According to PRNewswire, Old Pulteney Single Malt Whisky is sitting on top of the world after winning World Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray’s 2012 Whisky Bible Awards.
In a class of 1,500 whiskies, Old Pulteney 21-Year-Old scooped the top accolade, along with three other esteemed awards—Scotch Whiskey of the Year, Single Malt (Multiple Casks) of the Year and Single Malt (16-21 Years) of the Year.
Over the past four months, world-renowned whisky connoisseur Murray has nosed and tasted his way through all sorts of whiskies to create his global best-selling ratings guide. He gave Old Pulteney 21-Year-Old a glowing review, commenting that the single malt is “by far and away one of the great whiskies of 2012, absolutely exploding from the glass with vitality, charisma and class.”
“It is an enormous honor to be named Jim Murray’s Whisky of the Year and we are delighted that the Old Pulteney distillery and team have been recognized for passion and depth of expertise in the art of whisky creation,” said Pat Graney, President of International Beverage Holdings USA.
The award celebrates the global appeal of a whisky that has been distilled in Wick at the most northerly distillery in the Scottish mainland since 1826. This coastal location gives Old Pulteney the unique “salty, nerve-tingling journey” Jim Murray describes in his tasting notes as part of the reason he loved the 21-Year-Old Single Malt so much.
Jim Murray’s Tasting Notes of Old Pulteney 21-Year-Old:
“If you had the formula to perfectly transform salt, citrus, the most delicate smoke imaginable, sharp barley, more gristy barley, light vanilla, toasty vanilla, roasted hazelnut, thinned manuka honey, lavender honey, arbutus blossom and cherry blossom, light hickory, liquorice, and the softest demerera sugar into the aroma of a whisky, you still wouldn’t quite be able to recreate this perfection…the sugars arrive: first gristy and malt laden, then Demerara. This is followed by a salty, nerve-tingling journey of barley at varying intensity and then a slow but magnificently complete delivery of spice…those spices continue to buzz, the vanillas dovetail with the malt and the fruit displaying a puckering, lively intensity. Ridiculously long fade for a malt so seemingly light, the salts and spices kiss the taste buds good night…by far and away one of the great whiskies of 2012, absolutely exploding from the glass with vitality, charisma and class. One of Scotland’s great undiscovered distilleries about to become discovered, I think…and rightly so!”
