Sea air, toasted almond and subtle peat smoke mark the nose of this single malt. The palate opens assertively smoky and savory, mixing bacon and mesquite with almond, honey and spice. This was aged in ex-bourbon casks and finished in casks that previously held peated whisky. (KN).
Old Pulteney, the brilliant distillery situated on Scotland’s Northern coast, only makes unpeated malt. For this unusual bottling, they’ve finished their malt in casks that previously held heavily peated anCnoc single malt from their sister distillery Knockdhu. You get all the salty brine of Pulteney combined with the intense peat of anCnoc for a special take on the peaty, salty style of whisky more familiar to fans of Islay.
David Othenin-Girard K&L Buyer Review Date: 12/2024
This is one of those deals where our price is so ridiculously low it gives people pause. You may remember the Old Pulteney Clipper or the Balblair 2005 that we secured earlier this year. Each one of those flew off our shelves once the word got out and I received hundreds of emails asking me if we were going to get more. It’s astonishing that we were able to work this deal, mostly because this this is still available all over the place at the much higher price. That was not the case either of the other two. But here we are.
A beautiful highland malt ace’d in a heavily peated highland cask, gives us just the tiny kiss of smoke that I often crave when tasting modern Old Pulteney. I’m sad to say that this is every bit worth the $60 they want to charge for it, and I’d have been happy to continue to sell it at that price, but right we’re in a valuation creation mode and we cannot resist the opportunity to share the value that this type of deal creates for our customers. Let’s have a taste.
The color is lovely restrained deep gold (0.8), likely no coloring added here although it’s not stated on the bottle. The nose offers no strong smoke or peat aromas, instead the cask finish serves to heighten the classical salty maritime character of the Pulteney malt in an extremely appealing way. With a bit of air, the sweet sea air envelopes a basket of fresh orchard fruit pear, yellow plum, lemon rind and apricot skins. Beyond that a deep base note of malt offers some savory earthy, rich nutty and sweet biscuit notes. The palate is extremely pleasurable in a very overt sort of way -the savory notes described in the critical review maybe have tamed slightly in bottle over the last several years, but a pure and linear twinge of peat slices right thru the gorgeous salty fruit on the front palate. Very subtle wood smoke, roasted heather, oily nuts, and lingering salt sits on the back palate and build toward a beautiful spice driven finish.
It’s not giant bruiser or powerhouse, instead offering a complexity often lost in NAS malts and while it might put off those who absolutely HATE peat (albeit the Highland style rather than the brackish iodine of Islay), I highly doubt that anyone else will find this overly smoky or peaty in anyway. This is first-rate malt, which truly shouldn’t be available for the price we’re charging. You’ve been warned that this is not to be missed, so don’t come crying to me when it’s all gone!
Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA
