Old Pulteney 2008 (Signatory)

Signatory Vintage selected this Old Pulteney, a 12 year old coastal malt, from 2008, drawn from cask 13 and bottled at 56.2%. Only 670 bottles were released. Pulteney was founded in 1826 in Pulteneytown on Scotland's far northern shore, and it remains one of the most northerly distilleries on the mainland. Wick was once the herring capital, its fortunes built on silver fish and golden whisky.

The spirit was drawn off the flat topped wash still and boil ball spirit still that give the make its body, and matured by the shore, where sea air works into the wood. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the malt in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Past a decade the honey and wax build, knitting with the coastal salt. The slow loss of the angel's share concentrates the honeyed, waxy core over time.

Undiluted at 56.2%, it is concentrated. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and honeyed wax and a saline lift meet soft vanilla from the cask. The texture is oily and coating, the salt threaded through. The finish runs oily, saline and warm. This is the maritime malt of Scotland's far north.