It’s always fun to go rooting through the annals of liquid history via the medium of ancient blended whiskies. Remember prior to the 1950s blends generally had a much higher malt content so, after all these years in bottle, it tends to be the more powerful malt aspects that shine the brightest which gives a wonderful, broad brush stroke picture of the ‘generic’ character of Scottish malts in decades gone by...

White Horse 1922 (ABV unknown, OB) The constituent malt for White Horse was, of course, Lagavulin which means we’re expecting more than a little peat with this one, some of these old pre-war White Horses can be magisterial, although I understand the level on this one was a little low when opened so we keep expectations realistic... Colour: Straw. Nose: The peat is unusually shy in this one. It’s more towards soot, lanolin, coal hearths, earth and a whole pantry of dried herbs. There’s some hay, some stables, dunnage, camphor and paraffin and this delicate phenolic prickle in the background. I wonder if it lost some of its peatiness throughout the years, not impossible. Some old bottle notes of iron filings, steel wool and old tool boxes; a suggestion of rust amongst it all.

Old Smuggler (ABV unknown, OB, US Import, 1920s) This ancient bottle comes with a very strange ceramic pourer which I’ve only ever seen once before on a very old Dimple also bottled for the US around the 1930s. Colour: Amber. Nose: Radically different to the White Horse. This is far fresher and full of wood resins, sap, ointment, various teas, oils, some old fruitcake, aged cognac, raisins, rancio and roasted chestnuts. I never smelled an old blended whisky like this before. Wonderful complexity on the nose, develops a marvellously leafy, earthy and nervous edge with more dark fruits - think dates, prunes and sultanas - notes of pipe tobacco and old leather. There is some kind of wondrous sherry sloshing about in here no doubt.