Mars Orbiter was bottled to mark India's Mangalyaan mission, the country's first interplanetary probe and the first Asian spacecraft to reach Mars orbit. It is a fittingly ambitious release: a single malt from John Distilleries in Goa, bottled at a punchy 55.5% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural in colour.
The recipe follows the Paul John house style — Indian six-row barley, copper pot stills and tropical maturation in ex-bourbon casks under the Goan sun. Heat and humidity hurry the spirit along, pulling out colour, sweetness and oak character at a pace that would terrify a Speyside cooper.
On the nose it is generous and slightly exotic: toffee apple and mango skin, then toasted oak, cinnamon and a faint thread of incense smoke. The palate matches the strength with honeyed barley, roasted almond and ripe tropical fruit, tightened by black pepper and ginger and a pleasing treacle-dark oak depth. There is real weight here, but the spirit never feels overworked.
The finish is the part that earned its name for me — long, spicy and a little bit cosmic, drifting on dried mango, dark chocolate and smouldering oak long after the glass is empty. A drop of water softens the heat and lifts the fruit further.
It is bold, confident and full of personality. As tributes go, this one earns its launchpad.
