Old Pulteney 21 Year

Nose: A seamlessly intertwined bouquet of aromas including stewed fruits, malted barley, strong honey of several types (manuka, leatherwood, redgum), blood oranges, raisins, brine, cinnamon, allspice, leather, aromatic pipe tobacco, red apple, pear and toffee. Threading through all this is a sublime sherry-cask presence. Not just sherry and oak aromas sitting in the background, but a powerful active sherry cask personality. There's also the smell of brown sugar and butter being cooked together in preparation for making butterscotch muffins. Palate: A complex arrival that combines sweet, salt, fruity and honey flavours. A rich, creamy, development as massive malted caramel tones and some precise gingery spice emerge to play with butterscotch and stewed figs on a field of both sweet and dry sherry that is gently seasoned with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Finish: Medium/long. Spicy fruit and honey flavours gently fade into the sunset leaving an aftertaste of slightly drying salt and lingering warm spicy ginger. This is one of my all-time favourite whiskies. It is a fascinatingly rich and characterful dram, but simultaneously comforting and reassuring. It is magnificent right from the moment it is poured, but will continue to open and evolve for ages. Tasting this whisky is like a long, captivating conversation with one of your childhood heroes who, once you meet them, actually exceeds your expectations. The nose is textbook. There's no other word for it. This is the nose to emulate if you want to create a great unpeated whisky. The palate is huge and very rewarding with a majestic texture, and the finish is the perfect dignified finale to the proceedings. The whole experience makes you fall back in your chair with a contented groan of "oh, yes". This is a desert island dram and it is, quite simply, perfection and I was gutted when I heard last year that it was being withdrawn. I'd recommend tasting it neat, or with the addition of just 2 drops of water, but however you take it, don't rush the experience. This wonderful malt demands time and respect, and will repay the effort many times over. Diluting this with sparkling water, soft drinks or ice is forbidden. The universe will punish those who transgress. This re-review is based on the last drams of my last bottle. Tomorrow some mates are coming over to assist me in polishing off the remainder. Auld lang syne. "Outstanding" : 91/100 (5 stars)

Old Pulteney 12 was one first single malts I came upon in my whisky journey and have been a top favorite of mine. Well, tonight was a good night for a pour as I am able to take my time in my solitude and really delve in. The 17 and 21 I have briefly tasted at Whiskyfest 2017. Since then I needed to have these for my own. Best of that 2017 night, for me, was this 21 year old. The pour is a light golden amber color. The nose begins as tropical-fruity, dark chocolate. Slowly as is opens, the briny maritime notes merge into the tropical fruits. Orange creamsicle bursts open and wonderfully dominates. It does weaken and the dance of aromas start to work together. Saw dust, vanilla custard, oatmeal raisin bread, honey and lemon hold the aroma line. The collective aromas are all soft, rounded and gentle. First entry on the palate is ginger root prickly. After acclimation, the palate can begin to detect the flavors. Oranges, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, wood char provide the vibrant side. But there is a soft, sweet to counter. Butterscotch, golden honey, toasted coconut, dried pineapple and syrupy dates. If you want your dram to be sweeter, taking the prickly nature away, add a small dash of water. The finish is medium-long with the ginger prickle and honey that slowly fade to wood dryness with a pinch of salt. All to a deep and soul warming joy. I am a big fan of Old Pulteney. The 12 has accompanied me on many a beach house vacation. This 21 is one to nurse slowly; savor it all. The parts and the whole. A wonderful sipper that would be perfect for a beach sunset or by a warming winter fire. I was able to snag two bottles. One for enjoying now and another for some future unknown purposeful sharing. I am glad I am able to currently enjoy as, alas, this will be soon, if not already, have gone the way of the Dodo. [96/100][$169][Tasted: 2/28/20]

Jim Murray is right: this product is exceptional. A real explosion of everything related to the sea: full and exciting on the nose and on the palate, salty and salty, with a sweet background of honey and spicy spices. Very complex, but extremely balanced, to be meditated for at least half an hour before understanding it: you like it immediately, but its soul is complicated and varied. You can almost talk to it... If you have a flavor you like in mind, you will find it inside, if not at the firstsip, at the second one. And the finish? It remains inside you and conquers you with its length and sweetness, in contrast with its "maritime" origins. Undoubtedly he deserves the highest marks, to try at least once in his life. Impossible not to not have it in the cabinet for a malt lover, it is worth every penny. I would say THE whisky! ____________________________________________________________________________ Ha ragione Jim Murray: questo prodotto è eccezionale. Una vera esplosione di tutto quello che riguarda il mare: al naso ed al palato pieno ed emozionante, salino e salmastro, con sottofondo dolce di miele e piccante di spezie. Molto complesso, ma estremamente bilanciato, da meditare per almeno mezz’ora prima di capirlo: piace da subito, ma la sua anima è complicata e varia. Ci si può quasi parlare. Se si ha in mente un sapore che piace, ce lo si trova dentro se non al primo al secondo sorso. Ed il finale? Ti rimane dentro e ti conquista con la sua lunghezza e dolcezza, in contrasto con le sue origini “marinare”. Merita indubbiamente il massimo dei voti, da provare almeno una volta nella vita. Impossibile da non abere nel cabinet per un amante del malto, vale ogni centesimo che costa. Direi IL whisky!

Got it for a little over $100 last year and finally was able to enjoy it. The sherry influence is quite apparent with bright, fruity flavors. This is very full bodied and has some hidden complexity in it after the initial sip. There's vanilla and rich chocolate, with some cake or bread backbone. There's a woody oak tang that offsets the sweetness by adding an acidic burn. There's an apple or stone fruit sweetness that rolls away from the tangy sherry and develops a fuller berry type dessert with maltiness. There's the sea air saltiness of other OP offerings but a fuller finish than others with a burning ash supplying the only hints of smoke, but very subtle. It's on the sweeter side than most but not a dessert sipper (thankfully). This is very good. Basically, the old OP 12 is great, especially for the price, and the 21 is a ramped up version that offers a more dramatic and sophisticated offering of flavors. Next to any over priced age statement Macallan or similar bottles I'd choose this every time for the same flavor profile. At just over $100 it's well worth it but at the current market prices above $300...is anything? Try this and buy this if you can.

It's as good as they say it is...but it doesn't come on strong. No, the OP 21 sees no need to fling itself at you; this is not a dram desperate to be loved by whoever comes its way. Rather, it displays an almost shy nose - soft, light, creme brulee, baked apple with cinnamon. Once you taste it, though...well, my exact phrase on my tasting sheet is "the Holy Trinity is this good." Maybe I'll go to hell for that (not really), but this is an insanely smooth, well-integrated single malt. The baked apple and cinnamon are there on the palate, with an almost buttery quality, along with the sea breeze and citrus (albeit now orange) that mark Old Pulteney's whiskies. There's even a light, pipe tobacco note to be found - according to head distiller Malcom Waring, it's a result of the water's drainage through a peat bog, as all of their barley is unpeated. I could strive to write out more notes, but at the end of the day, there is an almost mystical quality to this dram that beggars adjectives and descriptions. It simply is an example of what good whisky can be, and it is worth the steep price tag...every cent of it.

Bottled 2017. Time to have two old Old Pulteney’s, 17 and 21, side by side! To unambiguously declare the winner, OP 21 is a special whisky, and OP 17 is not. I commend the OP 17 for its balancing of spirit and cask character. The OP 21 is mostly cask, and it is spectacular. I’m guessing this whisky started its maturation in a bourbon cask, and then spent numerous years in a second maturation in sherry casks. This is bombastically fruity. You get deep notes of berries, citrus, cherries, bananas, kiwis. The malt character is in the background, and it says, “pie.” Berry pie, orange pie, cherry pie, banana pie, kiwi pie. There is a huge fruity and biscuity quality that compares favorably with Redbreast 21. The finish is again fruit pie, but also fairly woody and spicy. I am sad I only ever purchased one bottle of this, and I can no longer find it on shelves. Score: * (unforgettably good) How much does a bottle cost: Secondary market pricing is probably around $200-$300 right now. I don’t see these on shelves any more. How much do I think a bottle is worth: $200