Whisky Review: Pulteney 10 Years Old Rioja octave finish – The Octave Project

• Category: Highland single malt scotch whisky
• Origin: Pulteney distillery
• Bottling: A. D. Rattray, The Octave Project
• ABV: 57.1%
• Cost: £30 for 5 x 3cl

What they say

This set of 30ml little dram samples of Pulteney single malt are a result of The Octave Project. The Pulteney spirit was originally matured in a Bourbon Hogshead before being divided between four different Octave casks. Specially commissioned from the coopers for our Project, each Octave used oak staves taken from a larger cask that had previously contained PX Sherry, Oloroso Sherry, Rioja or Rum. One portion of whisky from the original cask was retained to enable a point of comparison.

Enjoy and compare these intense new flavours alongside the original Bourbon cask… savour the major and minor notes.

What I say

Similar to the Arran Octave project previously reviewed this set is composed of 5 x 3cl drams starting with a sample from the original Bourbon barrel, distilled at Pulteney distillery and matured for a minimum of 9 years, before cask finishing in 4x different ‘seasoned’ Octave casks a small portion of the original barrel was kept for comparison. The remainder due to their time in the Octaves are 10 years old.

This sample was finished for around 5 months in a Rioja seasoned Octave.

My tasting notes:

• Appearance: Amontillado (9/20), medium tears and  tapered legs.
• Nose: Candy floss and strawberry marshmallows, strawberry, blackcurrant and a hint of elderberry with plenty of sweetness and vanilla cream too like strawberry and cream candies, biscuit cereal malt, Jammie dodgers, and a hint of salt.
• Taste: Fruity and tart, jam, strawberry, blackcurrant, plum, a touch of biro ink adds a faintly metallic quality to the sharpness of the fruits, cereal malted barley and oak wood, hints of vanilla cream appear as do the lemon and lime freshness from the original barrel, eventually salted caramel, white-chocolate dipped strawberries and peaches & cream fudge.
• Finish: Long, sweet and tart but with mouth-coating salted caramel toffee, coconut milk and gentle fruits.

Overall

Similar to the Arran finished in the Rioja octave, this Pulteney expression is bursting with fruits and cream and is just delicious!

Score 85/100

Shop for Pulteney – The Octave Project (opens A.D. Rattray)

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