April 25, 2014

A bag of Pulteney including one peater

We’re expecting orchard fruits and sea breeze. And some peat in this intriguing newish official that’s supposed to be lightly ‘peated’, that’s why we’ll have it at the end.

Old Pulteney 10 yo 1998/2008 (43%, Jean Boyer, Best Casks of Scotland, recoopered hogshead)

Jean Boyer’s malts are usually crisp and spirit-driven, which is very appreciable. Colour: white wine. Nose: lovely young nose, all on barley and various garden fruits, all rather ripe. Apples, gooseberries… There’s also a little smoke, rather charcoal smoke. No peat. Add to that hints of warm croissants and you’re getting something pretty… err, French. Mouth: there is a wee saltiness in the arrival, then there’s more applejack, cherries, barley and brioche. It’s all very easy, rather sweet, and eminently drinkable. Finish: rather long, sweet, rather more candied now. A little Demerara sugar and plum jam. Comments: good body at just 43% vol. Another fair, loyal, natural and honest malt whisky by Jean Boyer. Nice Pulteneyesque saltiness on the palate. SGP:542 - 83 points.

That one was the apéritif, let’s have the heavies now…

Old Pulteney 2006/2013 (57.5%, Malts of Scotland, sherry hogshead, cask #MoS 13033, 124 bottles)

Colour: light amber. Nose: gunpowder and used matches strike first, then leather and roasted chestnuts. Goes on with more meaty notes, a feeling of teriyaki, a lot of fresh parsley and lovage, then some sugarcane and walnuts as well as drops of mustard, manzanilla-style. A polarizing style for sure, I have to say I quite enjoy it. With water: gets way smoother and more honeyed. Lovely notes of mead and honeydew. Mouth (neat): it’s the best part. Litres of bitter orange liqueur, rhum agricole, tinned pineapples and sweet curry. Definitely something exotic, despite a growing liquoricy side, as well as emerging notes of pipe tobacco. Very different, very fine. With water: excellent, compact, honeyed and peppery. Quite some cloves and something Christmassy. Finish: long, both sweet and spicy. Oriental, in a way. Comments: a lot happening in this very young baby. The gunpowder fades away – or your brain just filters it out, that’s hard to say. SGP:552 - 87 points.

Old Pulteney 12 yo 2001/2013 (49.2%, The Whisky Agency and The Nectar, barrel, 351 bottles)

Is that Alice on the label? Are we in Wonderland with this little Pulteney? Colour: white wine. Nose: we’re back on a style that’s very much akin to that of the Jean Boyer, with naked orchard fruits at first nosing (green apples first), also flowers from the fields, but then there’s more mandarin and touches of bread and baker’s yeast. I seem to detect a wee sea breeze too, but I may be dreaming. What’s sure is that this baby is very fresh and clean. Mouth: I like this, it makes me think of the official 17 at times. Drops of brine in a fruit salad (plums, oranges, apples, grapes) with a mild spiciness and a little light honey. What I call ‘breakfast honey’. Maybe also a touch of chalk. Finish: medium length. A little more barleyish and slightly yeasty again, but it’s all fine. Something slightly burnt in the aftertaste, maybe. Comments: rather clean and crisp, so very Pulteney. SGP:542 - 85 points.

Old Pulteney 1990 'Lightly Peated' (46%, OB, Limited Edition, +/-2014)

From bourbon and sherry casks that had previously contained peaty whisky. So, is this a blended malt? Err... Colour: pale gold. Nose: I don’t find more peat than in regular Pulteneys at first nosing. It’s a rather leafy and slightly yeasty/barleyish one at first nosing, with plenty of cider apples and, I have to say, a beautiful earthiness and superb whiffs of ‘new cigar box’. Is that the advertised peat? Mouth: the peat is more obvious now. Very obvious! We’re around Ardmore levels, in fact. The peaty component combines pretty well with Pulteney, giving it a zestier, almost lemony style, but it may have made it narrower as well. I also find sultanas and something slightly dusty. Finish: quite long, smoky, slightly acrid despite the raisins. Comments: this baby loses you quite a bit, we’re rather in blended malt territories indeed. In a way, either there’s too much peat, or there isn’t enough. But yeah, it’s a fine dram. SGP:353 - 80 points.

Check the index of all Pulteney I've tasted so far