Old Pulteney Bow Wave Revisited
Old Pulteney ‘Bow Wave’ Revisited. This 45-year-old Old Single Malt secured a bid of £68,750 at this year’s Distillers One of One Auction. Philip Day reports on the sale.
Following up on a previous article about this special lot to be offered at this year’s Distillers One of One Auction, I felt honour bound to report how it fared when it went under the hammer…
In a monumental moment in the distillery’s history, Old Pulteney’s ‘Bow Wave’, a 45 Year Old Single Malt and the oldest expression to be produced at Pulteney Distillery in Wick to date, secured a bid of £68,750 at this year’s Distillers One of One Auction.
Image – ©️ Rich Maciver Photo
Selling for more than double its highest pre-sale estimate (£20,000 – £30,000) with all proceeds going to charity, Old Pulteney, known as The Maritime Malt, specially created Bow Wave for this year’s Distillers One of One Auction, offering a never-to-be-repeated opportunity to own a piece of Old Pulteney’s history.
Bow Wave was carefully matured for more than four decades within hand-selected American oak casks before completing its voyage with a further five years of maturation inside a single first-fill Spanish oak butt. Emerging deep golden in colour, Bow Wave has maritime flavours imparted from the northern sea air that laps the distillery found on the Caithness Coast in the Scottish Highlands.
Created with rarity at its core, Bow Wave is encased within an equally remarkable piece of art design by glass artists, Glasstorm. Presented upon a bed of Caithness slate, the bottle is crafted from hand-blown deep blue glass with complex Inciso cuts mirroring the essence of crashing waves, while glimpses of the golden liquid shine through like reflections of a morning sunrise.
After the result of the auction, Distillery Manager, Malcolm Waring, said:
I am extremely proud of Old Pulteney’s Bow Wave. It’s an exceptional expression, with a wealth of passion, craftsmanship and love gone into its creation. To see it perform so well at the Distillers One of One Auction is so incredible, and to know it’s going to a fantastic cause makes it even more worthwhile.”
The Distillers One of One Auction is run by the Distillers’ Charity and Sotheby’s. Ultra-rare and unique Scotch whiskies go under the hammer in front of a globally audience, and following the inaugural event in 2021, nearly 500 disadvantaged young people from across Scotland have benefited from the £2.4 million raised. More than half of these young people have already gone on to secure employment, apprenticeships, further education, training, or work as volunteers.
References
Press release care of Burt Greener Communications
www.interbevgroup.com