Old Pulteney 12 Year Old

I have to agree with everything which you have said, so very succinctly. Barley and brine. Tasty.

Did you get your taste of Old Pulteney 17 yo? (You won't be sorry!)

Thanks @Victor. Unfortunately, I haven't tried the 17 yet, although it is one of the few at the top of my wish list! I really must get around to trying a range of Pulteneys as, for me, it stands out as one of the whiskies with the most simple and straightforward, yet characterful tastes. I think that the same can be said for whiskies like laphroaig, Talisker and Bowmore as well, and that sort of straightforward individual character is what I find most appealing in discovering new whiskies. I find it quite unusual to find that standout character in whiskies that aren't heavily peated, which is why I particularly love the OP i think.

@AndyC, back in the days when I did a lot of 25-whisky tastings with relative noobies, I always used to use Old Pulteney 12 yo as my first whisky of the day, and as my exemplar of "THIS is what barley tastes like." Malt and brine, I would tell them, were what they would taste with Old Pulteney 12 yo. And almost every one of them liked Old Pulteney 12 yo quite a lot.