Old Pulteney 2013 Joint bottling with Three Rivers Tokyo (The Whisky Agency)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by The Whisky Agency matured to 9 year old, from 2013 and bottled at 51.9%. Built in 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast, Pulteney is the maritime malt of the far north. For years it was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland.

Distilled in Pulteney's distinctively shaped copper stills on soft Loch Hempriggs water, the make was then aged beside the North Sea for that maritime edge. Ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, soft oak that lets the coastal character lead. Still young, the malt is clean and zesty with a saline tang. Sea air works through the warehouse, lending a saline thread as the whisky breathes by the shore. The far north cold draws a clean, bright spirit and a slow take on the oak. Casks rest within sight of the harbour that once shipped herring across Europe. The make is clean and waxy, a style built over nearly two centuries by the sea.

At a full 51.9% it is intense. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under a coastal salinity. Soft brine and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. A waxy, coastal finish lingers long. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.