Old Pulteney Single Cask 2004 13yo...

Old Pulteney Single Cask 2004 13yo (55.2%): Well, for three days we are mostly staying at home and in the neighborhood and trying to stay as isolated as much as we can like billions of others in the world. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it will get better soon... Maybe I can use a portion of my time at home scribbling some tasting notes together which I admit I was slacking for a while. I have a 13yo Old Pulteney in my glass which was a single cask bottled exclusively for K&L Wine Merchants. It is distilled in 2004 and bottled in 2018 from an ex-bourbon barrel which yielded 242 bottles in total.

Color: Yellow gold, Chardonnay with fast moving but thick and oily legs.

Nose: Cold ocean spray, lemon rind and banana cream pie. Dusty malt husk: The smell you get when you walk into the mill room in a distillery. Cookie dough, salty butter and dried stone fruits. A textbook bourbon barrel aged whisky nose... Adding water calms down the alcohol burn nicely but doesn't add new aromas. Maybe a little sweeter and more fruity and less salty and less mineral now.

Palate: Exactly like I was expecting (hoping): Dry malt, Rich Tea biscuits and sea salt. Wet wool, butter and lemon cookies. Adding even a few drops of water makes it incredibly and also dangerously easy to drink. Reminds me afternoons spent at an outside table of a Scottish pub next to the ocean with a malty ale in one hand a whisky in the other. Peach nectar, salty crackers and blood orange slices. Toasted oak.

Finish: Long with bergamot peel, white pepper and coconut flakes.

Overall: I knew it..! I should have bought more bottles when I had the chance. As you know by now I am a true ex-bourbon aged whisky fanboy and this cask delivers everything I would expect from such a cask. Actually so happy to see that K&L took a chance on a single cask like this in spite of all the hype about overly sherried and/or overly peated whiskies these days. Absolutely amazing whisky... Kudos to K&L Wine Merchants for their choice, this is a stunner.

Price: $110

92/100