Old Pulteney 12 Year

Veru balanced, great for starting.

Very even maritime malt. A little salty/briny, but fairly even

Briny, lemon, smooth, honey, caramel, oak, toasted barley and corn, grapes, vanilla, oily, very malty, vanilla, chocolate, corn, grapefruit, meaty peat, butter popcorn.

N: Opens on gentle woodiness and maltiness underlain by a toffee like richness and honey sweetness. Every so slight fresh sea spray. A fruitiness develops after the first few sips which is a pleasant development. P: A rich rounded honey with a fruity soft sweetness are first and foremost. A little pepper mixes in well with a definite salt presence and savour biscuity or bready mouthfeel and flavour bringing up the back end. F: Medium-long. Salty, slightly oily and warming with smooth chocolate and fresh lemon peel. Apparently this version of OP 12, that I believe was released in 2018, is not what it used to be. I don’t know what it used to be though and I ultimately don’t care as a result. What it is now is really pleasant. The profile becomes more fruity with every sip but manages to stay on the correct side of sweet. As a kid in the UK, my Dad would often by a big white bloomer bread loaf on the weekends and eating thick slices of this warm and slathered in honey is as close to a comparison as I can give to this whisky. It’s a happy memory invocation if nothing else. The honey is on the side of malty and the richness of the soft toffee notes are really quite lovely. The salt though is probably the most interesting thing here to me. It’s not a harsh salt like cooking salt and its not a briny or cured flavour like in a Talisker. Rather, the salt here (to me at least; and I really don’t know much about this whisky tasting business) is something more refined and gentle. I’d suggest the salt is like Maldon Salt Flakes, the kind you see as crystals in pinch bowls at hipster brunch cafés. I near the end of my bottle, and for the price, I think it was good on the shelf but I don’t think I’ll replace it. As enjoyable as it was, I actually think I’d rather drink monkeys shoulder. Although MS lacks the salt it possibly wins out on the rest of the comparable malty flavours at an even lower price. Distiller whisky taste #50