn this is all wood. I can see why they think it’s an old Spey as it seems quiet mature although obviously it pretty young.

The palate is sweet, sweet, sweet!!! Straightforward with some oily soft fruit aimlessly ambling amongst the oak, butter and toffee. It has a good length with some late pepper and spice notes. Personally it’s a bit cloying and I need to rinse my mouth with a proper spey now! This is definitely one for those of you with a sweet tooth – but not me!

Amrut 46%

Tasted: Feb 2014

Full and aromatic on the nose with buckets of sweet barley, honey and dusty oak. A little citrus note along with a touch of gin-like botanicals emerges and adds a lovely freshness to the aromas which was missing in the earlier 40% bottling.

The palate is soft and very honeyed with the demeanour of a mature Spey. Beautifully soft with sugar coated barley, gentle spice and hints of liquorice and citrus. The increased abv gives it a better balance. It has a slightly perfumed finish with the citrus lingering and joined by that botanical note.

Amrut Fusion 50%

Tasted: Dec 2010

A blend of unpeated Indian malted barley and peated Scottish malted barley. Distilled separately.

The nose is not as sweet and sickly and a lot better balanced than the 40% Amrut I tasted awhile ago. It’s quite young with plenty of clean, peppery, marc notes. With time it does become sweeter with some sweet barley and almost sherried fruits; although I believe that no sherry casks are used. With time hints of dusty orange and briny peat.

The palate is full and oaked. The coastal peat character is more up front and followed by the sweet barley. It’s a touch on the fiery side but that is tempered to a certain extent by the chocolatey malt. Gently smoked with a very peppery middle similar to Talisker crossed with a sort of Bunnahabhain  floral character. The piquant alcohol masks the finish somewhat but there is plenty of dry peat and marc notes in the after taste.

With water the oak retreats on the nose allowing more of the peat and chocolate orange notes to emerge, although it does become sort of vague-ish. On the palate it is however it becomes a bit watery and the finish reminds me of pot pourri! An entertaining dram as long as you avoid water.

Amrut Intermediate Sherry Finished 57.1%

Tasted: Feb 2014

The nose displays huge gobs of treacly dried fruit and a serious grain-like spiciness. Succulent, moist fruit cake with some dusty American oak in the background which comes through quite purposefully with time.

The palate is quite tannic, but those tannins are pleasantly soft and supple. The palate is pretty much all about the clean sherry – Raisinated fruit cake and soft wood spices. A little rum-like note comes through on the finish along with some chewy malt and a botanical note.

A drop of water emphasises the citrus on the nose but also makes it less intense. The palate has become oilier, less complex and a little on the homogenous side, although in staying that it does bring out the spice notes rather well and some American oak now appears in the finish. Personally I would drink it neat.

Amrut Peated 46%

Btl: 2015/ Tasted: Sept 2015

The nose opens with kerosene and very herbal and oily peat. Sharp citrus notes collide with the dense oak and barley. With time some sweeter peat, honey and heather emerges along with a late cold tea note. It’s sort of like Highland Park on steroids.

The palate show a little more delicacy with the herbal honey and heather notes up first. The peat seems quite hidden but it begins to creep through. Hints of parma violets, barley and malt follow, leading to a mouth-watering but not astringent finish which also shows a light, salty minerality and lingering sweet barley, a smidge of oak and dusty peat.

Amrut Peated Cask Strength 62.8%

Tasted: Dec 2015

The nose is very oily and a little subdued. Youth, lightly gristy, lightly herbal with boiled sweets, pepper, subtle peat smoke.

The palate is a touch feinty and cardboardy. The earthy peat, malt and molasses does its best to blanket the youthful and intensely alcoholic spirit but the finish is pretty hot and mouth-watering. In saying that it does have a good peppery spice and floral/ herbal peat after-taste.

With water the nose is cleaner and less oily but the feintiness is emphasised. Hints of barley, lemon appear now. On the palate it’s not as feinty, although the cardboardy note remains. Still quite short with sweet/ bitter spice and herbal citrus and softer peat. Compared to the 46% bottling this is rather disappointing.

Amrut Peated 100 Batch 2 57.1%

1ltr Bottling aged in ex-Bourbon and finished in 100ltr Virgin oak at 100 Proof

Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Nov 2017

The aromas are quite mature and oily with baked fruit, pepper and sweet, heathery peat. A touch of Tequila-esque pulped white fruit emerges along with chocolate orange and tight, peppery tannins. The peat becomes a little gritty with time and a subtle, green wood smoke note emerges.

The palate is lightly oiled and coffee’d with mature baked fruit, spice and dry peat. The peat isn’t as pungent as the nose suggests and has an ashy quality. A little tannic on the middle but the creamy vanilla and honey balance. Long and spicy with the subtle peatiness lingering.

A drop of water emphasises the sweet, heathery honey and dry, ashy peat on the nose. Whilst on the palate it brings forward the natural oils and emphasises the barley and honey. The peat is very subtle now but has a slight coastal-like character. Long and salty with lingering baked fruit and malt.