Thanks to /u/smoked_herring for sharing this dram with me.
You walk into a store, and immediately there’s something there that you don’t pass down. Perhaps it’s mochi and you have a sweet tooth. Perhaps it’s a nice steak or a specific brewery/distillery release.
When I have disposable income (what with that pesky need to eat and live with shelter getting in the way), for me it’s Old Pulteney single casks. Nothing about them should fit the bill: My reviews of their standard offerings typically push towards the older, now discontinued releases.
But there’s something about the single casks that does it for me. It’s a blind spot. Thus when I was offered a sample of Old Pulteney 28 1988 Cask #10110 instead of whatever this fanciful character I play online is doing in some wacky way. I don’t know, how about crying while surfing on cars, sure. That sounds right.
So this is 28-years-old, cask strength, and ex-bourbon cask. Will it live up to my impossible standards? Let’s see, shall we?
Price: € 300
Region: Highland
Vintage: 1988
Bottled: 2016
Cask Type: Bourbon Cask
Cask Number 10110
Number of bottles: 153
Abv: 59%
Colour: 5Y 8/8
Nose: Passionfruit/funk, thyme, croissant, dough, oak, dry leaves
Wow, initial funky/herbal/butter flavour nation right up in here. This is so strong it’s waiting on a meteor to take out some nomads.
Lovely development of a dough/butter note, good vegetal, and just the right amount of oak influence. I’m in for a good time, I’m sure, he says totally not setting himself up for disappointment at all.
Taste: Creamsicle, oak, limeade, cloves, caramel, arugula, honey
Ok, acidity, vanilla, cream and sugar followed by… More sugar, some spice, sugar and earth, and sugar.
Huh… No more funk. No more interesting butter or dough. I’m, uh… I’m not as happy now.
Finish: Butter/caramel, brine, heather, lemonade, mango
Alright, got some butter, and some more of that work on honey. Otherwise this got quite simple. Even some tropical fruit ain’t helping.
Well… That’s too bad, really.
Conclusion: If the funk had continued throughout the dram, then this would be an easy home run. The nose was 50 shades of funk, the much better book about a man who teaches a woman amazing music rather than… well poor dom-sub methods, really.
But sadly it goes really simple after the nose. Nice to sip, but the nose writes a cheque that the taste can’t cash. It’s all sugar mixed with other aspects. Too sweet. And then the finish is simplistic.
It’s not a bad whisky. It’s a bad special whisky. It’s a not-so-great whisky. It’s a dent in your wallet for something that should have been better.
Well there goes the perfect streak, I guess.
77/100
Scotch review #1317, Highland review #213, Whisky Network review #1974
tomoderawhisky.ca 