Old Pulteney 2002 ED (Edition Spirits)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by Edition Spirits, aged 21 year old, from 2002, drawn from cask 21177 and bottled at 59%. Just 201 bottles were filled. Old Pulteney was established in 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast; it stands among Scotland's most northerly distilleries. For years it was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.

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 it is polished and waxy, the sea salt folded into a rich, honeyed body. Sea air works through the warehouse, lending a saline thread as the whisky breathes by the shore. Wick's herring fleet once numbered in the thousands at the height of the boom.

At its natural 59% it is deep and honeyed. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under a coastal salinity. Soft brine and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. The close is slow, brine over soft wax. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.