Old Pulteney 2006 Cask #1468

A distillery bottling of Old Pulteney, a 13 year old coastal malt, from 2006, drawn from cask 1468 and bottled at 50.2%. 258 bottles in all. Pulteney was first licensed in 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast, and it has distilled by the North Sea for two centuries. 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. Ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, soft oak that lets the coastal character lead. Around twelve to fifteen years the malt rounds into honey, citrus and sea air. A gentle, unhurried maturation suits the waxy, honeyed Pulteney character. For decades this was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland. It is one of the last true urban distilleries, set among the streets of Pulteneytown.

Undiluted at 50.2%, it is concentrated. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under salt spray and beeswax. A beeswax and a saline tang give it real body. A long, honeyed finish carries a saline tang. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.