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 most northerly distillery on mainland Scotland, so it is, and a fisherman’s dram it be! Fisherman’s dram, I hear you question, I thought they only drank rum and cod liver oil? Well, my friend, not in Scotland! With the distillery being right on the coast, and roads being in short supply at the time, the distillery relied heavily on boats both for getting their barley in and whisky out. That, in conjunction with the regions tradition for fishing, is probably the reason behind the Old Pulteney logo (which is a boat).
The rolling hills of the highlands seldom disappoint, whether it be their whisky or natural beauty you are after. Located within them is the distillery of Balblair, which is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland –having been officially established in 1790 – yet they do not hold the recognition within the whisky world which you would expect from their history. They are by no means unknown to connoisseurs’ and regular drinkers, but they deserve to be known far more widely than they are.
Dalwhinnie 15 year old is considered by a fair few to be a bit of a lady’s drink, not quite suitable as a man’s dram. Quite how it earned this reputation I do not know, though I would suppose that it is due to a combination of its mild mannered characteristics and the label being just a tad too neat. That doesn’t mean that any man ordering it in a Scottish pub will get laughed at, though if that is an outcome you fear then I would avoid ordering it in rougher parts of town, perhaps going for a nice pint of Carling instead (even just writing the name made me feel queasy).
Since I’ve mainly been drinking foreign whiskeys lately, I guess I’ve been trying to widen my horizons, I felt an uncontrollable urge just now to return to the hills of home; the highlands of Scotland. And what better way to do so than to have a dram of (proper) whisky? The question, then, was which one to go for. I wanted something nice and creamy, with a body as voluptuous as that of Miss Monroe and a scent as potent as can only be found lingering in Auld Reekie. As the names of potential candidates flew by in my mind’s eye, one stood – Glenmorangie.
The Scottish highlands are known for a variety of things; their rugged hills and mountains including Ben Nevis, the highest in the UK, fantastic nature and well preserved wildlife, the all-but-sparse flow of naturally crisp and pure water, but perhaps more than any of those it is known for, you guessed it, fantastic whisky.
The highlands region is home to a host of distilleries including Oban, Glenmorangie, Glenturret and of Dalmore – which is the distillery we’ll be focusing on in this post. More precisely, I’m going to introduce you to their quite unusual King Alexander III, and I really do mean unusual. The process that gives it its flavour is not unusual in itself, though they’ve gone rather further than average in a certain, and for this whisky crucial, element of the production; selecting their casks.
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