Old Pulteney 2006 HB Finest Cask Strength (Hart Brothers)

Single malt Old Pulteney, an independent Hart Brothers bottling, a 11 year old coastal malt, from 2006 and bottled at 52.4%. 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. Inver House has made it the centrepiece of its single malt range since 1995.

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. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding only a light honeyed sweetness. At a youthful age the fruit is lively and the sea salt clear. Sea air works through the warehouse, lending a saline thread as the whisky breathes by the shore. Pulteney's stills are unlike any other, the wash still topped flat where the neck was cut. The cool, damp Caithness air gives a slow and even maturation. Closed when Wick went dry in 1930, the distillery did not run again until 1951.

At 52.4%, undiluted, it is bold and waxy. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under sea air, citrus and salt. Beneath it run honey, citrus and a waxy weight. It finishes clean, salty and bright. This is a far northern malt shaped by sea air.