Ten Old Pulteney Scotch whisky facts

This week we reveal our top ten Old Pulteney facts – just a little something to impress your friends next time you’re sharing a dram.

You could work at Pulteney Distillery every day for a century and still not know all its secrets. The site boasts a rich heritage and the single malt scotch whisky itself is a story you can keep re-discovering over and over again. While we can’t yet offer a ten-volume Great Encyclopedia of Old Pulteney), we thought we would share with you a handful of great Old Pulteney facts – just a little something to impress your friends next time you’re sharing a dram.

1. Pulteney is one of only a few whisky distillery in Scotland named after the town in which it is located, Pulteneytown which is now part of Wick
2. The Old Pulteney bottle is in fact inspired by the shape of our two pot stills which feature unusually large boiling balls providing a lot of reflux and making the whisky more fragrant
3. The water used in the making of Old Pulteney is carried from Loch Hempriggs by a lade constructed by a famous Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford
4. Pulteney is an urban distillery in the heart of Wick, once one of the busiest herring fishing ports in Europe
5. Over 90% of casks used to mature Old Pulteney previously held American whiskey, seasoned White Oak is perfectly suited to our distillate and helps to showcase its natural flavour
6. Pulteney is one of only a handful of distilleries in Scotland still to use worm tub condensers. They are difficult to maintain but add body and depth to the whisky
7. Pulteney Distillery uses unusual dried yeast which takes longer to work than the liquid variety but ensures consistency of the product
8. Pulteney is one of the most northerly distilleries on the Scottish mainland
9. Old Pulteney 40 Years Old released in 2012 was the oldest expression in the history of the distillery, until 2023 when we released Old Pulteney Bow Wave
10. Pulteney Distillery has the only pot still in Scotland which doesn’t have a swan neck