Pulteney 23 yo 1998/2022 (56.6%, Gordon & MacPhail 'Connoisseur's Choice', UK exclusive, cask #17603801, refill bourbon barrel, 243 bottles)
At what number of digits does a cask number cease to be romantic and start to resemble a phone number? Personally speaking, once you hit five figure cask numbers, they start to become a little self-defeating in my view. Colour: straw. Nose: fresh things, like wet bracken, grasses, chalky beach pebbles and mossy bark. A feeling of petrichor, that lovely aroma of forests after rain, and then a rising waxiness which suggests a weighty distillate. Some lovely impressions of putty and various cooking oils. With water: canvass, aspirin, beach pebbles and more mineral vibes. It also retains this nice freshness and sense of greenery. Mouth: rather tense, peppery and nicely sharp upon arrival. I like this feeling of tautness with brittle mineral qualities, a rather impressive saltiness and general feelings of dried flowers, herbal teas and bouillon stock. Looked at in a certain light you might be tempted to think more of its neighbour Clynelish than Pulteney. Excellent bitter citrus notes, like pithy citrus rinds, and still some waxes and a little crystallised honey. With water: excellent! Very textural, mouth-coating and pepper with more bitter citrus notes, waxes and minerals. Finish: good length, still quite salty, peppery and drying. Comments: a rather rugged, unfussy, distillate-driven highland dram. Very much of our preferred style here at WF.
SGP: 462 - 87 points.

Pulteney 13 yo 1967/1980 (46%, Cadenhead 'dumpy')
Are we expecting shoe polish and the contents of an old toolbox? Yes, yes we are. Colour: gold. Nose: it's a sherried one! But one of those old school sherry profiles that's all about coins, soot, waxes, wee briny and salty notes and big wafts of hessian, salted walnuts and bodega funk. I also find a nicely leathery edge and more background notes of marjoram and sandalwood. Mouth: what's funny is that I find it similarly peppery to the 1998, only this is globally much fatter, greasier and more towards toolbox rags, oily sheep wool, herbal cough syrup and sooty and camphory notes. Gets seemingly more punchy with time, gathering these medicinal and peppery notes while retaining this sharp and rather brutal saltiness. It's a powerful profile and one I really enjoy. Finish: long, sharp, on bitter orange marmalade, salty old Amontillado and more camphors, walnuts and earthy black tea. Comments: Lots of typical 'old Cadenhead dumpy' notes going on in this one, but it has something else that seems to come simultaneously from the sherry influence and from the Pulteney distillate itself. Maybe a good quality refill sherry butt at work? Either way, a lovely old bruiser.
SGP: 373 - 89 points.