The next in this series of ink reviews is for Noodler’s Upper Ganges Blue, an eternal blue ink.

When I bought this ink I was under the impression that it was exclusive to the Goulet Pen Company, so that’s where I bought it from, although I can find no reference to that now. That being said, I can’t find any other suppliers who stock it either.

At $18.50 the 3oz bottle was more expensive than usual, but still within the range of what I would consider to be moderately priced. The bottle and box are of the standard type.

The label is more difficult to interpret that usual. The hand drawn label shows what I take to be the Hindu God Ganesha riding on the back of a giant catfish. Almost all of the text on the label is in Sanskrit, apart from “pH” and “USA”, and I wouldn’t know where to start trying to translate it. I’ll leave that as an exercise to those who know the language. In the bottle the ink has a distinct purple tinge to it, which disappears when used.

The test pen in this case was a silver Pilot MR with a medium nib.

Drying time was the shortest in this batch, at around 20 seconds. Water resistance was good. Cleaning was a little more tricky than usual with what I can best describe as a few blue “clots” present in the feed.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This inks leans more towards grey, and I did find note some hard starts. Possibly not my favourite blue, but not disagreeable either.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

More hard starts, but the ink actually looks a little better on this paper.

Yellow Post-It

Feathering noted, but still okay overall.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Feathering, bleed and a washed out appearance. Not an ink for this papaer.

Mnemosyne Word Card

Looks quite good on a Word Card – if I went on this aloneI would be more positive about this ink.

Conclusion

In normal use this ink is a little too understated for my tastes. However it’s water resistance and quick drying time are positives, and it could well go into rotation from time to time.