Old Pulteney 10 Years Old

A distillery bottling of Old Pulteney matured to 10 year old, and bottled at 40%. 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. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the maritime malt to the fore. At this age the spirit is fresh and briny, the citrus and vanilla bright. Refill oak holds back its sweetness, letting the distillery's coastal character lead. 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. A faint salinity threads the honey, the mark of long coastal maturation.

At an easy 40% it is gentle. The refill oak lending a light vanilla, with sea salt and a coastal tang. The mouthfeel is oily, the honey carried on a waxy body. A long, honeyed finish carries a saline tang. This is a honeyed coastal malt from Caithness.