This is really one of these occasions where extreme flavours and personal opinion can really collide to obfuscate the process of objectivity. In any case, this is fabulous, let’s only hope this baby won’t suffer from many a very old whisky’s fate, you know, great fresh nose, woody and drying palate. They also leave grease in your cup, the others didn't do this so a mug in a work van or pack didn't really need washing often.

We had some very good Eigashima by Blackadder the other day, so White Oak/Akashi, time to have some of their OB. Blood oranges are to be found, while you won’t find any in the rhums o the isles, also the traditional pineapples and bananas.

Mouth (neat): clearly gentler than the 2017, better civilised, and more on citrus, lemongrass, gherkins and capers, lemon curd, angelica, olives, pearl onions, wine vinegar… With water: super, earthier, rougher, gritty, green, gherkin and olive-y. Yes, despite the almost complete lack of food-value, Bovril’s advertising was clever enough to make the product synonymous with the soldier, the adventurer, and with the British Empire in general.

If you want to enjoy Bovril as a hearty drink, you can add one teaspoon of the paste to a mug of hot water, and the meaty-flavour will dissolve to make a wholesome beverage for a cold day. My bottle find is from 1913, just prior to the outbreak of World War One, when bottle production became automated for the first time although the neck and lip continued to be hand finished, as you can see from the photos below. The classic Bovril drink is simply made up of Bovril paste and hot water, however, the distinctive paste can also be used to add extra depth and flavour to soups and sauces. Unilever, the company that now produces Bovril, sparked anger six years ago by changing its composition from beef to yeast. Not quite whisky, and not sure you needed whisky to come up with such a spirit, but well, I suppose it’s still better than the tequila-ed Scotches to come….

Well not quite before 1963, obviously, although an older distillery used to exist long before the current Jura was built. Also touches of mint-flavoured liquorice, once again as well as, perhaps, a small tangerine and an even smaller green lemon. Oranges, touches of tonic wine, caraway and cinnamon, a drop of Dutch genever (I owe you a very large genever session), and nice notes of mint-flavoured liquorice.

Bovril is primarily made up of beef broth, concentrated yeast extract, salt and other flavour enhancers. It’s been said that family businesses usually take the long view, while corporations and public companies are rather obsessed with short-term profit.

When he died in 1900, the house was used as a military hospital for wounded Canadian soldiers from the first world war. Mouth (neat): indeed, it’s fruitier, with coastal notes as well as touches of artichokes and concrete. Extraordinary notes of ‘a walk in the woods’, mushrooms, chestnut honey and honeydew, camphor, newly sawn fir wood, embrocations, Vicks, beeswax, lemongrass, tiger balm, angelica, woodruff… Well, this kind of complexity only comes with age, that’s bleeding obvious, but naturally, you would not always need fifty years. Today, Bovril is as popular as ever, providing three and a half million jars of strength every year to Brits in need.