White Horse

Sadly, we come to our final of the twelve old blended minis I won at Scotch Whisky Auctions. White Horse is a very old, very famous blend. In 1890 "Restless Peter" Mackie took over the White Horse family firm (est. 1742) and created this iconic scotch. The history of White Horse is inextricably intertwined with the history of Lagavulin, the backbone of the blend (there are Speysiders such as Aultmore in here as well). This particular mini is bottled at 43% (rather than the usual 40%) and comes from Chile!

The colour is a burnished gold. On the nose - wow. This is a stellar combination of earthy malt, floral peat, shoe leather, pineapple, papaya and green apple skins. Check off fruit, check off peat, check off old-fashioned heavy malt. Creamy. A drop of water brings out more smoke, but mutes the other elements a little. Nevertheless, this is fantastic, just what you are looking for in an old blend.

Even fruitier on the palate - and creamier - with light golden raisins, banana and more papaya. The smoke is very present but fairly light. Some vanilla as well, and very, very light caramel. The peat is beautiful here. Water brings out more barley sugar, crisp grain and more smoke - an improvement. Robust and complex.

The finish is spicy (but not too spicy), with some butterscotch showing up. Mouthwatering. As we have many times on our journey through these old blends, this one has that savoury heavy malt, conjuring up images of old dusty bookshelves and leather armchairs. It reminds me a little of old Johnnie Black (which shouldn't be a big surprise, given the Diageo connection). I can only imagine what those older bottlings of White Horse that we see at auctions must taste like! Tasted side-by-side with Lagavulin 16, the clear influence of this smoky malt is apparent; at the same time, the softer malts balance things out beautifully.

Well, that wraps up our twelve minis. It's been very instructive to see all the different similarities, and differences, between them; but also to see how they contrast with the more current bottlings we have today. Each and every time, I have preferred the older ones; I'm just a sucker for scotch the way it used to be blended, I guess! And I'm glad we finished on White Horse, as I have another bottle of Lagavulin to compare this with (and it's not the 16 Year Old)! Stay tuned...