Old Pulteney 13 Year (SMWS 52.36 "Shades of Black")

 

This part two of my Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) journey with Old Pulteney - the first bottle, I really didn't care for. This one is filed under their "oily and coastal" category, nicknamed "Shades of Black" (oooooh) and aged for 11 years in ex-bourbon casks, then finished for 2 years in a first-fill ex-PX hogshead. This is similar to the previous bottle, which was categorized as "Sweet, Fruity, and Mellow." In that bottle, I felt the essential character of the Old Pulteney spirit was lost. I am therefore heartened to see this listed as oily, coastal. This is presented at 59.2% (excellent!). Let's explore...

Ardmore 12 Year (SMWS 66.165 "Mesmerizing and Entertaining")

 

I recently joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) - trying to be a bit more adventurous and social in my tasting journey - and this was the bottle I chose as my joining gift. The SMWS has a somewhat idiosyncratic way of labeling their bottles, using a cask code instead of stating the distillery. However, there are multiple websites that "decode" these numbers, which is how I learned that cask code 66 equals Ardmore - my beloved Ardmore. I jumped all over it.

Wolfburn 3 Year

 

Wolfburn is an interesting whisky, as it might be the youngest Scotch you can buy - aged only 3 years in bourbon barrels! It's also the northernmost distillery in mainland Scotland, in Thurso, which is pretty interesting all by itself. 

Laphroaig 10 Year Cask Strength Batch 009

My father donated this bottle, which I have been thinking about for some time now. I've had a bottle of the Cask Strength in the past, and it blew me away - almost literally. I remember huge waves of peat and brine and iodine and ash and seaweed. And after the liquid sat in the glass for a few minutes, a rich rich vanilla, a golden malt, and a thick biscuit flavor. Was my memory accurate? Was I romanticizing this potent, monstrous dram? Let's find out. This is 10 years in bourbon casks, batch 009, bottled at 58.1% ABV. 

Lost Distillery Company: Gerston (Archivist Collection)

I found another great offering from the Lost Distillery Company: the Archivist Collection bottle of their recreation of the distillery of Gerston. Gerston, when it was open, would have been the northernmost Highland distillery - located in Halkirk, it would have been farther even than Old Pulteney or Clynelish. 

Lost Distillery Company: Lossit (Classic Selection)

The Lost Distillery Company (link here) is a company in the vein of Compass Box - premium quality blends of single malt scotch. However, they have a very specific ambition: as their name implies, they attempt to recreate long lost single malts by doing very extensive research and then blending whiskies together to approximate what the original might have been like. 

In the case of Lossit, an Islay distillery that stopped production in 1862 (!), I can't imagine there are any bottles left, so they must have really had their job cut out for them. Their website says they take ten different factors into account - things like ingredients, equipment, production method, location, etc. - when attempting to recreate something like Lossit, so theoretically this bottle uses single malts that draw from the same waters, the same type of barley from the same locations, use the same type of still, etc. 

Caol Ila 12 Year (Second Take)

Here is another one that deserves a second look. When I first discovered Islay whisky, I did the usual triumvirate - Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin - and then branched out in the expected manner - Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman, Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain. 

Of the second set, Caol Ila (Cool EE-lah) was a big winner, and something of a surprise, since I'd only ever heard about it in terms of its mammoth output capacity. 6,500,000 liters!

Laphroaig Select Cask (NAS)

This new offering from Laphroaig has been very hotly debated, both on the internet and in person. When buying this bottle, the clerk even told me that the managers regret ordering it - apparently people pick it up, Google reviews on their phones, and promptly put it back down. It inspires violent opinion. 

Talisker Storm (Second Take)

I recently found another good price on a bottle of Talisker Storm ($40) at a liquor store that's going out of business, and wanted to give the bottle another go after almost three years since I barely remembered what it was like.

Talisker Storm has been generating a lot of negative opinions across the net - virtually everyone agrees it is a fraction of the quality of the standard Ten Year, but often costs the same, or even more. Not a smart marketing plan.

Kilchoman PX Finish Single Cask 2016 (Cask #680)

Here is another big winner from last October's Kilchoman tasting. I bought this the moment I tasted it. Hugely rewarding dram, this is a single cask release (as the bottle declares proudly in blood red font) finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. Pedro Ximenez is a very very sweet grape, and results in a extremely sweet sherry. A better explanation than I could provide is found in this review of the same cask release. 

Old Pulteney 12 Year

No one seems to agree about Old Pulteney! It's well-known now that Jim Murray praised this distillery to the skies, and he rated the 21 year expression as best world whiskey in 2012, but every review I read seems different from the last. Some say cinnamon forward, some say salt for days, some say banana, some say none of the above.

Old Pulteney hails from Wick, Scotland - making it a Highland, from the northernmost mainland distillery, as far as I can tell.