Pulteney 11 Years Old 2013 Cask #502709 (Meadowside Blending)

This is an Old Pulteney single malt, chosen and bottled by Meadowside Blending, a 11 year old from 2013, drawn from cask 502709 and bottled at 53.7%. 253 bottles in all. Pulteney, dating to 1826 in the herring port of Wick on the Caithness coast, Inver House has run it as a flagship malt since 1995. 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. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the brine. Younger here, it keeps a crisp, coastal freshness over light honey. Sea air works through the warehouse, lending a saline thread as the whisky breathes by the shore. Robert Cumming reopened the silent distillery in 1951 as demand for whisky returned. Old Pulteney is matured within sight of the harbour that gave Wick its name.

At 53.7%, undiluted, it is bold and waxy. The refill oak lending a light vanilla runs under a coastal salinity. Soft brine and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. Salt, honey and oak draw out the close. This is a briny, oily dram from the North Sea coast.