whisky review 259 - Old Pulteney 17yo

[@mmmcguire1]

Sampling some 17yr OP right now. Compare and contrasted against some other single malts. This one wins hands down. So complex, so flavorful. Just a joy. I am officially spoiled.

[@shuboy05]

My local store once got an independent bottling of either Laphroaig or Lagavulin that had been matured in a rose cask. The only thing I remember vividly about it was the fact the whisky was PINK! Sadly I never bought a bottle to taste but I will always remember the pink whisky.

[@mtpylkka11]

What a review! I don't mean the whisky but the level of information and insight. Exceptional quality!

[@bryanf7899]

picked up a bottle today based on your review and i remembered that my go-to store had a bottle. for enjoyment at a later date. i can't wait!

[@BrothuhV84]

I'm surprised that you didn't mention any tropical fruit notes which were heavily present in my bottle of OP 17. It was a very good whisky but one that I had to be in the mood for. It could be a bit acidic due to the fruity harshness of the whisky. I expected it to be a big tidal wave of flavor when I first tried it. But it really was more of a finely made quilt, with lots of fascinating details in it. This would be a good malt to buy to compare other malts to. IMO. Great Review Ralfy! Cheers!

[@stevenbrown7048]

I just recently tried Old Pulteney for the first time with a limited bottling called WK217 Spectrum. I'm eager to find out how the 17 year old compares, as I greatly enjoyed the WK217. It seemed like the Bunnahabhain 18 could be its cousin, with vaguely similar salty notes. Both are delicious!

[@1keickhoff]

Great review Ralfy! As a developing Scotch drinker (although, I've pulled the cork on my fair share of Irish whiskies), I haven't experienced a "salty" whiskey, but it sounds REALLY interesting... I'm excited to pick up a bottle. Any chance on seeing a review on my favorite Irish dew, Middletons Very Rare in the future?

[@INDYNOIR1]

Great Review! I purchased this a while back on your recommendation. It seems to just get better...really hard to find anything much better. $72 here in the states, if you shop around a bit.

[@cato451]

OP is a great and overlooked distillery...The 21 YO is wonderful too.

[@shuboy05]

Balvenie did a 17 year old whisky that was entirely matured in rum casks. However that one was a limited release from a few years back so it'll be tough to find a bottle.

[@porritt215]

Great form again Ralfy, love your work mate.

[@DavidUKesb]

I tasted this at the 2010 Glasgow Whisky festival and thought is was outstanding.

[@fasterischead]

Excellent review! I've really wanted to grab a bottle of this, but the price has scared me away up until now. The stuff about casks at the end is also helpful. I'd love to see more bottlings of weird casks (virgin wood, wine barrels, etc.) - not weird *finishes*, which tend to be superficial, but long-term casks. Incidentally, have you had any of the Dew of Ben Nevis blends? There's a 21 on sale here for a good price, but I don't know if I should pull the trigger.

[@ponyboymidnight]

Hey Ralfy! Bet you would be a fun neighbor to have in my neighborhood. If you get tired of the cold and damp where you are, visit South Carolina, USA in the early summer!

[@hyperboogie]

Hi Ralfy. Speaking of engineering, I've read somewhere that Highland Park add heather to the peat which helps bring out the floral notes. Is that something other distillers do? What else can be added? Logic dictates that you could add quite a lot of different things to the peat fire to enhance the complexity and flavor... What are your thoughts?

[@BigWhisky27]

Have u tried the navigator? No age statement, but it's craft!

[@Snikkari]

Hi Ralfy, I have access to Old Pulteney 12, 17 and 21 at a importers price, wich is very low. for the last year I have gone through about 3 bottles of each and comparing, stacktasting etc. I find the 17 yo the best, both in value and taste.

[@halbritt]

Just got a bottle of this and tasted it next to the 12. In the US it's more than twice the price of the 12. It was good, non-chill filtered, no caramel, and 46%, all good things. Had a slightly longer finish, but I didn't pick up much additional complexity on the nose. Is my nose broken?

[@jjwill9982]

ralfy...awesome review...been trying to find this whisky for months now...definitely challenging myself

[@scpbm]

Great review, as always. Here in Lisbon (Portugal), Old Pulteney 17 yo is no longer available, would you recommend the 15 yo?

[@manusL]

Amy Douglas has reviewed a Kilchoman so I'm sure it's available in the U.S. Not sure about Virginia though.

[@Silversurfer1052]

Thanks! Nice list to try for the coming months :-) Do you also think Glenfiddich is family owned? (although they are big) And (after this I stop asking ;-) do you know if there is a list of distillers with the owners behind it? (now I'm looking the brands up in wikipedia)

[@herewego183]

Love your reviews Ralfy

[@golfguy777]

Hi Ralfy, any wine cask or rum matured whiskies you could think of recommending? By the way, I tried the Old Pulteney 17 year old at a whisky festival and thought it was delicious.

[@c0ven666zupa]

and one more qustion,..... can you Ralfy make one whiskyrev about adding water to whisky ? When and what happens when you add too much wather ? Oil taste ? lack of flawors ?

[@rikosimmo]

Ralfy, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the 2012 whisky of the year the Old Pulteney 21 year old. Is it worth saving for? Or is this 17 year old the better option? If price were no obstacle which of the two would you choose?

[@lawlbob]

Ralfy, I'm wondering.. Have you tried and/or reviewed any of the single malts by Glenturret? Had a try when I visited Scotland a few years back, but can't seem to find anything here in Norway.

[@SingleServingJohn]

Speaking of single malt blend remaining a single malt, when will we see a BankRowBurn review?

[@FMichael1970]

Tried this malt a few days ago before I watched this review...At the time I could smell/taste what I consider to be a healthy dose of sherry...I found it to be an enjoyable malt, but I still prefer it's younger brother the 12 yr expression (as my journey through the world of whisky continues I find myself not caring for anything sherry-related).

[@gerhardfrog]

Hi Ralfy. I've noticed that Old Pulteney 12yo has slightly more salty note when compared to the 17yo. Could you explain why you think this is? The way I understand it is that the whisky gets its salty maritime quality from being matured by the ocean, and absorbing the oceanic saltiness as the casks breath. Wouldn't it then follow that the 17yo would be more salty than the 12yo, or am I getting it all wrong?

[@thewhiskybothy]

spirit character from the stills. As the malt ages the salty-bit receeds in flavour due to cask influence.

[@gerhardfrog]

***** Ah... so the salty character of Old Pulteney (and I'm guessing other salty whiskies like anCnoc) is from the stills, not from the cask maturation. I'm glad I'm asking silly questions like these. Good to know!

[@hess6wi]

Gerhard Cruywagen Could be in the wort?

[@MrKinaidos]

Hordeins, the glycoproteins responsible for gluten intolerance for barley, isn't found in whisy. Distillation only carries fairly small bits of proteins over in the spirit, and Hordeins are far to large. You could possibly find trace amounts in a whisky colored with e150a produced from malt syrup.

[@Themilkmanskid.]

Could you do a review on Old Pulteney 18 Ralfy please? I've tried it already and it is great, although doesn't say non-filtered or natural color on the bottle or the box.

[@dsa2006]

thanks for the review! it's time to pick some of this up!

[@doull1]

Hi Ralfy; I've just got a hold of this single malt in Australia but there is no mention of "no chill filtered". Does it mean things have changed for the Old Pultney 17 since you reviewed it?

[@MrAndrewdamon]

@manusL thank you! i'll keep my eyes peeled

[@hess6wi]

Had this in the pub - one of the few occasions where I think Ralfy has significantly undermarked a whisky. This is a 94 for me, it is a truly great whisky. Then again I got no heat in the finish and the floral notes exploded.

[@alaricdayton7958]

i dont mean to be so off topic but does anybody know of a method to log back into an instagram account? I stupidly lost my account password. I appreciate any help you can offer me.

[@bodelian2742]

@Alaric Dayton instablaster =)

[@alaricdayton7958]

@Bode Lian thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@alaricdayton7958]

@Bode Lian it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much you really help me out!

[@bodelian2742]

@Alaric Dayton No problem =)

[@Wayfarer8]

Hello, Ralfy, could You make a review to a Glen Grant 16? I think, it's an excellent whisky to talk about.

[@johnburns2485]

Tried the 21, it was amazing.

[@MrAndrewdamon]

Hi Ralfy, Do you know if Kilchoman is available in the U.S.?; because I've yet to see it in Virginia's liquor stores. Bottled at 46%, non-chill filtered and no caramel e150, must be good !

[@nickwoodward1511]

Getting to know the 17...love the 15...not convinced about the 12...its ok but I wont buy it regularly.Great....(long time ago now ) review.

[@GethinJames]

Excellent review!!

[@karadordarkraven]

Love the whisky(and the Dalek)

[@schlml]

You may have adressed this question before, but would you review the 21 year as well?

[@c0ven666zupa]

old (>18yr old) single malts are overpriced but good old blend is better option ? i have one ben navis and the smell and taste is 10 times beeter then any common blend. What to choose ralfy ? i have few whisky in my basemant and gonna visit my friend who is really intrested in some whisky but he is total newbie so i have green jw, 18yr chivas, ben navis, Glen Ardoch (single malt for hipermarkets.... rubbish imo...) Glenmorangie 10yr. i can take 2 of em and buy one more....

[@Silversurfer1052]

Hi Ralfy, Big fan of you! Thanks for getting me to love whiskey! I have a question; Do you know which whiskey brands are 'small' and independent? I see a lot of brands belong to big companies like Diageo, Thai Beverages, The Edrington Group, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, etc. Are there no family owned 'houses'?

[@EpigeneticAlteration]

I enjoyed today's Malt Moment! :)

[@laudrupli]

Hi Ralfy, you probably get asked this quite often. How many open bottles do you have at a given time? On average, how long does it take for you to empty a bottle?

[@raiman]

I can't find these anywhere in the states.

[@falcon048]

I am in agreement with c0ven666zupa, I too would like a more in-depth look at what water does to the whisk(e)y. I can sometimes see some type of action (little waves in the whisky running around) when I add water, but there has never been a good explanation other than the bonded flavor particles split up creating new flavor particles.

[@vigil12348]

Hi Ralfy. I can understand why some distillers dilute whisky to lower the strength - they add water in order to increase the volume and sell more bottles from the same source material that gets out of the cask. But WHY are they chill filtering? You said and I've tasted that non chill fill whiskies are more flavorsome and rich. So the distrillers are not gaining money out of chill filtering the whiskies - they are wasting money on the process. Why do they do that?

[@lokikoone]

Thanks ralfy!

[@danieloconnell4225]

This stuff is $138, here in Canada... I do love the 12 and very much respect how the distillery does things, but... ye gods, the 17 is pricey. This is one of the times that I miss living in Glasgow.

[@moristar]

Could I assume, that they are removing toxic stuff (oils) from spirit? I know, that this is very common method of clearing moonshine spirit, like home made vodka etc. You don't need it, when distillation was careful and slow, but with fast distillation in inproporiate environments without separating heads and tails - it could be really poisonous, although that toxis oils are also the ones which actually carrying taste, so balance needed.

[@MaciekP2]

Really? I have just bought 21 after two botles of very good 17 and i feel that 21 has more to offer...superb stuff!

[@skiwabasis]

this is such a good one

[@Tylervrooman]

91... thats about the price of that bottle!! i want to buy it.... someday...

[@lawlbob]

Long live Mustasch, a great band!

[@Tylervrooman]

10 4 on that.... thank you ralf....

[@slugu]

Hi Ralfy, long time viewer, first time asker here: In every review you have your cheat sheet ready for the nose and taste of the whisky in question. So why is it that you sniff and sip every whisky nonetheless?

[@skillet4068]

A little pricey here in the USA ($85) but the 12 year old can be had for less than $30. Not sure if the extra 5 years is worth an add'l $55.

[@FatCandyProduction]

+Skill et Same in the Netherlands. 26 for the 12y/o and 79 for the 17 y/o I'd up it one and go for 21 y/o at 99. Worth it more compared to the 17 O:

[@fasterischead]

Not much hope of finding any independently-owned releases in a control state, I'm afraid, and Virginia's in the middle of a whole cluster of them. If you're willing to make a road trip, call around to stores in DC or (on the other end of the state) in Kentucky/Tennessee.

[@CyrusOG666]

I'd like to see Brian Johnson and Ralfy share a whiskey!!!

[@AaronBenjBrown]

Hay Ralfy, what happened, I was so happy when it seems you got a new camera, and started doing your reviews in HD, now you seem to have gone back to the old low resolution camera, why? It's the 21st century my friend, I want to be able to see every wrinkle on your face, every subtle nuance of your expressions, and that can only be done in HD. :)

[@slugu]

Uhh thanks "ralfy", didn't really know you had a new youtube account..

[@123pagan123]

dont you recond that the extra money for an 21 year old is worth the money?

[@PR54GB]

I bought three bottles at Mackro in Poole Dorset for £19 plus vat each in a discontinued line, I think I might just have bagged a bargain.

[@get953]

Usually about £60

[@Polyfusia]

You mentioned in a comment response earlier that you had not tried Singleton Of Glendullan. Here's my recommendation to avoid this one. Not terrible, but not worth reviewing. Try some from a friends bottle and save the money you'd spend trying a whole bottle. Cheers.

[@hemptime123]

mouthwash? you realise this is ludicrous correct?

[@keithpetersen560]

Are you drinking scotch or water. That's way to much water.