Pulteney distillery was established in 1826 in the then-booming herring port of Wick, Caithness, by James Henderson. The town was, at the time, one of the busiest fishing harbours in Europe, and the distillery took its name from Sir William Pulteney, the director of the British Fisheries Society who had planned the settlement.
The 30 Year Old sits near the top of the core range and reflects the long, slow maturation that the cool Caithness climate encourages. Bottled at 44% without chill filtration in the modern editions, it presents the waxy, maritime character for which Old Pulteney has become known, softened and deepened by three decades in cask.
On the nose there is beeswax polish, candied lemon and old library oak. The palate offers honey, marmalade and toasted nuts, with the saline thread that has earned the distillery its Maritime Malt epithet. The finish is long and dry, fading through citrus oils and seasoned oak.
Pulteney's distinctive flat-topped stills, the tops having been cut off to fit the low still house, are often cited as a contributor to the heavy, oily new-make spirit that ages so patiently here. At thirty years, the balance between that oil and the cask is carefully judged. A dignified expression from a distillery whose history is inseparable from Wick itself.
