Old Pulteney 12 Year Old

This is

Old Pulteney 12 Year Old NIS 199 (Aleph Aleph Piup)



The price is comparable to London.

This Northern Highland Single Malt Whisky was matured in 100% American Ex-Bourbon casks and is Star-K approved..




For many decades this distillery used to be the most northerly in mainland Scotland but now there is a new distillery just opened up on the North East Coast called Wolfeburn which now has this distinction. Wick is a fishing village just north of Brora (Clynelish distillery) on the North East coast of mainland Scotland. From Inverness, the roads are narrow and slow and the signposts in Gaelic but well worth a trip up the North East Coast..

For those who enjoy the Island whiskies like Ledaig, Caol Ila and Highland Park, this will be a pleasant experience. Slightly more delicate than the robust Islands malts, it still has a definite coastal briny, lightly peated smell and flavour. Upon tasting you get a lovely grouping of tropical fruits. Mangoes, pineapples, bananas and yes, some fresh chewy coconut. Adding a touch of water increases the variety of tastes.That coastal saltiness re-establishes itself like refreshing salty rich barley water with a hint of honey and tropical fruit juice. The amazing complexity of flavours will surprise many considering how relatively young this whisky is and just shows the very high quality casks they are using at Pulteney. This wonderfully matured 12 YO whisky puts some other's 15/16/18 year olds to shame!

This Pulteney used to be between 250 and 300 shekels but has seen a dramatic price drop. Highly recommended and at a great price!



My only criticism is that ghastly artificial orangey colour indicating overuse of E150a caramel colouring. They should be reminded that they are producing fine single malt whisky and not marmalade! Why oh why do they feel they have to use this food colouring? The natural colour for a whisky matured in good quality ex-Bourbon casks is a lovely pale yellow.

Like this:

Old Pulteney "Noss Head" (NAS)


Just compare the colour of the 12 Year Old to this lovely "Noss Head" bottle!

It states on the front of the "Noss Head" canister that it is matured in Ex-Bourbon casks, (being one of a series of special No Age Statement - Duty Free editions). Kol HaKavod to them as it also states on the canister (right at the bottom), "Non-Chilled-Filtered, Natural Colour". Now, why can't they do this for all their whiskies? Why do they think that the artificial Marmalade Orange colour of E150a is more attractive than this lovely golden yellow colour?

Why no Age Statement?

What I find really strange about the "Noss Head" is that being that Pulteney are being so upfront and  informative regarding the types of casks used, not adding colour and no chill filtering the whisky, why don't they state how old the youngest whisky in the blend is for "Noss Head"?

We all realise that it's young spirit but that doesn't matter seeing as the casks they have used have obviously come from very high quality fresh wood imbuing and infusing into the spirit delicious flavours of honey vanilla spices and freshly grated coconut with a slight hint of briny peat. They should not be ashamed to state that it's, well, perhaps 5 or 6 years old (I'd guess)!

At the very least, if they do not wish to state this outright, why not somewhere at the bottom of he bottle state something like "Distilled in 2009,  Bottled in 2014" so that those who want to know, can!