Old Pulteney 1993 (G&M)

Gordon & MacPhail bottled this Old Pulteney single malt, a 14 year old coastal malt, from 1993, drawn from cask 2402 and bottled at 59.9%. Pulteney was founded in 1826 in Pulteneytown on Scotland's far northern shore, and it remains one of the most northerly distilleries on the mainland. The distillery closed in 1930 when Wick went dry, and reopened only in 1951.

The spirit was drawn off the flat topped wash still and boil ball spirit still that give the make its body, and matured by the shore, where sea air works into the wood. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry meeting the sea salt. Mid age brings a fuller honey and a deeper maritime note. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its signature salty, maritime lift. 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 cask strength 59.9% it is muscular and oily. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and salt spray and beeswax sit alongside soft vanilla from the cask. A beeswax and a saline tang give it real body. The finish runs oily, saline and warm. This is the salty, honeyed signature of Wick.