Old Pulteney 21 Year Old

Old Pulteney 21 Year Old takes Whiskey of the Year in 2012
This is not the "regular" one, but an independent bottler's version.


available online

Gordon & MacPhail Old Pulteney 21 Year Old...$122.99
Refill American Hogsheads




Old Pulteney Takes 2012 World Whisky Crown 
- World Whisky of the Year in the 2012 


The most northerly distillery on mainland Britain and one of the most remote in all Scotland has won the coveted title of World Whisky of the Year in the 2012 edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.


The Pulteney distillery in Wick, Caithness, scored a record-equaling 97.5 points out of 100 for its 21-year-old Old Pulteney single malt. It is only the third time that a single malt has ever won the prestigious award, and just the second Scottish distillery to do so.


This year Jim Murray tasted over 1,200 new whiskies plus many more re-tastes for the latest edition of his best-selling annual whisky guide.


Pulteney distillery, which dates back to 1826, is located in the heart of Wick and is much prized as a blending whisky. It is still relatively unknown as a single malt.


But Mr Murray, who has long admired the Highland malt, hopes that will now change - though he is the first to admit that even he was surprised when he encountered the 21-year-old.


He said: “I was on the home straight after four months of continuous tasting. By that time I was pretty sure I knew what the winner was going to be. With what I still had to taste it needed something exceptional to knock the leader off its perch. But that’s exactly what happened. To be honest, I was amazed. I knew the Old Pulteney 17-year-old was likely to be exceptional, and it was. However, I had never come across a Pulteney 21-year-old like it. Talk about coming out of leftfield…


“I first went to Pulteney nearly 25 years ago and I have never known them to produce anything other than top rate malt. Owned by a relatively small company, without the financial muscle of the major whisky barons to market their malts on the global stage, I hope that this award helps Pulteney to become better known around the world; that is the whole point of my Whisky Bible, after all”.
Jim Murray's WhiskeyBible.com








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