Old Pulteney WK 499 Isabella Fortuna (52%)

This official Old Pulteney single malt and bottled at 52%. Just 18000 bottles were filled. Opened in 1826 in Pulteneytown on Scotland's far northern shore, Pulteney is the maritime malt of the far north. The distillery closed in 1930 when Wick went dry, and reopened only in 1951.

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. Ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, soft oak that lets the coastal character lead. No age is given, but the honeyed depth points to good years in oak. Years in the cask round the spirit, the wax and honey deepening with age. Wick built its fortune on herring and whisky, the silver and the gold of the north. Everything once moved by sea here, barley in and casks out across the North Sea. The water runs from Loch Hempriggs along a lade Thomas Telford laid in 1807.

At 52%, undiluted, it is bold and waxy. A briny, oily edge sit alongside soft vanilla from the cask. It is clean and bright, the coastal salt lifting the honey. It finishes clean, salty and bright. This is the salty, honeyed signature of Wick.