Piityvaich 12 yr old

On a walk around Dufftown near the site!

Sherry coloured Sherry nose Full body Spicy finish On the sweet side

Pittyvaich 12, Speyside, 84 pts. Strong alcohol aroma, flavour and burn. Quite nutty and spicy, golden raisins, a little salted caramel and a hint of iodine from the peat.

I recently had a chance to enjoy a sample pour from “ghosted”, Speyside distillery Pittyvaich. The 12 year old pour was part of Diageo’s original Flora & Fauna series. Pittyvaich was located in Dufftown and was built and opened in 1974, by Arthur Bell & Sons. They produced whisky primarily for blends and had one official distillery bottling in 1991. They closed in 1993 and all building were demolished in 2002- so, no chance of a grand rebirth here. This sample was generously provided by my friend Pranay. I believe he paid somewhere north of $400 for this bottle. It’s a beautiful, new penny copper in the Glencairn but I believe it is chill filtered and has added color. It produces runny, thick legs and leaves medium sized droplets behind on the rim when you spin it. It was bottled at 43% ABV. The nose had some faint rye notes to match heavy molasses, toffee and burnt sugar. There were hints of the sherry cask maturation, but it smelled more like an American rye than a Speyside scotch. The palate was very buttery- relying heavily on Christmas cake and roasted nuts for its primary flavoring. There was some sweet sherry there along with some peppery rye. I didn’t get a lot of depth, though. The finish was short-to-medium with baking spices and pepper hanging around. Very warming. Overall, it wasn’t anything close to what I was expecting, but it was also quite enjoyable and different. I’m tempted to bump my score up to a full 4 stars because it’s rare, but mostly it was pretty tasty. A big thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine because I know I’d never have tasted this one otherwise. Cheers.

I had a pronounced sense of deja vu whilst enjoying the sample provided to me by @PBMichiganWolverine . There was an unshakeable familiarity, but why? The waxy, apply, rum-raisin nose made me wonder about Clynelish, but that wasn't it. The honey-forward, tree fruit studded palate seemed even more familiar than the nose. A glance in the direction of my collection made it all click - Oban. This tastes like a less sea-inflected, less well integrated younger sibling of Oban Distiller's Edition. The opportunity to enjoy something from a silent distillery is always worthwhile; it's a bit of a shame that the whisky itself comes across as less a revelation so much as a reminder of a frankly better working distillery. Just the same, this is a pleasant, easy-to-like drop of whisky...but not worthy anything close to the collector pricing it apparently goes for.

Friday Night tasting. A pull from the backlog pulls this rarity. Throw on some Westworld and sit back and enjoy. The initial draw on the nose is lightly sherried and reminiscent of Dalmore. As it opens , the sherry influence becomes more concentrated drawing baking spices of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon with some currants. There is a gentle sweetness of brown sugar or maple syrup (the real stuff) vanilla, Red Delicious apples and milk chocolate that mingles perfectly with the baking spices. The aramatic blend just continues to concentrate over time. I almost do not want to sip as the aromas are quite pleasing. The palate does not quite get the same attention as the nose. The body is on the thin side with a light sweetness of toffee, vanilla and a drizzle of honey. The sweetness does last long, however, and gives way to a cinnamon spiciness with a almond and pecan nuttiness. Upon the finish, a touch of oak comes in starting the finish. The oak dries the palate leaving trace amounts of caramel sweetness and nuttiness. The nose is deceiving in that the richness of that nose does not carry through to the palate or finish. One of the best noses I have encountered. As @Generously_Paul has mentioned that the distiller is defunct, I feel privileged to have at least experienced the virtually extinct scotch. Many thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine in provide this sample. [86/100][Tasted: 6/29/18]

On the nose, I got nectarines, tea, tannin, sulfur, apricots, and peaches. The palate is awesome with dark chocolate, raisins, figs, more sulfuric tones, and toffee. The finish is nice and long with more deep fudge notes, but a little dry. I enjoyed it, but is it worth $400? Oh my, not sure, maybe 200+. Thanks so much @PBMichiganWolverine for the opportunity to even try this. The theme of this dram needs to involve expense, so I am thinking "Moneytalks" by AC/DC. A nice 3.75!

Stop number 83 on the SDT is Pittyvaich. This is my first review of a distillery that is currently closed (and I do not believe this one is slated for a comeback). Pittyvaich was a Diageo owned Speyside distillery and this 12 year old was part of the Flora and Fauna series. Bottled at 43%, chill filtered and has colorant added making it a mahogany color. At first the nose is fairly closed off with some light minty sherry notes. Some sweet cinnamon, a touch of clove and some raisins. After some time the nose really comes to life. Strong maple/coffee/roasted malt notes come bursting forward. A sort of bourbon-esque note emerges, or maybe a sort of Canadian profile. Toffee, burnt sugar. A strange brown sugar/bubblegum combo. Mixed nuts, red apple skins and a little bit of an herbal note. It’s really all over the place, but really quite good. The palate is...well it’s different. Honestly my first thought was “Is this a scotch or a flavorful Canadian whisky?” It really has that distinctive Canadian profile. Butterscotch, caramel and toffee. A little cinnamon, coffee and a strong nutty taste- pecans and walnuts. Raisins and dates. Very rich, but not in a sweet way. A light to medium light bodied mouthfeel, dry but mouth coating. The finish is medium short with a coffee/chocolate malt, caramel, butterscotch and walnuts. Thoughts...well it’s different, that’s for sure. I could easily believe this is a sherry matured Canadian whisky, which makes it difficult to score. The price of this bottle was ridiculously high due to the fact that it’s a closed distillery. I believe @PBMichiganWolverine paid $420 for it. So we’ll just go ahead and take that out of the equation. I’ll say it’s a 3.5 but give it a bump up to 3.75 because of the rarity and very unique nature it presented. Round up to 4 because it’s really closer to a 4 than a 3. Cheers

This is one of my offerings for round 6 in our SDT tour. These closed distilleries are always interesting. One part of me wonders if they closed because their product wasn’t up to par in the market, or was it just bad strategy and product management which becomes accentuated when popular taste loses favor because of competition, too narrow a focus, or pricing ( think Blockbuster, Gogurt, Sears, Border’s). Nowadays, there’s a hyperinflated price tags on merely decent malts like this, or just plain silly laughable prices on really good malts like Broras. This one here is merely decent. Current price tag of $450 decent ? No. (Thankfully I bought this years ago for much less). It’s pretty singular and one dimensional in tatste...loads of waxy honey. Not bad, really an experience in having a closed distillery who’s bottles are getting harder and harder to find...but, not at $450. ( also,,,I spelled the title wrong when requesting this...should be Pittyvaich, not Piityvaich.)