Old Pulteney 12 - A Lovely Dram

This week's dram is Old Pulteney 12. This is a single malt scotch aged  for 12 years in ex-bourbon barrels.

This is the youngest expression from the Pulteney Distillery in Wick, Scotland. They also offer 17-, 21-, 30-, and 40-year-old whiskies.

The Pulteney Distillery is the Scottish main's northernmost distillery. Wick is a coastal town, and the whisky features flavors and aromas that evoke the sea.

This has long been one of my favorite single malts, because of its lovely, complex flavor and reasonable price (between $30-$40, depending on locale) for a 12-year-old scotch. Old Pulteney 12 is bottled at 86 proof, which is in the standard range for most scotches.

Taken neat, the color is a golden amber. My nose detects a hint of sea air, and some honey. On the tongue, I taste honey, more hints of the sea, a small bit of fire and peat and maybe a few bourbon notes. It's mouthfeel is medium  - not too heavy, not too light. It seems to finish quick and clean, but there's pleasant subtle lingering aftertaste. The alcohol burn is quite muted.

Old Pulteney 12 drinks quite nicely neat, in part because it's already been watered down some from cask strength, as are the vast majority of whiskies on the market. However, just because a whisky is bottled at less than cask strength doesn't mean that a little water in the glass won't potentially have a great effect on the aroma and flavor.

Add a splash of water, and things change quite a bit. The nose intensifies, and if I close my eyes and sniff, I can picture myself on a rock jetty with salt spray in the air.

The honey flavors recede just a little, and out comes more of the briny sea flavors,  as well as some of spiciness of the oaken bourbon casks. The finish lengthens as well.

One of the things that I happen to love about the coast is the smell of salt and seaweed in the air. The flavors and aromas of Old Pulteney can transport me to a bracing day on the edge of the sea, waves rhythmically breaking on the sea wall, salt in the air carried by a stiff breeze...as opposed to the southern Islay malts, which evoke stormy seas with raging waves and howling winds.

This is a single malt that I try to keep on my bar. I don't always succeed, due to Old Pulteney no longer being sold in home state of North Carolina.