Old Pulteney 2005 G&M Review

Hi everyone,

Some people put distilleries into categories. Highland/Island/Lowland are the most obvious examples, but some use sub-regional groups too like West Coast Highland and East Coast Highland.

It used to make sense because often these distilleries produced similar whiskies (like Islay). But these days, with many distilleries producing unpeated and various peating levels from the same distillery, the lines are shifting and things aren’t as clear cut as they used to be.

Despite that I feel that there are a few distilleries that produce similar styles to each other and it still makes sense to group. Like the South Islay Kildalton distilleries (Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Lagavulin).

Two I probably wouldn’t have thought to put together were Clynelish and Old Pulteney. But apparently, that was a mistake, as this one shows:

 

Old Pulteney 2005 G&M 43%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Light, tropical, mango, pineapple, sea salt, waxy like a Clynelish, so candle wax.

Taste: Soft, quite acidic red apple, orange, waxy and almost sooty. Reminds me much more of a Clynelish than OP. Quite intense for the abv too.

Finish: Short length. Very soft with wax, banana, soot and oak.

An interesting and slightly different OP than the 12 year old official. If you’re looking for your Clynelish fix without breaking the bank though, here’s your whisky.

70/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #521

Whisky Network Review #614

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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