Review by: TOModera

Yay! Community review time! I was quite excited to try out the Old Pulteney 12, as enough reviews have pass me by without the bottle being available. Good news everyone! My local bar had a bottle!

---

Distillery: Old Pultney Distillery.

Bottler: Distillery Bottling

Region: Highland

ABV: 40%

Age: 12 years.

Cask type: Ex-bourbon casks

Price: N/A

Color: Champagne

---

Nose: Salt air, Mr. Clean lemon, sweet floral, basil, Saki, thyme, eucalyptus

Okay, there is a harsh artificial lemon at first that just erupts from this dram. It eventually relaxes into a salty, floral, vegetal smell, which is nice, though that ugly fake lemon smell sticks around like a mouse covered in Old Dutch.

Taste: Lemon, thyme, celery root, potato, banana, coffee, pepper

Fascinating taste on this one. It’s mostly lemon, though there’s more of that vegetal/earthy mix and some sweetness. Somewhat dry.

Finish: Sour cream, vitamin C caplets, mushrooms, rapini, cocoa, cilantro.

Can I take back all my jokes about bitterness on Glenfiddich 12? Because this finish is roughly bitter. It’s really killing this for me. It calms after a bit, though it’s always there. At least it’s short.

---

Conclusion: Well… this isn’t really for me. It’s bitter, it’s dry, and it needs a bit more sweetness on the finish. The bitterness is an earthy, vegetal bitterness, which is somewhat rough. The flavour is nice, and I may have to revisit this in the future. I wouldn’t turn it down, though I don’t think I’ll be searching out a bottle of this in the future.

Final Score: 72.

---

Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.