Review by: dustbunna

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Distillery: Pulteney.

Bottler: Good Spirits Company.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 55%.

Age: 9 years. Distilled in 2014. Bottled in 2023.

Cask type: Bourbon barrel.

Price: £89 GBP for 700mL.

Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Bottle open across approx. 7 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point.

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Nose: extremely vegetal and funky, a good dollop of water reveals brine, unripe pineapple, pine needles, time reveals baked (ripe) pineapple, raw broccoli, cabbage, minerals, orange candy.

Palate: thick and oily ~ vegetal, earthy, icing sugar, sea salt, moss, more pineapple, minerals, linseed oil, herbs in the background, sauerkraut with pineapple, a Dole fruit cup left out in the sun.

Finish: medium length ~ white pepper, still more pineapple, nutmeg, a lot of salt on the tail end, grass, more minerals.

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Conclusion: Wow, that’s incredibly weird. Worm tub whiskies like Pulteney, at a young age, can show a lot of sulfur—that’s really on display here in the form of various brassica veggies which, combined with the sweeter pineapple side, makes for a tough, funky introduction. At one point while this bottle was open, I learned that there is such a thing as pineapple sauerkraut, and that’s very much what this brings to mind; fermentations of tropical fruit and brassica framed by Pulteney’s typical briny, mineralic signature. It did improve slightly over time, at least it became somewhat more coherent and I understood better what it was trying to do.

It’s hard to score this, because it’s very much a mood whisky, and even when I am in the mood for it, it’s so challenging that I ping-pong between real distaste and being pulled back in by how unique it is in my whisky experience. Every person I’ve shared this with, upon trying, has either made a comment or a face— it is an undeniable attention-getter, even if not necessarily for beauty. The price I paid for it was too much for what I expected (i.e. it’s not really living up to a value standard), but probably was still worth it in hindsight just for the experience.

Final Score: 75 (eventually).

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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.