Old Pulteney 15 YO, Whisky for the Herring Boom

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Old Pulteney 18 and then comparing the Old Pulteney 15-    • Old Pulteney 18 versus the Old Pulteney 15  
Wolfburn Ten Oloroso Cask-    • Wolfburn 10 - Oloroso Cask  
Old Pulteney 15, 'The Smugglers Kettle'-    • Old Pulteney 15, 'The Smugglers Kettle'  
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Robert Louis Stevenson described the beauty of the herring fleet sailing forth from harbor of Pultneytown, now part of Wick, Scotland, "A strange and beautiful sight to see the fleet put silently out against a rising moon, the sea-line rough as a wood with sails, and ever and again and one after another, a boat flitting swiftly by the silver disk." There was a huge Herring Boom going on at the time of Robert Louis Stevenson's visit and 650 coopers working to make the barrels for the salted herring that would be shipped out of the port to distant places around the world. There were many people employed and there was money to be had so James Henderson, who had illegally distilled some 15 miles away decided to get closer to the money and the dock so he built the distillery as well as legally licensing Old Pulteney. His family continued to run the distillery for nearly a hundred years. This was a stormy, wind swept part of Scotland that was exposed to the North Sea. It also was an isolated community that could only be reached by boat. Until recently when the ghost distillery, Wolfburn was revived, Pulteney Distillery was the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland. In the early eighteen hundreds, both distilleries were employing the herring fisherman when they were not fishing. The less flattering quote from Stevenson was on the the nasty state of Pulteneytown. He mentions "one of the meanest of man’s towns, and situated certainly on the baldest of God’s bays." This was not a picture perfect setting for a harbor and the old industrial look of the distillery was not a post card Strathisla, but it was functional. The fowl drunken behavior of some in the community finally caught up to the town of Wick. The people of Wick voted in prohibition and on the 29th of May 1922, the license to sell alcohol was refused to the grocers and the public houses of Wick. For the following 25 years Wick was a dry town. In 1930 Old Pulteney distillery shutdown and wasn't opened again until 1951. It went through several ownerships including the Canadian Hiram Walker who rebuilt most of the distillery. Old Pulteney was always used in blends until Inver House (now part of InterBev) started to show case their aged Single Malts. Old Pulteney is now widely distributed and marketed so it has now started to gain popularity as well as being respected for it's quality. The strange looking 'Smugglers Kettle' wash still and the worm tubs might have something to do with the unique flavor of this whisky. The aging casks at Old Pulteney absorb the North Sea's winds and the whisky is often referred to as “the Manzanilla of the North”. I will admit that I am a novice to Old Pulteney experience. I will treat this 15 year old as a learning experience. I have only indulged in part of an Old Pulteney twelve year old in which I gave most of that bottle to a friend as a gift. So I have said enough and now it is time for the review. Enjoy. Slàinte Mhath
Please note that the contents of this video are my own personal opinion and perspective.