Old Pulteney 12 Years Old DD The Nectar of the Daily Drams

This Old Pulteney was from the independent bottler Daily Dram, a 12 year old from 2008 and bottled at 57.5%. Pulteney, dating to 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast, Inver House has run it as a flagship malt since 1995. 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 American oak cask shaped it, flattering the waxy, honeyed make. 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. Closed when Wick went dry in 1930, the distillery did not run again until 1951. Sea air works into the warehouses, a saline thread that marks the house style. For decades this was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.

At cask strength 57.5% it is muscular and oily. The refill oak lending a light vanilla, with brine and a honeyed wax. A crisp apple and a sea salt edge lift it. Salt, honey and oak draw out the close. This is a honeyed coastal malt from Caithness.