Old Pulteney 2002 (Old Malt Cask)

From Hunter Laing comes this Old Pulteney, a 19 year old from 2002, drawn from cask HL 18987 and bottled at 50%. The outturn was 250 bottles. Pulteney, first licensed in 1826 in Pulteneytown on Scotland's far northern shore, it has been the maritime malt of Caithness ever since. Old Pulteney is known the world over as the Maritime Malt.

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. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding only a light honeyed sweetness. Past eighteen years the wax deepens and the maritime note turns gentle and rounded. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its signature salty, maritime lift. 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 a full 50% it is intense. A salty maritime note sit alongside soft vanilla from the cask. It is rounded and deep, the maritime note woven in. Sea salt and honey see out a long finish. This is the seaside style that made the distillery's name.