Old Pulteney 2002 (Old Malt Cask)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by Hunter Laing at 19 year old, from 2002, drawn from cask HL 19525 and bottled at 50%. A release of 175 bottles. Set beside the harbour at Wick in the far north, Pulteney has distilled since 1826. For years it was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.

The spirit was made in copper stills of singular shape, fed by soft northern water, and matured on the Caithness coast for a salty lift. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the brine. Beyond eighteen years the malt grows deep and oily, honey turning to dried fruit over soft brine. Refill oak holds back its sweetness, letting the distillery's coastal character lead. The make is clean and waxy, a style built over nearly two centuries by the sea. Caithness sits at the very top of mainland Scotland, exposed to the North Sea. The distillery passed through several owners before Inver House took it on.

At its natural 50% it is deep and honeyed. Vanilla and a little cream from the barrel runs under a coastal salinity. Soft brine and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. It closes long, salty and honeyed. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.