Old Pulteney 1991

This Old Pulteney, an official release,, aged 15 year old, from 1991 and bottled at 54.9%. Old Pulteney was established in 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast; it stands among Scotland's most northerly distilleries. Inver House has made it the centrepiece of its single malt range since 1995.

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. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, lending honey and vanilla under the salt. Mid age brings a fuller honey and a deeper maritime note. A gentle, unhurried maturation suits the waxy, honeyed Pulteney character. 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. The distillery has worn the title of the Maritime Malt for good reason.

At its natural 54.9% it is deep and honeyed. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under a salty maritime note. It is rounded and deep, the maritime note woven in. Sea salt and honey see out a long finish. This is a far northern malt shaped by sea air.