Old Pulteney 2008 (Signatory)

An Old Pulteney single malt, selected and bottled by Signatory Vintage at 14 year old, from 2008, drawn from cask 5 and bottled at 56%. Set by James Henderson in Pulteneytown, Wick, Pulteney has distilled since 1826. It is one of the last urban distilleries, set among the streets of Pulteneytown.

It was worked through Pulteney's boil ball stills, fed by Loch Hempriggs, before long maturation by the sea drew in its coastal character. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry meeting the sea salt. Past a decade the honey and wax build, knitting with the coastal salt. Years in the cask round the spirit, the wax and honey deepening with age. The spirit carries an oily weight unusual among Highland malts. Wick's herring fleet once numbered in the thousands at the height of the boom. Slow distillation in the squat stills builds the malt's rounded, waxy body.

At a natural 56% it is full and oily. The Oloroso brings salted dried fruit, fig and walnut, and sea salt and a coastal tang meet light vanilla from the refill oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the honey carried on a waxy body. A long, honeyed finish carries a saline tang. This is Old Pulteney's classic maritime character.