Whisky Review: Old Pulteney 17 Year

I've reviewed this whisky before, but that was from a single small sample, so I was glad to get to explore it more in depth.

The 17 Year is put together from a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, then bottled at 46% without coloring or chill filtration.

Old Pulteney 17 Year

Nose: rich mixture of bourbon and sherry casks - caramel, dried fruit, oak, vanilla, malt, earthy, seashore, gently herbal/floral. After adding a few drops of water it becomes creamier and more malt-driven and a little less mature.

Taste: bourbon cask sweetness throughout with a sherried edge throughout, quickly joined by a thick but not overwhelming layer of oak tannins, floral, vanilla, malt, citrus (orange), and fruit ester overtones in the middle, becoming fudge-y and more bitter near the back. After dilution the sherry and oak are significantly toned down, making more room for malt and the top notes in the middle.

Finish: fresh apples, oak tannins and spices, sherry residue, floral malt, distant salinity

This is a well-constructed single malt that is often available at a very reasonable price. With that said, I find myself preferring the 12 Year despite the fact that it's younger and doesn't have craft presentation. While I think the 17 Year is a good value and competes favorably with a lot of other similarly aged OB malts, it feels like too much of the distillery character has been sacrificed for broad appeal. If you're looking for an alternative to the standard older Glens I think this is a great pick to step a little bit out of that groove, but I'll be sticking with its cheaper younger sibling.

Whisky Review: Old Pulteney 12 Year

Old Pulteney is one of the few mainland distilleries on the coast of Scotland north of Dornoch Firth, along with Clynelish and Wolfburn. The most unique features of the distillery, besides its location, are the shapes of its stills. It has been suggested that both appear to have been modified to fit the space of the still room - the wash still appears to have been truncated and a thin descending lyne arm grafted on, while the swan neck of the spirit still makes three 90º turns. The large boiling bulbs on both stills are given a nod in the current shape of the distillery's bottles, which also bulge out.

The 12 Year expression is composed entirely of whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks and is proofed down to 43%, probably with chill filtration and possibly with color.

Old Pulteney 12 Year

Nose: rich bourbon cask influence (caramel, vanilla, oak), gently herbal, sea air salinity, light floral and berry notes, orange peel, green apples/pears. After adding a few drops of water it becomes less mature with some green malt coming out and less cask influence showing up,

Taste: clean, sweet, creamy malt throughout, joined by mild oak tannins and herbal/floral overtones around the middle, light salinity near the back. After dilution it gets a little bit thinner, but some brighter fruit esters pop out around the middle and the sweetness turns into grassy sugarcane.

Finish: sea salt, malt, gentle oak, vanilla, floral/berry notes

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their (relatively) close proximity on the northeast Scottish coast, I get a lot of overlap with bourbon cask Clynelish malts that I've tried before. Possibly due to the spirit itself or the lower bottling proof, this is softer than the standard Clynelish 14 Year, but it still slots into the same kind of niche.

Overall I think Pulteney has managed to produce something that has the approachability of the standard Glens while giving a more engaging set of flavors and aromas. Just hold the water - this spirit has already been diluted as much as it can be.

Given that this can still be found for under $40 in many American stores, it's quickly becoming one of my prime recommendations for both new and old single malt fans. It's good enough that I can see myself buying more, which I say very infrequently of any single malt given my current preference for variety.

Whisky Review: Old Pulteney 17 Year Old

First off, thanks to my reader Florin for a sample of this whisky.

I was quite intrigued by Old Pulteney, especially after their 21 year old was declared 'Best Whisky in the World' by Jim Murray at the end of 2011. Now, I'm not one to ascribe too much weight to awards, but that's some pretty high praise. However, I also heard some pretty good things about their 17 year old expression as well.

Old Pulteney has a history stretching back to 1826 when the distillery was founded on the extreme northeast corner of Scotland (Old Pulteney is the northernmost whisky distillery on the mainland) in the town of Wick. The location is not so peculiar when you consider that the distillery was built at a time when it was far cheaper to ship supplies by water, as good roads did not reach many of the distant parts of Scotland, making it much less remote than it would seem at first glace. The town was also a major center for herring fishing until the mid-20th century, until stocks precipitously declined. The distillery has two very peculiar stills - one where the lyne arm appears to have been chopped off and another with a strangely twisted lyne arm. Additionally, Old Pulteney is one of the few distilleries to still use copper worm-tubs instead of more modern condensers. The distillery passed through a number of different owners before landing in the hands of Inver House in 1995.

Old Pulteney 17

Nose: pleasantly sweet malt with a sour edge, light vanilla, caramel creme, citrus, toffee, salted chocolates. After adding a few drops of water, the nose becomes creamier, the sourness disappears, and more chocolate emerges.

Taste: sweet/sour up front, then malt, wood smoke, and mildly bitter oak tannins, with cacao throughout and some sherry buried under the malt. After dilution, it becomes less sour, but the remaining sourness carries through the palate, there are pepper and floral notes added on top of the wood and chocolate.

Finish: bittersweet malt, light milk chocolate, charred oak, pepper

This was a very nice, sweet whisky. However, I can't say that I found it to be more than that. I kept looking for more depth, but couldn't quite find it. It reminds me a lot of one of its northern cousins, Glenmorangie Original. The salty maritime notes were a nice addition to that template, but not enough to push it into a higher plane. I was a little bit surprised by the lack of sherry influence, particularly its absence on the nose. The 17 year old is a mixture of whiskies from ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, with the sherry casks mostly coming from PX and oloroso sherries. However, there is a significantly greater proportion of bourbon cask whisky in the mix, so the sherry cask whisky may just be too minor of a component to really shine. I will give the distillery some points for bottling this whisky at 46%, especially seeing as the it's also very smooth for its bottling strength, which makes it an easy sipper. At this point I need to try the 12 year old version, which is usually priced fairly competitively, to see if the 17 year old is worth the extra cash.