Paul John Showcase – Belfast Whiskey Week 2021 Review

Name: Belfast Whiskey Week 2026
Start: 2026-07-24
End: 2026-08-01
Location: Belfast

Filed: 24 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Format: Online Tasting
Ref: BWW/21/388

On the evening of 24th July 2021, Belfast Whiskey Week welcomed something genuinely far-flung to its already ambitious programme: Paul John, the acclaimed Indian single malt distillery from Goa, took centre stage for Session 94. Six carefully measured 50ml samples in hand, participants across Belfast, Dublin, Stockholm, Sydney and beyond sat down together for a Showcase that proved, once again, that the uisce beatha knows no borders.

About This Event

This tasting includes 6 x 50ml Samples and will take place on the 24th @ 17:00.

For those in the USA, Australia, Sweden, Europe, the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, you will be able to save on delivery costs by having your package to sent to a localised depot for collection. You will be charged a small fee upon collection, but the cost will be much cheaper than having packs delivered to individual addresses. If you would like to avail of this option, please make a note in the Special Instructions box, and we will contact you at a later date to arrange this and refund your delivery charges.

Looking Back

There was something quietly extraordinary about this session — not just because of the whisky itself, but because of the geography it collapsed. BWW 2021 ran largely in the shadow of the pandemic, with the festival's signature sample-pack format allowing drinkers from the USA, Australia, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland to join Northern Ireland participants at the same virtual table. Paul John, a distillery that already straddles worlds — Indian six-row barley, Scottish distilling tradition, tropical maturation — felt like the perfect guest for such a borderless evening.

Paul John is produced at the John Distilleries plant in Cuncolim, Goa, and what the distillery does with its climate is nothing short of remarkable. Where Irish and Scotch distillers wrestle with slow, cool maturation, Paul John's casks sit in temperatures that can push above 30°C, accelerating the conversation between spirit and wood into something almost conversational. The result is whisky that punches well above the age you might expect — rich, spiced, and layered in a way that rewarded the Showcase format handsomely. With six expressions to work through, the session had the room — physical and virtual — moving through a genuine arc of flavour.

The Showcase format suited Paul John's range well. Rather than a guided deep-dive into production history, this was about letting the liquid do the talking: pouring, nosing, comparing, arguing gently over whether that was cardamom or dried apricot, tropical mango or polished leather. It was the kind of evening that makes you reach for a second dram of something you'd already dismissed, just to be sure. BWW 2021 offered plenty of contrasting moments elsewhere in the programme — from the deeply rooted Ulster tradition explored in Session 83: Bushmills History (MasterClass) to the structured introductions of Session 2: Bushmills Core Malts — but Paul John brought something genuinely different to the week's seanchas: a story that began not in Antrim or Speyside, but on the Konkan coast.

For many participants, this was their first serious encounter with Indian single malt, and that first impression was a good one. Paul John's commitment to quality is evident in every expression — they don't hide behind age statements or exotic provenance alone, but let the distillate speak with confidence. If the Sexton Deconstruction Showcase earlier in the week asked participants to unpick a familiar Irish single malt, Session 94 asked them to set aside assumptions entirely and taste with fresh eyes. Most, it seems, were glad they did.

Session 94 was a reminder of what Belfast Whiskey Week does at its best: it brings the world's whisky traditions to this tír of ours — and sends our curiosity out in return. Sláinte.