Paul John Mithuna

One fabulous dram, perhaps the best Indian Whisky I’ve tried. Has loads of honey, banana bread, brown sugar, nuts, and many sherry cask forward flavors despite using no sherry casks and exclusively aging it for 5 years in Virgin Oak and 1 additional year in first fill bourbon casks. Think about how Paul John pulled off 5 years in virgin oak in a tropical climate. This can easily be mistaken for a Balvenie Tun 1858 Batch 1 or Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 5 in a blind tasting. Nose: Honey, Dark Chocolate, Oranges, Guava, Pineapples, Raisins, Sultanas, Peaches, Raspberries, Licorice, Cloves, Cherries, Caramel, Banana Bread, Brown Sugar Palate: Honey, Cloves, Cardamom, Strawberries, Dark Chocolate, Raisins, Prunes, Figs, Dates, Bananas, Papayas, Mangoes, Maple Syrup, Sultanas, Walnuts, Banana Bread, Cinnamon, Nutmeg Finish: Raisins, Toffee, Dark Chocolate, Chili Peppers, Cloves, Figs, Prunes, Morello Cherries, Hazlenuts, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Mangoes, Pineapples, Red Apples

Mithuna is the usual Paul John tropical fruit salad turned up to 11. The nose is Seville oranges with a side helping of peaches in syrup and drizzled with honey. Freshly sanded oak adds a spicy top note. Neat, this is some of the most intense citrus fruit I’ve encountered in a whisky, exploding with mangoes and oranges on the first sip. It’s creamy and peppery too. Dilution to 50% retains the fruit but accentuates the spice, which dominates the finish. Another great release from the distillery, albeit an expensive one.

NOSE Herbal oak, s’mores, fruity candy, Nilla wafers, waxy cherry, and some cocoa. This aroma stands out starkly from all the other Paul John I’ve had, this is unique… and lovely. PALATE Caramel, chocolate-covered cherries, vanilla cream, herbal spice, graham, cocoa, oak, dried fruit, and some light hazelnut. Heavy and dark, it’s a slow-moving tidal wave of herbal sweetness and spice. FINISH Long -> Herbal spice, oak, malt syrup, and roasted nuts.

Fresh gourmet apple pie and apple fritters, warm apple cider, warm caramel, potpourri, cloves, and green apple slices. Yum.

Super hot good with water 91

Not worth the price.