Old Pulteney 38 Year Old 1982 (Cask 861) Private Collection (Gordon & Macphail)

About The Brand: Old Pulteney

In Wick, Caithness, a Highland region of Scotland, the Pulteney Distillery is a malt whisky manufacturing and maturation facility. The distillery includes a tourist center in Huddart Street and makes Old Pulteney single malt whiskey in a variety of ages. Sir William Pulteney, after whom Pulteneytown is called, founded the distillery in 1826. He passed away in 1805. When it was founded, the distillery was the furthest north on the Scottish mainland (Wolfburn Distillery in Thurso has since supplanted it), and it was almost unreachable unless by water. Sea transport was used to bring in the barley and to transport the whiskey. Many distillery employees also worked as fishers. Although Wick's herring fishing business is no longer an integral part of everyday life, the distillery is still in operation and continues to produce one of the best Highland single malts on the market. The whisky's aging in sea air is thought to have given it certain qualities. Following the local parish's enforcement of prohibition laws, the distillery closed in 1930 due to dwindling business. It reopened in 1951 after the vote was overturned and the legislation was repealed. Inver House Distillers presently owns it. Thomas Telford built an ancient mill, which is used at the Pulteney site. Three or four kilometers to the south, a grain mill is said to have been powered by this stream, which emerges from Loch Hempriggs.