Tasting Notes

• Tasting notes by Billy Abbott (The Whisky Exchange)

  Nose: Raisins on the seashore – a briny background as you sniff a freshly opened box. Baked apples wrap around the raisins, with sharp notes balanced by brown-sugar sweetness and Christmas spices. A river of salted caramel flows underneath, dotted with liquorice logs, chocolate limes and salted nuts. Water amplifies the caramel and chocolate notes.

  Palate: Full on and thick with intense dried fruit, toffee and spice, which then calms to reveal chocolate-covered salted caramels, raisin jam, soft liquorice, spiced fruit loaf and the nuttiness from the nose. Water brings out syrupy sweetness with an accompanying layer of dark and rich fruit cake, sandwiching the salty caramel between the two. The whisky can take a good slug of dilution, and as the sweetness fades with water, the fruitiness grows.

  Finish: A flash of sea spray disappears under a wave of prunes, raisins and spice. Liquorice and menthol build behind but fade, replaced by dark mint chocolate.

  Comment: A dark and fruity sherry bomb, with a slice of salty Pulteney character making sure you don't forget where it's from.
  

• Tasting notes from the producer

  Appearance: Dark bronze

  Nose: Hints of butterscotch and toffee are followed by notes of Christmas cake and dried fruit drizzled with honey.

  Palate: A spicy vanilla is followed by dried fruits and a hint of dark chocolate. The finish is long with hints of saltiness; which is signature to Old Pulteney single malt whisky.