OLD PULTENEY 1998 19YO - GORDON & MACPHAIL CONNOISSEURS CHOICE

Its been quiet here for a while - the reasons are many and some of it personal, so on to the whisky :-)

Whisky Merchant and Independent Bottler, Gordon & Macphail, based in Elgin (Speyside), Scotland is celebrating its 50th birthday of their Connoisseurs Choice series this year and that means new bottlings galore, 37 in total actually, including some bottlings over the age of 30.

I've chosen to start with a review of an Old Pulteney from 1998, a bottle that I've also just recently bought a bottle of. I've always had a soft spot for this distillery and its remote location in the far north of Scotland in the town of Wick has only left me to visit this place just under a handful of times even though I travelled Scotland at least a couple of times a year for the past 18 years.

Like I said, I've always had a soft spot of this distillery, especially the 17yo official expression and the oh, so glorious hand bottlings offered to those who make their way up to the north of Scotland. Often these handbottlings have been matured in first fill ex-bourbon casks as the Pulteney from G&M I'm about to try, so expectations are high.

Cask available for handbottling on 20th October 2014 © The Malt Desk

Old Pulteney 1998 19yo 57,5% Dist. 26.08.1998/bottled 21.06.2018, Batch 18/049, First fill ex-bourbon cask, 192 bottles, Gordon & Macphail Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength

Colour is copper - quite heavy and oily in the glass

Nose:
Initially quite heavy on the oak but more is lurking in the background. Have to give it some time zzzZZZzzz... After a good 15mins the oak has settled to a sawdusty note, vanilla spongecake, malt and breakfast tea.

Water makes this go cloudy in an instance (Welcome NCF) Out comes hints of citrus fruit before its all oak and malt galore.

Taste:
Lots of oak on the palate as well, so you have to like that. Again some fruit (overripe apples and pears) is present behind the oak, but its struggling a bit to come out. The finish is all on oak, malt and hints of dark chocolate.

Luckily I like a bit of oak in my whisky, but I think this one has maybe spent a year or 2 too long in the cask. 19 years in a first fill bourbon cask is a long time and it shows in this whisky. Am I glad, I bought a bottle before tasting this sample? Yes! Will I be drinking it and not passing it on? Certainly! It just posseses a style that is maybe not to everyones liking...

85/100

Official sample provided by G&M

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!

OLD PULTENEY 1997 - GORDON & MACPHAIL FOR THE WHISKY CASTLE IN TOMINTOUL

Making your way all the way up to the town of Wick to visiting Old Pulteney is a long drive in itself and finally reaching the distillery makes you wonder if you're really in the right place...

Located in residential neighbourhood and not that far from Wick harbour, the whole thing still looks a bit bleak - even on a sunny day, but the spirit from there is not - it's great!

Old Pulteney offices and visitors centre - August 2009 © The Malt Desk

The review this time is a single cask sherried Pulteney - something you don't see alot of out there. It's bottled by Elgin based Gordon & MacPhail who's cask management is something of a work of art in itself. They have - or at least have had - contracts to have their own carefully selected casks filled at the distilleries and with that ensuring a minimum of dodgy casks in their stock - although you can never be sure how a casks matures your whisky - but you can minimize the risk by good wood management.

In early 2011 I picked a cask from several samples to be bottled for our local whisky club - also a 1997 and also from Gordon & MacPhail - although a lovely single bourbon cask. Lovely stuff! My review can be found here. If you would like other people's opinion on it, have a look at whiskybase.com - the direct link is here.

Now, back to the sherried Old Pulteney - this version is selected and bottled for Mike Drury who owns the incredible well stocked shop 'The Whisky Castle' in the village of Tomintoul high up in the Speyside hills. It's a shop I can recommend you visit as Mike and his wife Cathy are the friendliest of hosts and there's always a dram ready almost the minute you come in the door... and then there's the well stocked shelves there... bring a well stocked wallet or be sure you're credit card can be charged a bit - it's another place I always visit when in Speyside!

Old Pulteney 1997 13yo (25.09.1997/xx.04.2011) 58,9%, refill sherry hogshead#1180, 273 bottles, Gordon & MacPhail Exclusive for The Whisky Castle in Tomintoul

Colour is amber

Nose:
Dark fruits, and brown overripe banana, salted pork, burnt creme brulee crust, polished hardwood and remarkably fresh

Taste:
Spicy oak, lovely oloroso sherry coating, caramelised apples, a nice malt base mid palate, some Pulteney saltiness, nuts and chocolate.

This improves very much with oxidation. I wasn't terribly impressed with it when I first opened the bottle, but that changed after about 1 week - and now the bottle is empty!

89/100!

OLD PULTENEY WK 499 - II - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Old Pulteney - Warehouse No. 5 - August 2009 © The Malt Desk

A short while ago, this lovely distillery had to remove the marketing phrase of being the  'Northernmost Scotch Mainland Whisky Distillery' as just a bit further north - in Thurso - distilling started at Wolfburn Distillery... but Wolfburn is not the focus here today - Old Pulteney in Wick is...

Ever since Jim Murray named the OP 21yo whisky of the year in 2012, bottle of the 21yo has been flying off the shelves everywhere... even bottles from older batches, that with great certainty weren't the stuff Jim Murray tasted - go figure that move? :-O
But I guess people we're just desperate to try the 'World's Best Whisky 2012' - so desperate the 21yo sold out almost everywhere and the boys at Inverhouse (the owners) had to work overtime to put more out there...

Today, I'll be reviewing a bottling for Travel Retail - actually its the 2nd bottling in a series of 3 so far...

The bottlings are (all for travel retail):

• Old Pulteney NAS WK499 'Isabella Fortuna' 52%
• Old Pulteney NAS WK499 II 46%
• Old Pulteney NAS WK217 'Spectrum'

I'll be reviewing the middle one... the names of course are names of names of fishing boats to show Pulteney's strong connection with the sea...

Old Pulteney NAS WK499 II 46%

Colour is light amber

Nose:
Fresh apples, and wet oak/wood shavings, briny and fresh, gets even more fruity (citrus) with time in the glass

Taste:
Sweet malt, peppery, more apples followed by some pear, aniseed, hints of cumin maybe?

Very easy drinking malt and not overly expressive - I like the 1st edition better
Again, thanks to my friend, for the sample!

84/100!

OLD PULTENEY 1997 - GORDON & MACPHAIL

Old Pulteney 13yo 45.1% 25.09.1997/06.06.2011 1st fill bourbon barrel#8038702 for Aalborg Whisky Club, Gordon & MacPhail Cask Strength series - 208 bottles

Nose:
Vanilla sweet and malty, a little peppery nose, becoming more Pulteney after a while, Slight brine to it as well

Taste:
Nose continues, Creamy, Sweet vanillas, malt and apple bakery notes, becoming trademark Pulteney salty and spicy. Finish of drying oak, obvious cask influence (in a good way) maybe again some peppery notes and lingering malt

This is one I'm a little proud of. Its a cask I selected for the club in early 2011 and so far its been well recieved with all who tried it

90/100! (tasted 27-07-2011)