Old Pulteney 2008 (Signatory) (56.6%)

Signatory Vintage bottled this Old Pulteney single malt, a 12 year old from 2008, drawn from cask 16 and bottled at 56.6%. 679 bottles in all. Pulteney, dating to 1826 in the fishing town of Wick, Caithness, it has been the maritime malt of Caithness ever since. The distillery closed in 1930 when Wick went dry, and reopened only in 1951.

Distilled on Loch Hempriggs water in stills whose shape has not changed since the 1820s, the make was then laid down by the sea for its briny, honeyed style. Maturation in Oloroso sherry laid salted dried fruit over the coastal spirit. Around twelve to fifteen years the malt rounds into honey, citrus and sea air. Maturation by the sea is central to the house style, the brine settling into the malt. 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 a full 56.6% it is intense. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and salt spray and beeswax sit alongside a touch of oak sweetness underneath. A beeswax and a saline tang give it real body. Sea salt and honey see out a long finish. This is the salty, honeyed signature of Wick.