Premium Indian whisky is booming
A crop of new distillers is winning fans at home and prizes abroad
TWENTY-FIVE thousand barrels of whisky are stacked high at the Paul John Distillery in Goa, treating workers and visitors to the seductive aroma of grain and spirit. Mostly imported Bourbon barrels, the caskets each contain 200 litres of single malt. The drink is made with Indian barley and distilled and aged in conditions most unlike those in foggy Scotland. Goa is a tropical beach paradise on India’s western coast. The whisky, which Paul John has been producing in India since 2008, is nonetheless award-winning and delicious. It is “as good as a Scotch”, pronounces a Dutch visitor to the distillery, Marco Nigholt, a whisky aficionado.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Swadeshi spirits”
From the November 18th 2023 edition
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