I Flew 9,000 Miles to Take the World's Best Whisky Distillery Tour

The World Whiskies Awards is an annual competition that gives out some of the liquor industry's most prestigious honors.

Since the event is located in the UK, you might suspect that most of the awards would be perennially conferred upon any number of legendary Scotch brands and makers. After all, this is their backyard and they have received their share of accolades. But at the awards ceremony held a few weeks ago, the master distiller/master blender of the year prize went to a talented tastemaker based half a world away: Michael D'Souza of the Paul John Distillery in India.

It was, in fact, the second time that D'Souza has won this award in the past decade. This year, Paul John's distillery was also named world's best visitor center. So, what makes this place-and its people-so remarkable? I decided to fly some 9,000 miles from my Los Angeles home in order to find out.

It really does require quite a bit of traveling to get to Paul John. Even after a full day's worth of flying, you then have to drive south from Goa for about an hour to finally arrive at the rather unassuming industrial park in which the distillery is located. The bright yellow facade of the welcome center immediately stands out. A diamond in the rough with oyster-shell windows and gently slanted gables inspired by the region's Portuguese colonial heritage.

India's First Whisky Tour

Though India consumes more whisky than any other nation on earth, it was relatively late to the whisky tourism boom. When Paul John opened this attraction in late 2018, it offered the country's first public whisky distillery tour. Today, the company attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually.

When I arrived, I was instantly charmed by the warmth of local hospitality-friendly smiles, refrigerated face towels, and freshly-brewed chai awaited me. It almost rivaled the warmth of the outside air, which can climb well over 100 degrees, accompanied by what feels like 100 percent humidity. It's a climate that might disagree with your desire for dry outerwear, but it sure makes for some great whisky.

"In Goa we have three seasons: hot, hotter and wet," explains D'Souza, with the last one referring to the region's monsoon season, which runs from early June to late September. "But all of it contributes to what we call ‘tropical aging.' This is the terroir of our distillery. Even within Goa, we have our own unique microclimate."

The Birth of Paul John

It's hardly a coincidence that the company's namesake founder, Paul P. John, decided to set up shop in this manufacturing zone. After initially finding success in selling blends and value whisky throughout the 1990s, he spent the better part of a decade scouting a terrain suitable to premium single malt maturation.

He found it in the Cuncolim Industrial Area. Thickets of jungly forest are within view. The flora speak to a heaviness in the air, which both greatly accelerates evaporative loss from each barrel (the so-called angel's share), but also accelerates flavor development within. The spirit aging in Paul John's warehouses extract oak sugars from the barrel staves three times faster than they would in Scotland. (In India, whisky is required to be aged for at least three years, which is the same as in Scotland.) And thanks to the high humidity, over time the spirit in each barrel loses strength as it ages, since the alcohol evaporates.

"What you see here is a thousand days of Goan sunshine in the glass," says D'Souza, holding up a dram of the marmalade-hued Nirvana-one of the distillery's signature single malts.

Tour the Paul John Distillery

Before I could glean a sense of what that tasted like, exactly, I first took the 40-minute Blue Package tour, which includes a stop in the still house and the adjacent barrel room. Stepping into the former reveals the heart of Paul John's operation. The company's long-necked copper pot stills were custom built in the far western reaches of India. The whisky is made from a mash of 6-row barley grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. It offers a higher protein yield than its 2-row Scottish counterpart. And in my mind has a more tannic and tropical-laden flavor. This all results in a fruity-yet-robust spirit, which is a reflection of where it is produced.

Paul John's whiskey is more popular across the globe than ever before. In 2024, the company had to double its distillation capacity in order to keep pace with demand. It now produces 3 million liters of alcohol annually and holds more than 30,000 barrels in its warehouses. Shortly after revered American liquor company Sazerac acquired a majority stake in the company, it announced plans to increase that number to 80,000 and to break ground on another distillery to be built sometime after 2030.

Tasting the Single Malt

One of Paul John's most celebrated limited releases is its annual Christmas Edition single malt. Every year since 2018, this ongoing series features whisky aged in various barrels, which is designed to evoke holiday spice.

At the distillery, I also got to try the even rare Mithuna Whisky. It's a bristly and waxy 58% ABV sipper that is first aged in new oak barrels, before being aged a second time in barrels that previously held bourbon. Front-loaded with cinnamon and vanilla, it concludes in lingering licorice. Its flavor was somewhere between my favorite barrel-strength bourbons and well-aged Scotches. You can find it on US shelves for around $300 a bottle.

"When the British came here they brought along their whisky and provided us an initial taste of it," D'Souza says of the colonial era that lasted from the mid 1700s through 1947. "But the making of our single malt is all about environmental influences. We've taken that Scotch inspiration and created something that is distinct."

And as the judges at World Whiskies Awards keep declaring-repeatedly and to anyone who will listen-the folks at Paul John aren't just doing something different. They're doing something better.

Visiting the Paul John Distillery

Paul John offers four different tours of its distillery in Goa, including the Blue Package, which I went on that includes a tasting of five whiskies from the brand's luxury portfolio. All visitors must be at least 18 years of age. The distillery offers tours from 11 AM to 4 PM Monday through Sunday. While not necessary, I suggest you book your tour ahead of time.

This story is part of our new On the Whiskey Trail column, which highlights the best distilleries around the world.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the Drink section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 11:57 AM.