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White Horse

12 minis! - Part XII

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@talexanderReview by @talexander

14th Nov 2014

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White Horse
  • Nose
    24
  • Taste
    23
  • Finish
    22
  • Balance
    23
  • Overall
    92

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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...

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4 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

Sounds interesting. I wonder if the current White Horse bears much relation to the older product. I doubt I'll get to taste this old product, but I can get the current version...cheap.

9 years ago 0

@talexander
talexander commented

Give it a try, let me know what you think!

9 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

A friend just gave me a bunch of old minis from his late father's collection, including a US imported White Horse at 43.4% abv. My friend says he thinks these bottles come from the early 1960s. I know for sure that the tax stamp format on them was discontinued in 1977. Soon I'll try that baby out and compare it to the 2014 release White Horse. This little mini appears to be packed to make it to the year 2100, with metal wire and metal foil. The air in the bottle is really tiny. The label looks like something you'd expect to see on Shackleton's bottles.

9 years ago 0

@talexander
talexander commented

Wow - sounds fantastic - can't wait to hear what you think!

9 years ago 0