Pulteney 17 Years Old 2008 Cask #800017 (Signatory)

This Old Pulteney was from the independent bottler Signatory Vintage, a 17 year old coastal malt, from 2008, drawn from cask 800017 and bottled at 54.7%. The outturn was 199 bottles. Pulteney was first licensed in 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast, and it has distilled by the North Sea for two centuries. Robert Cumming brought the distillery back to life in 1951 after two decades silent.

Distilled in Pulteney's distinctively shaped copper stills on soft Loch Hempriggs water, the make was then aged beside the North Sea for that maritime edge. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the brine. By this age the waxy, honeyed core settles in over the brine. The northern cold draws out a slow, even maturation and a clean, bright spirit. The cool maritime climate is as much a part of the whisky as the cask. Honey, beeswax and sea salt are the threads that run through the range.

Bottled at a cask strength 54.7%, it is rich. The refill oak lending a light vanilla, with brine and a honeyed wax. A crisp apple and a sea salt edge lift it. It finishes clean, salty and bright. This is a honeyed coastal malt from Caithness.