Weird spirit of the north
It is fair to say that Wick doesn't operate in quite the same way as most towns. There are not many places, for example, where you can walk into a baker's and ask for a "Sir Henry" and not be met with a blank expression.
They do things differently in Wick - not dramatically, just sufficiently unusual to keep you ever so slightly bewildered. No surprise, then, that they make their own malt whisky in a rather idiosyncratic fashion. The process is the same as in any other distillery in Scotland - it's just the details that make you stop and think: "Did I really see that?"
I suppose you have to do things your own way if you are on the far, far north-east coast of Scotland. People forget about Wick. Nuclear scientists fly in and go to Dounreay; the occasional surfer stops off on his or her way north to catch the waves at Thurso; tourists stop for a bite to eat before pressing on to John O'Groats.
Now, however, more people are heading for Wick to discover its hidden treasure - the Old Pulteney distillery. It's not new, it's been making whisky for more than 150 years, but the local dram is only now beginning to hit the shelves of more discerning bars.
It's all to do with herring. Until early this century, Wick was one of Europe's biggest herring ports, a town filled to bursting with a wildly volatile mix of Scots, English, Germans, Scandinavians and Russians. Then the fleet disappeared the day after the declaration of war in 1914 - and never returned. The distillery remained, though, satisfying the local population and being used for the blends of its former owners.
By 1995, just as it looked likely that Pulteney would close, in stepped Inver House Distillers (01236 769377) and things changed. The firm has been quietly putting together a portfolio of some cracking distilleries, such as Balblair, Speyburn, Knockdhu and Balmenach. But Pulteney is the jewel because, well, it's weird.
To be precise, the stills are weird. Not only does the wash still have a massive boil bulb, but its neck has been lopped off, apparently because the distillery's original owner couldn't fit it into the stillhouse. The spirit still is equally strange, with a neck that coils and doubles back on itself before passing through a purifier and finally plunging into a worm tub on the outer wall.
All of this helps give Pulteney its rich, unctuous and complex flavour: the purifier helps redistil many of the heavy alcohols, while the worm tubs give an oily, waxy texture. Wick itself adds a salty maritime air to the maturing spirit, and it all adds up to quite a mouthful.
The 12-year-old is huge: waxed oilskins flapping in a sea gale mixed with peach, Bounty bars and honey. The sherry-matured 15-year-old is prunier but equally oily and leathery, with that signature ozone prickle. Wonderful drams, both of them.
by Dave Broom
