Whisky : Old Pulteney 11 Year SMWS 52.25 “A morning at the beach”

Distillery : Old Pulteney

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 60.3%

Cask : Refill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead

Age : 11 Years (Distilled 21 March 2007)

Nose : Intensely maritime on the nose— raw oysters or mussels on a grill.  Wet, almost mossy, sand along a funky water logged old pier.  It is the wet smell of the ocean before a storm— that heady warm salt air mixing with cool fresh moisture.

Palate :  Brine laden sea water and the salty treasures of the ocean: sandy clams, drift wood, ‘opihi, and sea asparagus.  Fresh oysters with a squeeze of lemon and all the weeds in the sea— dried kelp, limu, and ogo are each slightly herbal with an intense brine.  Lovely oil on the body, almost like fish oil, or the pop of salty oily liquid from ikura (salmon roe).  I cannot verify this last note from personal experience, but another taster described it as a “dirty sea otter” after which there were many nodding heads and affirmative grunts.

Finish : Long and lingering the finish is all mussels and citrusy lemon with some faint wood spice.

Score : 6

Mental Image : “Dirty Sea Otter”

Something Similar : Douglas Laing’s Rock Oyster 18 Year (similar salty maritime/kelp, less intense, more citrus)

Something Similar : Ledaig 11 Year, The Exclusive Malts (similar driftwood, more cheese funk)

Something Worse : Jura Superstition (similar brine/fish, less body, sweeter)

Notes : I love a good coastal, full flavored, heady maritime dram, the more the better— even a glass of briney sea water is not quite maritime enough for me.  I never expected to run in to a dram that had too much maritime influence.  This Old Pulteney may have crossed the line.

It has amazing an amazing oceanic quality— gushing sea food and oil just cover the palate and the salty brine has me licking my lips.  Yet, for all the richness and deliciousness of its maritime profile, the dram really only hits one note and hits it hard over and over.  It needs something else to cut through some of the sea water— a heavier peat, another layer of cask influence, something citrusy to lighten the palate.  

The tasting table settled into a debate over this dram— was it the taste of a dirty sea otter or the smell of Aquaman?  Or, maybe that is the same thing?