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.
Wick is/was a fishing village, and thus there is an imputed maritime quality. There are many different expressions, but today I'm just exploring the basic 12-year, which I picked up at the fabulous Arrowine Spirits in Washington DC.

Aged in ex-bourbon barrels, colored with caramel coloring, Old Pulteney 12 comes in a very attractive bottle that mimics the still they use (the original building didn't have the height for the swan neck), and is bottled at 40%.

Nose: This reminds me so strongly of Talisker 10: honeyed apple, salt, dark cherries or grapes, salt, an indefinable mineral quality, apple peel. Wine and brine. Very enticing. 

Mouthfeel: Silky, on the thinner side. 

Palate: There is a solid base of rock salt over which all other flavors float: fresh biscuits, shortbread cookies, red fruit (grapes? cherries?), more apple flesh, seaweed, maybe a very small hint of banana. With a bit of water, a hint of very faint smoke arises and lingers with the saltiness. 

Exceptionally smooth, reminds me of Hibiki - endlessly, dangerously drinkable. Fantastic flavors.  May not be ideally balanced, or overly complex - I expect the 17-year expression to help cure that, as well as the older bottles - but what it does, it does very well. 

Finish: Quite brief, but also quite pleasant. Lemon candy, light white pepper, and wonderful oak wood, in that order, every time. Really smooth finish, and really invites another dram. This is balanced perfectly. 

Verdict: This is really an exceptional Scotch for the price. I am in Jim Murray's camp as to Old Pulteney. For the 12-year I get a strong salty briny core with a lot of faceted sweetness (if simple) with interesting angles of toast-or-cookies malt on top. Every aspect works. I really love the saltiness - to me, it's nearing a salt bomb, though I know others don't think so. The finish is particularly inviting, with such a nice combination of sugared lemon, pepper, and rich oak. Great stuff. 

I can see some of the reasons people diverge on Old Pulteney: it has a rich salt/brine, but not as much as Talisker or many of the Islays. It has fruit, but it's not a sherry bomb. It has honey/bread flavors, but it's not a thick biscuit. It has pepper and oak on the finish, but it doesn't sting the tongue. This still reminds me very much of the Hibiki blend, except in a more maritime-oriented single-malt version. In the $40-50 range, it's well worth a look. In my book, far beyond the standard Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Macallan, Bowmore fare you find in the ~$40 arena.