Old Pulteney 2008 vW (van Wees) (56.8%)

van Wees selected this Old Pulteney matured to 12 year old, from 2008, drawn from cask 20 and bottled at 56.8%. 674 bottles in all. Established in 1826 by James Henderson in Pulteneytown, Wick, Pulteney is the maritime malt of the far north. Wick was once the herring capital, its fortunes built on silver fish and golden whisky.

It was worked through Pulteney's boil ball stills, fed by Loch Hempriggs, before long maturation by the sea drew in its coastal character. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid salted dried fruit over the coastal spirit. Mid age brings a fuller honey and a deeper maritime note. Years in the cask round the spirit, the wax and honey deepening with age. Wick built its fortune on herring and whisky, the silver and the gold of the north. Everything once moved by sea here, barley in and casks out across the North Sea.

Bottled at a cask strength 56.8%, it is rich. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and honeyed wax and a saline lift meet light vanilla from the refill oak. The texture is oily and coating, the salt threaded through. The finish is deep, oily and maritime. This is the maritime malt of Scotland's far north.