Old Pulteney 12 Year Old

So this is a new scotch for us. We've been coming across it in checking out other sites and other reviewers. It's mentioned as a damn fine scotch and good starter scotch for people. We've never heard of it, and it's only just recently been added to the liquor store here in Nova Scotia.

We're used to adding quite a lot of water to scotch lately to bring out the nose and flavours, but upon checking out another review of this, we did a second shot with less water. The second one was better, with only around a teaspoon of water. There was more bite from the alcohol, but the flavours were stronger and the experience was more enjoyable.

The nose was a little subtle maltiness with hints of almond, vanilla, toffee, and a sweet fruity something. With less water, there were more floral notes that seem to dominate the others. I hate to say sultana because I don't use the word and have only come across it from other scotch reviews. But I've tasted other scotches that had that sultana taste and there's that in the nose of this one too.

The big thing about the palate for us was the buttery toffee feel, like Werther's Originals. There was a touch of oak and general fruitiness. We've read and watched people list off a whole bunch of different specific fruits, but we didn't taste that. We experienced more of a general fruity flavour.

The finish continues with the sweet buttery toffee, the winter spice flavours added by the higher than normal alcohol (it's only 40% but we haven't watered it down much). And a crisp oaky feel that ends fairly quickly.