Pulteney 13 yo 1967 / 1980 Cadenhead 46% vs Laphroaig 21 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 52.1% ‘White Label’
Pulteney 13 yo 1967 / 1980 Cadenhead 46%
Might have said it before but Pulteney is great. Here we have dry earth, some hot coals and also an overripe fruitiness verging on ferment. A drop of molasses and dry raisins suggest a sweeter side that never fully materializes. The palate changes tack and we are swept over by sea salt, dried glue notes and burnt leafy herbs. In other words, a profile that is similar to modern Pulteney, or rather it should be noted how remarkably old school modern Pulteney is. 89 pts
Laphroaig 21 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 52.1% ‘White Label’
A famous bottle. We are met by swirls of black ash and acrid billowing smoke over fields of boggy peat and sludge. Somehow we’ve got both feet stuck in a quagmire of sucking black mud and oozing oils, immensely earthy and reeking of deep vegetative decay. Glorious whisky. Coal, tar, burnt hemp but also petitgrain, smoking birch and labdanum. Enormous but well proportioned. It is only the sharp thrust of salt breeze and greenly herbaceous medicine that clear the air. A rising tide of rock salt, wintergreen, preserved lemon peel, petrochemical fumes and incense sweep in and the world is miraculously fresher. This one seems to lean more earthy and salty compared to other Laphroaigs of the era. 93 pts
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