Whisky Posts & Articles

Pulteney Distillery

When you think of the great coastal distilleries that play on their maritime location, the usual suspects typically include the likes of Talisker, Lagavulin, Bunnahabhain, even Highland Park.   One distillery that particularly plays on its maritime theme somehow manages to continue sailing under the radar:  Pulteney Distillery.   It’s well known to those who know it well.

Pulteney is located in the town of Wick, right up in the north-east corner of Scotland’s mainland – in fact, John O’Groats is just a further 22km north.  Wick was a major herring port in the 19th century and Pulteney Distillery was established in 1826 to cash in on the thousands of sailors, fishermen, and associated trades that descended on the town each season.  (At its peak, the town played host to over 500 coopers who worked feverishly to produce the barrels for the herring’s storage and transportation.)   The distillery experienced mixed fortunes and changes in ownership, particularly once the herring had been fished out and the industry died away.  It is one of the few Scottish distilleries to suffer the ignominy of being closed due to the temperance movement – Wick was a “dry town” from 1922 until 1947 and the distillery was closed from 1926 until 1951.

Old Pulteney Distillery - production buildings
Pulteney’s production buildings

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Joadja Distillery

The news and noise associated with the explosion and proliferation of new Australian distilleries popping up everywhere tends to focus on Tasmania.   New distilleries on the mainland probably feel they have to make a bit more noise for their heads to be noticed above the parapet.  (I say “new” distilleries but, of course, by the time most consumers hear about or experience the product from a new distillery, the venture has been up and running for at least a couple of years).  Which makes it all the more impressive and endearing when a distillery just quietly goes about its business and lets others do the talking for them.  Joadja is one such distillery.

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Six historical whiskies you MUST try

You’ve probably been at a whisky event amongst a bunch of people and you were tasting a whisky from a particular distillery when someone near you remarked, “Ah, it’s not as good as it used to be…their whisky was so much better 20 years ago!”   Or words to that effect.   It’s a sentiment I’ve heard a lot lately.  Mostly because I’m the old fart repeatedly saying it.  We all look back on the rare and special whiskies we’ve tried in the past, and it’s hard not to wish that current incarnations were the same.

But I know I’m not alone – it’s an observation shared by many, and particularly amongst some of the pals I’ve been dramming with for 15-20 years.   We’re often accused of wearing rose-coloured glasses or getting caught up in sepia-toned memories.   That being said, we can be objective about this, and you should perhaps read our feature article, Is whisky better or worse today than it was 20 years ago?

To be clear, I’m not referring to all whisky per se … it would be folly and a blatant mistruth to suggest all whisky was generally better in the past.  However, there are some distilleries that, on the whole, are releasing whiskies today that are a far cry from the bottlings they released in years gone by.  I hesitate to suggest that their quality has gone downhill, since quality or flavour preference can be a subjective thing.

But, having said that, if you’ve been enjoying single malt whisky for over 20 years, there are a few benchmark drams that some of us hang our hats on.  You may have heard of these drams in the past and wondered what all the fuss is about?  Why are they so revered?

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Age is just a number: The truth about young whisky

You’ve probably heard the saying, “You’re only as old as you feel.”   It’s often accompanied by its well-worn colleague, “Age is just a number”.   And when it comes to whisky, never a truer word was said!

In the context of whisky, your perspective on a bottling’s age is probably a function of when you started drinking the stuff.  If you got into whisky more than 30 years ago, then a whisky’s age statement wasn’t much of a big deal to you.  The vast majority of whisky available and being consumed was blends without age statements, and for the enlightened few who had discovered and preferred single malts, the small number of distilleries available showcased their whiskies with humble age statements typically between 8 to 12 years.

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Investing in whisky or buying a cask? What to look out for…

Are you thinking of investing in whisky? Or buying your own cask? Owning your very own cask of whisky, maybe selling it for profit one day, or just enjoying every drop for yourself sounds like the ultimate indulgence, and it definitely appeals.  When you love whisky this much, owning your cask – or investing in one – is the icing on the cake, yes?  But icing can go off if you’re not careful, and investing in whisky has a lot more traps and pitfalls than the sales brochures make clear at the start…

There’s no denying that there’s a degree of romance involved.  It’s like owning your own little piece of Scotland, not to mention that it affords great bragging rights with your friends down the pub.  And, if you buy a cask when it first gets filled, you also get the enjoyment of watching it mature, and then tasting it at various intervals along its maturation journey – almost like watching your kids grow up!

It all sounds great on the surface, and plenty of people pay for and acquire a cask with the expectation that nothing could possibly go wrong.  After all, what’s the worst that could happen?  In ten years’ time, you’ve got 200-350 bottles of your own whisky to drink, sell, or give away!  But, for many people it seems, this end outcome causes more problems than joys.   “Why? How?” I hear you ask, indignantly.  Let’s explore…

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Distillery a victim of political correctness

Ripples shot across the pond of the Australian distilling industry this week when the PC brigade flexed its outraged muscles and seemingly strong-armed a distillery’s marketing department into an awkward about-face.

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TIB’s Old Kempton Distillery Cask RD0012

There’s been no shortage of chatter about Australian whisky in recent months.  To be fair, Whisky & Wisdom may inadvertently have triggered some of that, courtesy of this article, but if you read the comments and sentiments expressed across the Australian whisky community – particularly on the Facebook groups – there’s an undercurrent of caution about Australian whisky releases and the complex relationship between age, price, provenance, quality, cask-type, bottle size (i.e. 500ml vs 700ml) and availability.  Thank goodness, then, that there are still some positive constants and consistencies that can be relied upon.  I refer, in particular, to TIB – Tasmanian Independent Bottlers – and this was brought home (again) this week whilst tasting one of its latest releases:  Old Kempton Distillery (Redlands Release No. 8, Cask TIB RD0012).

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Glenmorangie Allta

The annual release of the new addition to Glenmorangie’s Private Edition series is always a highlight of the whisky calendar, and 2019 sees the release of Glenmorangie Allta.   This is the 10th anniversary of the Private Edition series and, like all the years and releases before it, Allta doesn’t fail to delight.

The Private Edition series is an opportunity to explore and enjoy Glenmorangie in a new light.  Whilst each annual release is a limited edition that comes and goes, there is certainly fun, interest, and tastebud-pleasure to be derived as the whisky makers play around with Glenmorangie’s DNA.

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Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost & Rare Port Ellen

It wasn’t that long ago that Johnnie Walker had a fairly simple portfolio:  Red Label, Black Label, Green Label, and Blue Label.  Today, each of those labels have their own individual portfolios!  The Blue Label range is no exception, and it was recently expanded this month with the release of the new Ghost & Rare expression tagged as “Port Ellen”.

The Ghost & Rare range, launched last year with what we’ll now call the “Brora” release, is a range of blended whiskies that showcase the closed, silent and lost distilleries in parent company Diageo’s stocks.  Hence the term ghost, referring to distilleries that are no more.  As the names would suggest, last year’s release had the cult whisky Brora in the mix, and this year’s release features the biggie of them all:  Port Ellen.

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Are whisky enthusiasts out of touch?

The 2019 Annual Brands Report by Drinks International has just been released, and it makes for fascinating reading.  For those that consider themselves a whisky connoisseur or, perhaps more accurately, a hardcore enthusiast, it also suggests you’re possibly out of step with what’s happening on the on-premise scene…

When did you realise your fondness for whisky went next level?  At what point did you graduate from being someone who merely liked whisky to someone who was interested in whisky?

Was it the day you went into a bar and ordered a neat single malt rather than a JW & coke?  The day you joined a Facebook whisky group?  Or was it the day you corrected someone for mispronouncing Islay?

Once your relationship with whisky transitions from merely liking to exploring, you join an enlightened group of comrades.  You learn and speak a new language; you make new acquaintances; you form new strong friendships; you grow a collection; and you devour all the information you can about whisky.  And, importantly, for the purposes of this piece, you find yourself part of a very small minority. For it turns out that the rest of the world – even those that like and drink whisky – are marching to the beat of a different drum.  There is a huge disconnect between the priorities and purchasing habits of a whisky enthusiast and the common imbiber.  And this becomes very apparent when you look at what’s going on in the bar scene…

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