Old Smuggler 1977 Ceramic Decanter

Old Smuggler is still being produced today and can be found in our supermarkets. Admittedly, it is usually found on the bottom shelf – litteraly. My buddy Manny however got his hands on an old ceramic decanter from 1977 and sent me a sample.

Once you get past the OBE – and that really does not take long – you get a surprisingly rich nose on ripe fruit. Think apples and banana, but also some white currant. Then some less obvious notes of diesel fumes and fermenting grapes. In the background I detect some woodsmoke.

The body is very light and I have a feeling this is quite a bit under proof now, but that doesn’t mean I do not get a lot of ripe fruit again – mostly white fruit now – and some flavours that are clearly due to oxidation. Gym sneakers and mushrooms. But there is also an unmistakable trace of peat, delivering a soft smokiness.

The finish is drying. It starts sweet, but then quickly turns bitter with some liquorice at the death.

A nice golden oldie from an era gone by. Thanks, Manny.