Old Pulteney was founded in 1826 by James Henderson and names after Sir William Pulteney. Currently owned by Inver House Distillers, which is itself a subsidiary of international beverage company ThaiBev. As such, Old Pulteney is under the same umbrella as the Balblair, Balmenach, Knockdhu and Speyburn distilleries. The distillery has the capacity to produce up to a million liters of spirit a year and almost all of that seems to go into their single malts, a majority of which are still age statements today. They had a foray into more No Age Statement (NAS) offerings years ago that did not make the impact they hoped, so the brand relaunched with age statements again a priority. The Old Pulteney 15 is double matured, though no further details are given to indicate if it is a true blending of fully-matured single malts or more a case of finishing without calling it such.
Old Pulteney 12 Year
Wick is a town by the sea, and Old Pulteney is a distillery in and of the town, nicknamed The Maritime Malt. Built in 1826, Old Pulteney uses a Porteus mill that is a century old to process the barley used in distillation. Named after the Pulteneytown district of Wick, the distillery is one of the most northern on the mainland. After almost 200 years of near-constant operation, albeit closed temporarily during times of war or temperance, the distillery currently produces 900,000 liters of whisky a year. The flare near the top of the bottle is meant to evoke a copper pot still. The Old Pulteney 12 year is the definitive offering in their core portfolio and is aged exclusively in ex-bourbon casks.
Glenmorangie 13 Year Cognac Finish
Glenmorangie was founded in 1843 and has gone through numerous permutations over time. Boasting the tallest stills in Scotland, they produce 6.5 million liters of single malt whisky a year fed from the nearby Tarlogie Springs. For the past few decades, Glenmorangie has also been one of the best selling single malts in Scotland itself and expanded into the luxury international market, driven by cask finishing started in the 1980s. This history of cask management is evident in the “Barrel Select Release” Series, where this Glenmorangie 13 Year Cognac Finish was released in 2021. A little different than many finishes that occur at the very end of maturation (hence the term “finishing”), the initial maturation in ex-bourbon casks lasted 8 years before being transferred to ex-Cognac casks that had been used already several times for the remaining years.