Old Pulteney 25 & 1983 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Old Pulteney redid their range a little while ago and because I’m not a professional whisky blogger, plus lazy, I haven’t gotten round to reviewing the new range. Yeah, perhaps more the lazy part…

Anyway, I still haven’t got round to reviewing the new range but I did find time to taste some of the new upper tier versions, namely the new 25yo and the 1983 vintage. I got hold of these at a recent whisky festival in Belgium.

Old Pulteney 25 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Soft and tropical, salty and waxy, mango and oak, orange and grape, subtle grassiness, some green and red apples, some florals. Pleasant nose but not that impressive for OP. After time there is a little flatter note of cardboard.

Taste: Soft and light, orange and then more waxy and oily, more grape, red apple, some ginger and apple juice, a little flat in places, little of the classic OP saltiness.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Goes very soft (save the jokes...), with some malt and a little milk chocolate- praline.

A disappointing Pulteney that wasn't perhaps from the best casks. Much preferred the 17 and 21 to this. Disappointed with the lack of salt and waxiness, especially on the finish. Oh, and where’s the cutting lemon citrus? And the fresh tropical fruits?

72/100

 

Old Pulteney 1983 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Clynelish? Super waxy and oily, freshly cut red and yellow apples, complex oak, sea air, delicate dry honey, beeswax and honeycomb, lovely old complex nose.

Taste: Soft and sweet, honeycomb and apple then very dry, lots of oak, slightly grassy but also quite flat in places, orange, some chocolate and a little malt.

Finish: Short length. Its gone! A bit of orange, some chocolate.

33yo. A nice nose doesn't save this one from being a little mediocre. I would be more than a little disappointed if I’d paid the money for this. Pulteney is such good whisky, as the nose on this suggests, but the taste and finish are just too flat to ignore. And once again, the tropical, citrus, salty, waxy loveliness, at what point did they kill that off?

71/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #756-#757

Whisky Network Reviews #898-#899

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Old Pulteney 12 Cadenhead's Small Batch Review

Hi everyone,

Have you ever wondered what an indie Old Pulteney would taste like?

I have. But never had an opportunity to because there ain’t much of the stuff. Only Gordon & Macpahil and Cadenhead’s seem to have any, and even then its only a little. So I was lucky enough to try this during a recent trip to the Netherlands.

 

Old Pulteney 12 Cadenheads Small Batch 55.8%

Colour: Straw

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Very buttery for OP. Ethanol, dough, lemon, some subtle sea salt and banana, whipped cream, some malt too.

Taste: Soft and very buttery, creamy mouthfeel then drier with oak, banana, dried banana and whipped cream. Banana split-like actually!

Finish: Medium/Long length. Creamy and buttery, a little grape, lemon peel.

Proper natural spirit-driven OP.

75/100

Distillery: Old Pulteney

Average Score: 73.6

Distillery Ranking: 36th/ 61 places

Up/Down: No Movement

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #628

Whisky Network Review #746

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Old Pulteney 2005 G&M Review

Hi everyone,

Some people put distilleries into categories. Highland/Island/Lowland are the most obvious examples, but some use sub-regional groups too like West Coast Highland and East Coast Highland.

It used to make sense because often these distilleries produced similar whiskies (like Islay). But these days, with many distilleries producing unpeated and various peating levels from the same distillery, the lines are shifting and things aren’t as clear cut as they used to be.

Despite that I feel that there are a few distilleries that produce similar styles to each other and it still makes sense to group. Like the South Islay Kildalton distilleries (Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Lagavulin).

Two I probably wouldn’t have thought to put together were Clynelish and Old Pulteney. But apparently, that was a mistake, as this one shows:

 

Old Pulteney 2005 G&M 43%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Light, tropical, mango, pineapple, sea salt, waxy like a Clynelish, so candle wax.

Taste: Soft, quite acidic red apple, orange, waxy and almost sooty. Reminds me much more of a Clynelish than OP. Quite intense for the abv too.

Finish: Short length. Very soft with wax, banana, soot and oak.

An interesting and slightly different OP than the 12 year old official. If you’re looking for your Clynelish fix without breaking the bank though, here’s your whisky.

70/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #521

Whisky Network Review #614

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Old Pulteney 21 Review: TWE Show Report

Hi everyone,

Another one from me today, this time an old timey Highlander. Old Pulteney is known for being good value for money and reviews of the 21yo have been hype-y, but it’s never really seemed to gain the kind of attention of other hyped bottlings. Actually, I find Old Pulteney a bit like Balblair in that it’s all good-great quality stuff but because it’s not a Sherry or peat bomb, no one is going batshit mental over it.

I’ve tried the 12 and 17 before but was really looking forward to trying this step up in the range.

Old Pulteney 21 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Salt, fruit and oak. Lovely balance of flavours. Tropical fruit with pineapple and sweet honey.

Taste: A salty nip to start, then softens with mango, pineapple, more salt then with white pepper from the oak.

Finish: Medium length. A lot more oak, some spice. A bit overly oaky in the finish.

I actually much prefer the 17 year old. This 21 has a lovely nose but the finish is a little too oaky for me.

76/100

Thanks for reading! Think some Tomatin is up next from me.

Review #240

Network Average: 75.9

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Old Pulteney 12 + 17: Reviews

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Hello Everyone,

Inspired by Ralfy's Old Pulteney review I decided to give some Old Pulteney's another try, and what better time than the present. Got the samples lying around anyway.

Let's try the 12 again first.

Old Pulteney 12 40%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Light and fresh. Light malt and barley, a little floral. Flour, white bread, a little vanilla, sour lemon.

Taste: Light and malty. A bit of of flat arrival, a little fruity with mango, floral, light but prickling oak, some salt. Sour going into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. Sour wood with a green note.

68/100

I remember really liking this as a beginner. An easy going malt and good value for money, especially when it's on deal. Falls apart a bit if you add any water though.

Old Pulteney 17 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Quite sweet and waxy. There's some sherry influence here but also juicy tropical fruit- Pineapple, coconut, there's an oaky note too with some faint sea salt. Fruity wine gums, apricot jam, some peach, a faint wisp of wood smoke on a beach.

Water: A strong but floral oak wood note with nutmeg spice. After a little while a sour lime juice and orange peel appear and work very well.

Taste: Lovely, sharp, waxy and salty with fruit all over it. The pineapple is there with very juicy apricot, sea salt and spray. The fruit and the salt are very intermingled. Jam and marmalade, orange, building marine spice with dry oak wood.

Water: A more gradual creamy arrival and a lovely gradual development with wax, salt and mint. A little sour lime juice and orange peel, again working very well.

Finish: Long length. Salty fruit fading with a strong dry oak wood note staying.

79/100

This reaches very good balance with a drop of water and 10 mins in the glass. A very good whisky, look forward to trying the 21yo at some point as well.

Reviews#49-#50

Whisky Score Average: 78.6

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Exquisite