Old Pulteney is a great distillery. Their range (aside from a myriad of NAS travel retail exclusives that I’m not familiar with) is great quality across the board, but one thing that can be very hard to come by is an independent bottling. So when I had an order to fill and saw this on offer I figured I’d take a gamble.

This is from Gordon & Macphail, a pretty well reputed bottler, and from a series of bottlings using labels that resemble each distillery’s label from days gone by. My only real issue is their insistence on bottling at 40-43% ABV for most of their bottlings which, as will be seen, can affect the depth of flavour.

Aged 15 Years. 43%ABV. 

Nose: Woody peaches. Vanilla. Flowers. Light wood glue note. Oranges. Toffee. There’s a slight salty note as you pull the glass away from your nose. Gooseberries.

Palate: Not flat, but thin feeling. Mainly bitter fruit but some sweeter notes too. Wood. Vanilla. Some salt. Good amount of spice on the swallow.

Finish: Short-medium. Bitter fruit. Some toffee. Fresh toast. Woodspice. Salt. Bit of a dry woody note.

Would I buy this: No

Would I order this in a bar: Yes

Would I drink this if someone gave me a glass: Yes

VFM: 3/5

This is a nice whisky. It’s not bold or hugely complex, and sadly a little thin feeling (higher ABV could possibly fix this), but it hits some nice notes and is just a pleasant sipping dram. Put simply: This is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it knows a pretty good trick.