Old Pulteney 2004 Cask #222

This official Old Pulteney single malt, a 18 year old coastal malt, from 2004, drawn from cask 222 and bottled at 54.2%. The outturn was 222 bottles. Pulteney was founded in 1826 in Pulteneytown on Scotland's far northern shore, and it remains one of the most northerly distilleries on the mainland. Old Pulteney is known the world over as the Maritime Malt.

The spirit was drawn off the flat topped wash still and boil ball spirit still that give the make its body, and matured by the shore, where sea air works into the wood. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, lending honey and vanilla under the salt. Beyond eighteen years the malt grows deep and oily, honey turning to dried fruit over soft brine. Years in the cask round the spirit, the wax and honey deepening with age. Caithness sits at the very top of mainland Scotland, exposed to the North Sea. The distillery passed through several owners before Inver House took it on.

At 54.2%, undiluted, it is bold and waxy. Brine and a honeyed wax sit alongside soft vanilla from the cask. A crisp apple and a sea salt edge lift it. It closes long, salty and honeyed. This is the seaside style that made the distillery's name.