skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Old Pulteney 30yo
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
44% abv
£250
Ending my string of "new" releases here on the malt mission with a drop from Old Pulteney. It would be more accurate to call these "recent releases" as by the time I have gotten around to publishing them every other enthusiastic whisy nerd with a qwerty machine and dial-up has shared their views on them (Lucas and Chris drank of the goblet back in April 09, Johan reported on it on Canada Day, and I got my sample July 8th). But nonetheless here they are, 5 recent releases (out of many) that I thought the world would be better knowing more about (cuz I certainly tried some new drops that were blah).
When we lived in the UK, Old Pulteney was a bottle on our shelf that saw the most action, going through several bottles a year. In fact, if I think about it, we might be largely responsible for the huge increases in sales of recent years. The Malt Whisky Yearbook tells us that Pulteney has increased sales volumes by 16% globally, (24% in the UK alone). And they're making all this spirit with just one pair of stills... huge stills at that (21,700 litre wash still, 17,300 spirit still). All impressive when you remember that it wasn't until 1997 that the world saw a 12yo propietary bottling from the distillery. And a 17yo in 2004, a 21 in 2005, and now this.
Worth noting that this is one of Scotland's few distilleries that use worm tubs to condense their spirit (other examples are Mortlach, Glen Elgin, Cragganmore, Knockdhu (An Cnoc)...a prize if you can name all of them?)
For more distillery info and to see all Pulteney had on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Provocatively fruity with tons else going on. Mango, melon, grain, and woody depth that comes with age. Barley, coconut, honey, and earthiness, even peatiness.
Complex array of flavours from sweet to floral to medicinal. Tar balanced with vanilla, salt with spice, and bitter oak with sweet barley sugar. Tinned peaches. Butter, shortbread, and heather honey through the finish. Lasting flavours. And lasting.
SUMMARY:
An immense profile spanning nearly every corner of the flavour wheel... all without the use of sherry caks. Believe it! Clean, balanced, and confidently mature whisky that is a confirmation of what a fine distillery operates in Wick.
Malt Mission #371
Malt Mission #372Malt Mission #373
Malt Mission #374
Malt Mission HOME
Old Pulteney 17 yo
Highland Single Malt Whisky
46% abv
£45
$90(USD)
Sorry about the late post. When you see my tasting notes below you will understand why.
In December, Inver House Distillers, owners of "the genuine maritime malt", launched a new website for Old Pulteney and it looks good, has some classy clips, and is easy to navigate. Inver House was awarded Scottish Distiller of the Year in Whisky Magazine's ICONS OF WHISKY 2008. This prize was awarded mainly because of Inver House's relaunching of Balblair as vintages in new packaging, but they have also done a lot for Pulteney.
Canadian company Hiram Walker and Sons, owners of Pulteney from 1955-1961 gave the distillery a makeover in the late 1950s when, in the words of Gavin D. Smith, "many distillers seem to have suffered from an aesthetics bypass." Since acquiring the distillery from Allied in 1995, Inver House has relaunched the brand with new packaging and contents. we have seen Old Pulteney leave the lonely dusty corners of specialty shops and show up on supermarket shelves with increasing sales by huge percentages year upon year. In this household, when the Old Pulteney 12yo is emptied (too often, perhaps) it is always replaced immediately. Delicious, widely available, and priced right. Let's try the 17 year old.
For more distillery information see all Pulteney posts on the mission by clicking HERE.
Last Spring I was invited along to a product launch in NYC for Old Pulteney (17 and 21) in the USA. I could not attend so my friend JW attended in my stead. Some of his notes appear in quotes below.
TASTING NOTES:
Big nose with overall sweetness dominated by fruit... but also kind of fleshy, even sweaty. Tropical with coconut shells and mango and there is an oakiness that is almost dusty, like a carpentry workshop. Some putty, like finger paints and a candied sweetness with creamy, bourbon cask-influenced elegance.
Salt tang begins the flavours in the mouth, then that sweatiness noticed in the nose, becoming fruity and sweet like baked apples and pastry, ending with a honeyed glaze. Kind of charred into the baking tray. The late finish(is there such a thing?) remains fruity and sweet but becomes more and more fleshy, like a sunbather sweating out his/her scented sun cream.
SUMMARY:
It must be said that this dram demanded two tastings as I have had it before and felt quite differently than I did this morning. In the past, when I have had this in the evening I found a slightly sour, rotting aroma and an aggressive, discordant bite in the mouth. Further, the finish had soil, preserved veg/gherkins, and a metallic tinge. So, we have a fruity, honeyed malt with a salt and perfume tang on one hand AND a rotten, bitter tahini and oak fest on the other. BAH! I am torn. Help me, Jason.
Jason said, compared to the 12yo "the 17yo turned things up a bit. Richer, about 10% from sherry casks. I felt it was much like the 12yo but just more intense. There are more complexities I can't really recall now, but definitely a well constructed whisky."
Thank you. But I am not convinced. Third opinion... NURSE!
Had to do a revisit at night, which I haven't done for some time, and Kristin joined me.
We decided "it's alright but its for a very specific evening... that might not happen very often. Very grassy, very earthy. Over-ripe. The 12 is 'wwoooo'. Easy. Pleasant. 17, mmmnnh. Eah. THIS is out there. And out there might be good some nights."
Whoa, dude. I swear she doesn't always talk like that. Shes been on the Pulteney.
Yet more justification for why evaluating and grading is pants. Even with over ten years (between us) of whisky tasting, PLEASE don't take anything we say as BIBLE. It is just FUN. Mere over-educated observations from a small corner of the globe. Goodnight.
Malt Mission #226
Malt Mission #227
Malt Mission #228
Malt Mission #230
Malt Mission HOME
Old Pulteney 1990
Gordon and Macphail Cask Strength
Cask 5470, 15/10/1990 - 21/4/2005
Single Cask Highland Single Malt Whisky
58.8% abv
£52
Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Whisky was clicked for the 100,000th time yesterday. If you are the reader from Tampere, Finland who poked around Dr. Whisky yesterday at around 7:40am GMT, then I have pretty cool a prize for you as visitor 100,000. Everyone else, if I don't hear from him/her by Friday it will be first come first served for the goodies. Please be in touch (contact info through pic on left). And again, thanks to all of you for reading, sharing, linking, emailing, etc.
In his 1967 "The Whiskies of Scotland", Professor Emiritus at University of London Dr. R.J.S. McDowell wrote, "It is to me quite surprising that such a good whisky could be made in this grim, windswept fishing town on the North Sea. Caithness is indeed a bare country and needs a good whisky to warm it up." Having tasted this before (and stashed a few bottles myself) I can say that wherever you are as winter approaches in the Northern hemisphere, if you need something to warm you up grab a blanket or make a fire... and keep this whisky nearby should wool and wood combustion fail you.
Back in McDowell's drinking days, Old Pulteney was only available in the Highlands, particularly around Wick, but also through Gordon & Macphail. James Gordon and John Macphail began bottling whiskies as single malts in an age when blends dominated the whisky world, mainly in the Highlands of Scotland, out of their shop in Elgin in 1985. By 1914, they were exporting abroad. After over 100 years as independent bottlers, Gordon & Macphail has one of the most envied supplies of maturing stock and a list of past releases that make up some of the worlds most collectible bottles. More on G&M's history HERE.
Time to revisit this sherry monster. Other Old Pulteneys had on the mission can be read HERE.I will include some notes on this whisky I took from folks at a tasting I held.
TASTING NOTES:
Walnut and honey sweetness, marmite and furniture cleaner.SHERRY. Chocolate and maraschino cherries. There is a floral sweetness, too, like roses, and some fishing gear/rubber trousers. "Smells like my grandmother's breath at Christmas."
Spicy like ginger, sweet and sour. SHERRY. Leather shoes, rubber soles and toffee. Vinyl, old records, rum, buttery/dairy sourness, bittersweet and pretty drinkable for the abv%.
"What the fuck is this?"
"(Odd face) So not right."
Finish is smoky with Honey Nut Cheerios, SHERRY, a little mintiness, and more marmite.
SUMMARY:
SHERRY. I am not a sherry freak, but something about this lights my fire... Not an everyday dram by any means, very moody and heavy, but it has depth and a gentle creaminess unexpected after so much oloroso influence and at such a high abv%. I don't think this same treatment would work with every whisky, or even with every cask of this distillery's make, but this one does... for me. The quotes above indicate the other extreme. Like marmite, its a love or hate thing.
Malt Mission #171
Malt Mission #173
Malt Mission #174
Malt Mission #175
Malt Mission HOME
Old Pulteney 12yo
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40% abv
£23
$60.95(CAD)
$35
The most northerly mainland distillery is Pulteney distillery in Wick(Pulteneytown). Originally a prosperous fishing village (the largest herring port in Europe), Wick had a community drinking problem and introduced prohibition of alcohol for 25 years from 1922-47.
Closed between 1921 and 1951, the distillery was bought by Hiram Walker in 1955 and sold to its current owners, Inver House Distillers, in 1995.
The wash still is of unusual shape and was originally used in a distillery in Campbelltown. It has a large bulge (that the bottle shape emulates) and a short truncated neck because the swan neck was too tall for its new home at Pulteney so they had to cut it off to get the still into the still house.
TASTING NOTES:
Lovely and light creaminess, freshly churned butter, shortbread, some exotic fruit. Black licorice, toffee, vanilla roobios tea. Confident, firm, and very appetising.
Great weight in the mouth, like humid warm wind on a cold day. Sea air. Creaminess in the taste, like Cool Whip, celery, peaches, flan, crumble crust. Finishes with drying oak and dehydrated dates, or some other dried fruit.
SUMMARY:
My Hero. So understated. So delicious. So far north. So cheap.
Great value for everyone and great entry malt for first time whisky drinkers. Very pleasant and warming. Complex and satisfying. I want more. This is a bottle that gets consumed and replaced often on our shelf becuase it goes down well in any mood. Won the "bang for buck" award at the Drammies.
Malt Mission #21
Malt Mission #23
Malt Mission #24
Malt Mission #25
Malt Mission HOME
