Old Pulteney tasting event, Sydney, February 26, 2020, Whisky #3 Nose: A very maritime nose – brine, minerality, flinty rocks, yeasty bread. Toffee and cocoa, light fruitcake and mild spice. Some spirity notes. Palate: Full spicy/sweet entry with a foundation of dry brine and tannin. Sourdough bread, dark-chocolate dipped candied orange peel, green apple peel and salt-water taffy as it unfolds. Water greatly improved the palate for me, adding considerable balancing sweetness and an impressive density to the texture, but still retaining the fundamentally dry character. Finish: Medium. Very dry, briny and earthy finish with a touch of orange marmalade. The nose is reminiscent of the 12 year old expression but with greater heft – richer, rounder, sweeter, etc. – but it has formidable dry quality. Very much the 12 year old's big brother. For a 15 year old this is very spirit driven and on the palate the dryness really becomes apparent with the brine notes turning astringent and acerbic in the finish. This is being marketed (and priced) as more-or-less the replacement for the old 17 year expression, but in my view it’s nothing at all like it, and nowhere near as good (the 18 year is much more the replacement, but it also falls short). Still, it should be judged on its own merits and not in comparison. This has received restrained sherry treatment, spending 13 1/2 years in ex-bourbon and then 1 1/2 years in ex-sherry (both first fill). The brand rep at the tasting let drop that they source the sherry casks from the same bodega as Glenfarclas, which means they are ex-oloroso from Bodegas José y Miguel Martin. The bourbon casks are a variety, but Buffalo Trace feature. A good expression, but at the price not fantastic value. Some folks at the tasting event liked this a lot but while I enjoyed it, it left me just little cold and I’d not buy a bottle. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)