Paul John Edited

The Edited is a whole other animal, created with peated spirit (although only 15% of the composition and moreover coming from Scotland). It was bottled at 46% without chill filtration, just like the Brilliance. It matured on bourbon casks.

Sorry, but this one simply stinks. I get the smell of rotting wood and leaves, a forrest after a shower of sour rain. Underneath some malt, it is true, but slightly burned. Loads of earth and even coals. Then some chocolate kicks in, but I simply cannot find this nose pleasant.

On the palate, this continues, although some honey does make amends. But again the fruity hardly has any chance to get past the peat, which translates into a somewhat soury medicinal note. That does not have to be a bad thing per sé – au contraire – but it does not seem to work in this case. Mildly tannic. Nutmeg and ginger are the spices on duty.

The finish is the only part of this whisky that I really enjoy, because of its length, spiciness and mild smokiness.

Whisky guru Jim Murray gave this one a Liquid Gold Award and no less than 96.5 points in his Bible. It is not the first time that I could not disagree more with good ol’ Jim. Available for less than 50 EUR, but for me the weakest link in the series.