OLD PULTENEY 1997 52.19 'FLAPPING SAILS AND SHIP'S TIMBERS' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

When North of Inverness on October I actually made it all the way up to John O'Groats on the very top of Scottish mainland. Going there also meant passing the town of Wick where Pulteney Distillery is located and making a stop there was already planned, even before heading north from our accommodation in Inverness.

Pulteney is one of those distillery that had, until last year, lived in relative anonymity until a certain whisky writer, know for wearing a panama hat, out of the blue declared the 21yo expression from Pulteney the 'world's best whisky'...Pulteney does make good whisky and there's more than a handful of expression out there to prove that, and especially some good ones from indie bottler Gordon & MacPhail.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, who provides a wide range of excellent single cask bottlings (and at a decent price here in Denmark, I might add) has bottled the expression I'm about to review. It was a bottling I very much looked forward to try already when I read about it in the SMWS newsletter. Eventually, I also ended up buying a bottle of it...

Warehouse at Pulteney Distillery, October 20th 2014 © The Malt Desk

Old Pulteney 1997 52.19 (21.11.1997) 16yo 'Flapping sails and ship's timbers' 54,6%, refill ex-bourbon hogshead, 269 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is pale straw

Nose:
Wow, really coastal - this must be what its all about when they say you can smell the sea in a whisky, I was quite surprised here :-O Lots of salt, brine, vanilla, grist, wet wood chips, stale white fruits, pot ale, freshly picked peas and white pepper.

Taste:
Vanilla freshness, lots of malt/barley sugar, sweet licorice, a little coconut and quite a citrussy edge. Also honey, pepper, salted nuts and a note of what I think it would be like licking a sea shell. More brine also and an undefined herbal note in there.

This expression really opens up with water, multiplying the already existing notes.
This is a great Pulteney!

89/100!