Water of Life

Paul John Singles Malts

While it might not necessarily be on the radar of the common whisky connoisseur, India has evolved to become a veritable hotbed for sophisticated, maverick distilleries that change the perception of what great single malts can be.

Originally based in Bangalore, John Distilleries was originally known for molasses-based spirits, before it launched Paul John Single Malt ten years ago at a new location in the former Portuguese and party enclave of Goa on the west coast of India.

Given the unique tropical climate of the region, whisky matures not only at an accelerated pace but a phenomenon that could be best described as “angel’s share in reverse” takes place, i.e. the heat lets more H2O than alcohol evaporate and thereby results in a higher ABV.

Based on Himalayan six row barley, which is grown during the colder months and harvested in summer,  Paul John’s Bold expression is a fully peated single malt variant, with the peat being sourced from the Hebridean island of Islay before it is used to dry the barley.

What tickles the nostrils upon approach are nuances of faintly sweet, singed barley, molasses, mildew, crisp apples and citrus.
On the palate, oaky honey serves as the foundation on which fruity and floral dance against a backdrop of peaty soot courtesy of the Islay peat, which blend in with hints of copper. 

The finish is dominated by a peppery, prickly piquancy, which is rounded out by wafts of distant peat smoke. With an ABV of 46% a very nice sipper indeed.

Stepping things up a notch is Paul John’s Classic Single Malt, which after having been matured in ex-Bourbon casks for eight years is a cask strength expression, materialising in my Glencairn with an appealing golden hue.

The aromas evoke a Pavlovian responses with puff pastry, cinnamon sugar, brioche, butter and tropical nuances, interweaved by juicy pears and heathery, earthy honey.

On the palate, layers of orchard fruit unveil a rich, full bodied complexity with a borderline perfect equilibrium between spicy piquancy and honeyed vanilla sweetness,  which is accentuated by toffee and oaky highlights.

The lingering finish reverberates with honeyed oak, spices and cinnamon, leaving one lusting for another dram.
 
So far, so good.

The pièce de résistance, however, is Paul John’ Peated Select Cask, which not unlike the aforementioned Classic expression dials in at cask strength.

The nose wins me over straight away with a bewitching aroma of earthy moss, nuts, mango, a tannic spiciness and petrichor.

Things get interesting on the palate with sweet, peaty, tangy and spicy components forming a melange reminiscent of barbeque meats set against hints of dark chocolate, tropical fruit juice, melons and pineapple.

Via the elongated, elegant finish vanilla meets melted caramel and fruit roasted on a barbeque.

Summa summarum, if you like whisky, especially of the peated variety, you would do yourself a disservice if you did not the masterfully calibrated expressions Paul John has to offer.

Timboon Distillery

Evolved from a farm contracting business and imbued with a sense of place, over the last seven years owner and distiller Josh Walker  has established Timboon Railway Shed Distillery firmly on the ever expanding firmament of Australian quality small batch craft distilleries by focussing on quality over quantity with their malted barley based expressions and the spirits landscape at large with liqueurs, vodka, schnapps and limoncello also being part of Timboon’s portfolio.

Timboon’s Port Whisky Expression has been matured in a variety of American oak casks from Victoria, Rutherglen and Tasmania. 

Golden in appearance, fruit cake, honeyed vanilla and blackberry aromas reel one in as they are enhanced by caramel, white musk, woody notes and dark chocolatey highlights.  

Things get interesting on the palate as a delicate peppery piquancy is married with almonds, cocoa, blackcurrant, honeyed peaches and a wonderful layer of smoke, which reverberates with a hint of baked lemon tart.

The medium-length finish is an exercise par excellence in fruitiness ranging from almost cloyingly berry informed sweetness via crispy green apple sourness to tarty notes.

When it comes to premium small batch cask strength expressions on terra australis, there are few that play in the same league as Timboon’s Christie’s Cut. 

Clocking in at 60% ABV, the ode to the era of illicit distilling and Inspector John Christie who at the turn of the nineteenth century tracked and captured Tom Delaney who was an illicit distiller in the Timboon area, is a tour de force in terms of bold complexity.

Aged for at least five years in ex-Port casks and reddish-brown in appearance, on the aroma front cocoa beans are entwined with creamy milk, fluffy musk, sensuous vanilla bean, rosewater and dried cranberries. 

Spicy and peppery piquancy is the name of the game on the top of the mouth, flanked by oaky flavours and a juicy, tangy bitterness.

The sheer endless finish culminates in a fulminant crescendo of malt-forward port notes, raisins, pungent ripened fruits like strawberries and raspberries, as well as darker fruits such as blackcurrants and blackberries counterpointed by a wonderful hint of smoke and chestnuts.

Despite being big and boozy, a truly fantastic drop with a silky mouthfeel that still surprises with delicate nuances. 

Given the quality of Timboon’s liquid emissions, it warrants a visit to their HQ to sample the expressions that are exclusive to the distillery.

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images from company websites

The Formative Years - Battalion of Saints

The original incarnation of Battalion of Saints from San Diego only existed from 1980 to 1985, a span of time during which they churned out two classic releases, i.e. their Fighting Boys 7”and the full-length Second Coming LP. 

What set them apart from their peers was the fact that in addition to their idiosyncratic melange of speedy hardcore with references to classic British outfits like Discharge and Motorhead, they successfully channelled the energy of bands like the Descendents, Dead Kennedys and Adolescents.

Inherently conveying an additional layer of danger courtesy of their personas due to their live-fast-die-young, devil may care ethos fuelled by debauchery and nihilistic swagger, it made their musical emissions even more authentic and appealing.

The fact that most of their stippling artwork was drawn by artist Mad Marc Rude, an artist who in terms of abrasiveness and debauched antics was a match par excellence for Battalion of Saints, only added to the appeal.

Battalion Of Saints were not merely a major catalyst in accelerating the transition from the already buoyant, adrenaline-charged, speedy punk of the early 1980s to untamed, gruff hardcore punk of the cold war era, but their radical outlook on the world and legendary live shows made them stand tall as one of the more unique bands of North America’s early hardcore scene.

Italian Film Festival 2022 Opening Night
Palace Cinemas
Sydney, Australia
13 September 2022

A highlight for film buffs on the annual cinema circuit is ST. Ali’s Italian Film Festival, which in 2022 incarnated again presented by Palace Cinemas in all major cities on terra australis.

While there is no shortage of country-specific film festivals in Australia, the Italian variant is a league above and an exercise par excellence in terms of truly celebrating the essence of the country’s filmmaking tradition. 

Each year the well-curated program runs the gamut with not merely covering contemporary flics and documentaries, but dedicated retrospectives paying homage to the greats of Italy’s grand directors as well as idiosyncratic comedies like the Opening Night’s Belli Ciao, starring comedic duo Pio and Amedeo in the respective roles as formerly inseparable friends reuniting after years of separation in what culminates in a humorous culture clash between the country’s North and South.

The retrospectives are a personal favourite of each year’s programming and with Pier Pasolini being the focus of 2022, three of his most iconic cinematic literary adaptions, i.e. The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron and Arabian Nights, are presented in a bid to shed light on the century of his birth and form a highlight of the festival, which is complemented by Sophia Loren-starring classics and counterpointed by present-day motion pictures, resulting in an impressive and well-curated melange of thirty-seven movies.

Not unlike it was the case in previous years, the Opening Night of the Italian Film Fest is never not a joyous and vibrant affair that creates a tangible buzz that sets the scene and serves as a prelude to experiencing the magic of cinema.

Black Midi and Black Country, New Road have been making their way through the states, and SPB caught the show as it rolled through Pomona. Despite the release of their critically acclaimed new album earlier this year, Black Country, New Road have been playing all new material after their front-person, Isaac Woods, left the band earlier this year. Meanwhile, Black Midi are fresh off the heels of their new record, Hellfire, while also playing old favorites from Cavalcade and Schlagenheim. You can check out the gallery below:

Thus Let Us Drink Beer

Edge Project

Edge Project is one of the more worldly breweries in Australia as they not only keep tabs on the latest developments on international terrain, but pro-actively connect with like-minded partners overseas to broaden their horizons and to collaborate with their favourite brewers.

Having started as a gypsy brewery in New Zealand and Australia with hand drawn labels to adorn their liquid emissions, what has become known and well established as Edge Brewing Project has evolved significantly since its inception in 2013, including but not limited to being decorated with international awards as well as restaurants taking note, such as envelope pushing fine-dining powerhouses like Noma, which included Edge Project’s brews on their exclusive menu based on the shared interest in giving native ingredients the centre stage in their recipes. 

While we have covered Edge Project’s focus on small batch lagers, imperial stouts and sours before, I was intrigued when I learned about them having launched an IPA – one that has apparently been years in the making.

Based on a collaboration with New Zealand partner brewery Omnipollo, the IPA occupies an interesting place as it marries West Coast characteristics in terms of  hop-forwardness and approachable malty flavours with the juicy and tropical haziness that East Coast IPAs are known for.

Orangey in appearance, this little number has a subdued bitterness with tropical sweetness on the front end, which fades into a delicate maltiness dancing against a backdrop of stone fruits and citrussy highlights. 

Clocking in at 7% ABV, this proves to be a vibrant companion to complement a boilermaker with a dram of peated goodness and one that should delight anyone remotely into India Pale Ales.

Let’s enter a reference to Talking Heads via Edge Brewing Project’s aptly named Imperial Red Lager, i.e. Psycho Killer. 

Not unlike the aforementioned IPA, we find ourselves again in experimental hybrid territory in that hops from New Zealand, in addition to grains and rice add their idiosyncratic flavours to create something bigger than the mere sum of the individual components would have you think.

On the palate, butterscotch dances with nougat and toffee nuances with a smooth mouthfeel and hardly any astringency. Hoppy overtones are kept on the down low, providing just enough bitterness so that the sweetness is refraining from entering saccharine territory and the aftertaste is softened. 

As the flavour notes suggest, Psycho Killer is something that one would not expect to originate on Australian turf and speaks volumes to Edge Project’s ability to not merely experiment for experimentation’s sake but nailing the flavours of what they have set out to end up with effortlessly.

Temple Brewing

Informed by the credo that beer is more than merely an alcoholic beverage and instead a way of bringing people together, Temple Brewing is engrained in Melbourne’s Brunswick East community with their core range and an ever-changing innovative roster of limited brews, with which their brewers challenge their skills, and push boundaries by playing around with different styles, ingredients and techniques to fuel their passion. 

My first exposure to Temple Brewing was via their Weston St IPA, which, as the telling name suggests, is essentially an ode to everything that is to love about West Coast IPAs.

Upon approach the nostrils are tickled, by aromas of grapefruit and caramel-like malts. On the top of the mouth, a crisp, dry, over-the-top hop bitterness serves as a backdrop for citrussy, resinous, piney, and downright dank flavours to dance on. 

Brewed with a ton of Cascade, Chinook and Simcoe Cryo hops, the intense hoppy, resinous pine flavours are amplified through the concentrated lupulin of whole-leaf hops containing resins and aromatic oils.
 
Clocking in at 7.4% ABV, this immensely crushable West Coast IPA knows to convince with its not at all subtly bitter flavour profile, culminating in delicious biscuit-like malt notes without taking away from the supremely dank flavours that showcase everything hops can bring to a beer.

The finish leaves on lusting for more with bitter pine reverberating.

Things get interesting with Temple Brewing’s X Market Lane Starry Sky: 

Paying homage to Melbourne’s reputation of arguably being at the cutting edge of sourcing, roasting and brewing specialty coffee, the Van Gogh referencing Starry Sky constitutes a collaboration with local roasters Market Lane Coffee, resulting in a big imperial Irish stout made with Brazilian coffee.

Dark brown to black in colour with flavours that are intensely malty, deeply roasted with coffee accents of dark fruit (think raisins and figs) and dark chocolate, the bitterness is low to moderate. 

Starry Sky is a full malty, viscous bad boy with an ABV of 12% and a vibrant melange of hazelnuts, dark cherries and a clean dry finish reminiscent of what you get from traditional Irish Stouts.

Let’s get La Vey-ian: 

“Woe to you, oh earth and sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath because he knows the time is short. Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number…”

Temple Brewing finds itself on the altar of the Church of Satan with its 666 expression: 
Being the brewery’s 666th batch of beer, with 6.66% ABV and a bitterness of 66.6 IBU, this Red IPA is so much more than the mere novelty in terms of metrics would suggest.

Hoppy, bitter, and moderately strong not unlike an American IPA, the complex flavour profile is dominated by caramel, toffee and a dark fruit malt character. 

Retaining the dryish finish and lean body that makes IPAs so drinkable, what I love about this fiery red little number is that amongst the malty overtones, piney and resinous nuances shine through in equal measure along with a well-calibrated bitterness.

Devilishly delicious.