Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles
There is a pot still at Old Pulteney Distillery in Wick that is missing its swan neck. The elegant curved neck that normally rises from a pot still — the part that helps define the character of the spirit by controlling how much copper contact the vapour receives on its way up — has been cut off. What remains is a truncated, flat-topped cylinder that looks like a pot still that had an unfortunate accident.
It was not an accident. It was a management decision.
At some point in the distillery’s history, a new pot still was ordered, delivered, and then discovered to be too tall to fit through the entrance to the still house. The space between the floor and the ceiling was insufficient. The options were to rebuild the still house or to modify the still. The manager of the time apparently concluded that the simplest solution was to cut off the swan neck.
He was right that it was the simplest solution. He was possibly less right about it being the best one.
The Journey to Wick
Wick sits at the far northeastern tip of mainland Scotland, beyond Inverness, in a part of the country where the distances between towns grow gradually longer and the roads gradually emptier. It takes several hours from Inverness to reach — by rail through a landscape of moorland and fishing villages, following the coast toward the top of the island.
I made this journey specifically to see the truncated still. When I arrived, the distillery was closed — an unscheduled rest day. I stood in front of a locked door, took a photograph as a record of the visit, and left.
Old Pulteney makes excellent whisky despite — or possibly because of — its unusual still. The maritime character of Wick, sitting directly on the North Sea coast, works its way into the spirit during maturation. The salt air, the brine, the herbal coastal quality of the region are present in the glass in ways that cannot be manufactured artificially.
Old Pulteney is available at Bar Little Happiness. Read the full Japanese column: little-happiness.jp/columns/old-pulteney-swan-neck/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
english.little-happiness.jp