Old Pulteney 2007 DR (A.D. Rattray)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by A.D. Rattray, a 10 year old from 2007, drawn from cask 700749 and bottled at 59.1%. The outturn was 260 bottles. Pulteney, founded in 1826 at Wick, on the windswept northeast coast, Inver House has run it as a flagship malt since 1995. For years it was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.

It was run through the unusual stills, the wash still topped flat where the swan neck was cut, before resting in warehouses within sight of the harbour. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the brine. Still young, the malt is clean and zesty with a saline tang. The northern cold draws out a slow, even maturation and a clean, bright spirit. 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 a hearty 59.1% it carries real weight. A gentle vanilla and coconut from the wood runs under salt spray and beeswax. A beeswax and a saline tang give it real body. The finish is deep, oily and maritime. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.