Old Pulteney were kind enough to send a sample of their new, soon to be released ‘Good Hope’ expression, which also goes under the catchy name of WK209. For those of you who like a bit of distillery background information with your reviews, I wrote a wee bit about Old Pulteney in my review of their 12 year old expression. Now, Good Hope is a bit different from Old Pulteney’s other offerings as it is – and I quote – matured entirely in Spanish oloroso sherry casks.

The nose carries some of the sweetness one would expect from the oloroso cask, with hints of caramel, pear and perhaps some faint banana. Equally pronounced, however, is the presence of a sort of salty/iodine (much like the 12 year old) note along with oily rubber. There’s something about it that reminds me of a greasy, salty, homemade crisp. The palate sweet and spicy, the sweetness actually brought to mind one of my favourite shops on the Royal Mile – the fudge kitchen. More precisely it was reminiscent of a combination of fresh fudge and warm fruit (prunes, raisins, pears). Once again the sweetness is accompanied by a distinctive iodine note, and a combination of spices (nutmeg?).

Overall a quite nice dram indeed, but not outstanding. If you like the 12 year old expression you may well enjoy this, and I certainly think it’s worth a try. The downside is that it will only be available from ‘select airports’, so getting your hands on one may prove a bit tricky! Oh, and it’s limited to 9,600 (1litre) bottles.

Colour: Warm honey-amber.

Nose: Sweet (caramel, pear, banana), salt, oily rubber, perhaps plain crisps.

Palate: Sweet, fudge, warm fruits (prunes, raisins, pears), iodine and spice.

Here are some related posts that you might want to read:

• Old Pulteney 12 Year Old
• Old Pulteney 21 y.o. – 2012 whisky of the year in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible
• Glenfiddich 18 Year Old
• Brora 30 Year Old bot. 2007
• Glenfiddich 15 Year Old