Old Pulteney 2008 (Signatory)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by Signatory Vintage, a 16 year old coastal malt, from 2008, drawn from cask 10 and bottled at 56.1%. Only 641 bottles were released. Pulteney was dating to 1826 at Wick, on the windswept northeast coast, and it has distilled by the North Sea for two centuries. 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 Oloroso butt held it, sherry meeting the sea salt. Mid age brings a fuller honey and a deeper maritime note. Time in oak builds a honeyed weight over the fresh, briny new make. The water runs from Loch Hempriggs along a lade Thomas Telford laid in 1807. Pulteney's stills are unlike any other, the wash still topped flat where the neck was cut.

Bottled at a cask strength 56.1%, it is rich. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and a gentle vanilla and coconut from the wood runs under a coastal salinity. Soft brine and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. It finishes clean, salty and bright. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.