Tasting 4 Old Pulteneys

I was actually going to have an OB Single Cask in this session, and make it an OB only vertical, but that SC-bottling had such high strength that I think it would hard to compare to the other low strength ones in this session, so instead I've pulled in a 45%abv G&M Single Cask, just to level the playing field a bit. Anyway, Old Pulteney is a whisky that I think has great potential, quality spirit, but very little of is bottled as single, at least up until very recently that was. Now it seems to come a whole bunch of single cask bottlings, older standards and such to the shelves. I wonder what happen if some of these other distilleries with a unfulfilled potential when it comes to single malts, were to follow Old Pulteneys way. Maybe we'd see a real renaissance at distilleries such as Inchgower, Dailuaine, Ardmore, Glencadam and surely some more.



Old Pulteney 12yo 1998-2010 45% Gordon & Macphail cask#1050

Pale golden color, and bottled at an unusual strength for G&M. The nose is briny and salty, sea salt, lemon, grassy, very clean and fresh with a coastal character. Whisky without peat, but still it has so much coastal character that it brings my mind to Islay. The taste is coastal and sweet, seaweed, smoked haddock, vanilla, creamy, peppery, once again very clean. A fine young whisky. The finish is salty and briny, much like the nosing promised.

A fine whisky, just what I'd expect from a low-strength 12yo: 4.5


Old Pulteney 17yo 46% OB 2010

I remember the 21yo from 2010 got a lot of attention being called out as the world's best whisky in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible last year. I have not tried that one yet, but it's not long until. The color is white wine, smells very light. Some peppery notes, fino sherry, herbal, grassy, lacks the coastal character that i found in the G&M. The taste is sweet on toffee and almonds, some ginger and lemon, honey, tart crust, biscuity and nutty. Still not much coastal aroma to be found in this one. But it is however, a very pleasant malt. Pleasant stuff, but far from challenging, reminds me a bit of some light speysiders, say young Glen Grants or even Linkwood. The finish is short and light, fresh mint and fat cream.

For a 17yo I expected more oak influence or a louder spirit, its just a bit tame: 4


Old Pulteney 30yo 40.5% OB 2011

One of the more recent older OB's. Color of pale white wine, the lightest so far in this tasting, must be from some old bourbon casks I think, or there may have been some older dead wood which provided little color, that has been upped to a bit over 40%abv by adding some older high strengths to the mix. But it's just wild speculations of course. It smells light and creamy, some barley, rice wine, red onions, palm sugar, balsamic vinegar, again very light and far from coastal, as I'd expect from this distillery. That does however not characterize it as being neither good or bad, just not like I would expect it to be. The taste is soft, elderflowers, potato starch, slow one, needs some water maybe. With additional water it turns sweeter, marshmallows, flour sugar, malted barley and soft pepper.

A very light whisky that I think needs higher strength to surpass mediocracy: 4.5


Old Pulteney 21yo 46% 2011

So this is the whisky which former Millwall player turned "whisky-god" Jim Murray has titled the world's best whisky in his whisky bible of 2011. Finally its time for me to try it. This is the darkest one so far in this session, full golden hue. It smells sweet, caramel, oregano, basil, coriander, herbs de provence, dark chocolate, fried chicken skin, nuts, almonds, olive oil, it has a lot more strings to play on, to use a vague description, than the former three in this session. The taste is rich, creamy and spicy, honey, heather, ashy, drying, salty, again these very vague notions of dried herbs comes forth, this time in the finish. Unfortunately I cannot say that I agree with Jim Murray, far from it, but of the standard Old Pulteneys that I've tried so far, it is most certainly the best one.

I think that some sherried whisky in the mix has elevated this to a 6+whisky: 6.5



Next tasting: Tomatin Distillery