Gordon and Macphail Old Pulteney 21 Release

[spicycorona]

I was struggling to find something different this past Christmas for my brother since everything seemed to be sold out mid December. On my last crack at it at a liquor store I stumbled upon, there was one left of these:

It was a shot in the dark since I've never tried a G+M release or Old Pulteney, but for Christmas, new (to me and the recipient) and rare is what I am looking for. Turns out this is really good stuff, and much different than scotches I have had in the past. Supposedly it's not the same award winning booze that is the Old Pulteney labeled 21, but a less or not at all sherried version of the same distillate. And cool early 20th century replica label.

Today I randomly came across another bottle at another local store, and it's the lone one there as well. Didn't pull the trigger but after thinking about it I'm going to get one for myself. It's one of those bottles, to me, that I would like to keep around for a while, but not sure that's going to happen. Luckily though, clear liquor season is upon us.

Anyone have experience with this bottling?

[sengjc]

While I haven't had it before, Gordon & MacPhail are one of the better known independent bottles and Old Pulteney is a well reputable distillery producing good stuff.

As a comparison, the distillery bottling of the Old Pulteney 21 Year Old was crowned the World Whisky of the Year by Jim Murray, an influential whisky writer - see the 2012 edition of the Whisky Bible.

I think it would be good.

[spicycorona]

Oh it is

[TM-US]

Isn't the OB Old Pulteney 21 aged exclusively in bourbon casks?

I don't know this for certain, but the OB doesn't have any sherry characteristics. Since I like she tried single malts, I would tend to think that this G&M bottling would be tastier and less expensive.

[spicycorona]

Not sure if there is no sherry at all but the G&M bottling were aged in used bourbon casks. I don't get any sherry in it either so I would guess not.

As far as price it's up there with the higher echelon scotches I have tried and it's on the low end ($140) of that price range.

[TM-US]

I have no idea why I thought this was sherried. I wasn't even drinking!