The Little Brown Dog x Living Souls 46 Year Old is a blended Scotch built from three casks distilled in the late 1970s, two of them from distilleries that no longer exist. Little Brown Dog supplied a 1978 Glen Garioch, the malt component and the distillery closest to their Aberdeenshire base. Living Souls brought a single cask each of Cambus and Carsebridge, two closed Lowland grain distilleries. The result is bottled at 41.2% ABV, in natural colour and without chill-filtration, and it is out now across the UK at £185 for a 70cl bottle.
This is the sort of release the independent scene does better than anyone. Not a marketing exercise, but two small bottlers pooling old stock that neither could have turned into a blend alone.
What is the Little Brown Dog x Living Souls 46 Year Old?
It is a one-off blended Scotch whisky created jointly by Little Brown Dog, an Aberdeenshire independent bottler, and Living Souls, a smaller independent bottler from central Scotland. The blend is made up of three single casks distilled in 1978 and 1979. The malt comes from Glen Garioch in Aberdeenshire. The two grain whiskies come from Cambus and Carsebridge, both long closed. It carries a 46 year age statement, set by the youngest cask in the recipe, distilled on 26 March 1979. Price is £185, ABV is 41.2%, and it is available now in the UK with export markets to follow.
Why this blend matters: malt plus grain, two of them irreplaceable
A blended Scotch, by definition, mixes malt whisky with grain whisky. Most blends do this with young, anonymous stock to hit a price point. This one does the opposite. It takes a single 1978 Glen Garioch malt cask and marries it to single casks of 1970s grain from Cambus and Carsebridge, then leaves the age statement to tell you how old the youngest of the three is.
That is where the interest sits. Cambus and Carsebridge are not active distilleries you can simply order more from. Carsebridge in Alloa closed in 1983 and was demolished in 1992. Cambus, a few miles away, closed in 1993, and the site now serves as Diageo’s cooperage hub. Both were among the six Lowland grain distilleries that founded the Distillers Company Limited in 1877, so there is real history in the glass, but the practical point for a buyer is simpler. When these casks are gone, they are gone.
Living Souls describes the central-Scotland location of those distilleries as their own back yard, which is part of the appeal of the project. Each bottler put forward liquid from the part of Scotland they know best. Glen Garioch sits about ten minutes from Little Brown Dog’s base, and Cambus and Carsebridge were on Living Souls’ doorstep. For Little Brown Dog, this is also the oldest whisky they have ever put their name to.
Who are Little Brown Dog and Living Souls?
Little Brown Dog Spirits was founded in 2018 by Andrew Smith and Chris Reid, working out of a farm at Fetternear, near Inverurie in rural Aberdeenshire. They are both an independent bottler and a micro-distillery, and they have built a following on single casks, playful labels and an unusual level of transparency about what is in the bottle and where it came from. Earlier this year they launched their first permanent core release, a 12 year old Glen Garioch, which they called the most important bottle in their eight years of business.
Living Souls is a smaller independent bottler operating under the Living Souls name on social media as @whiskysouls_. They specialise in interesting single casks, and they brought the closed-distillery grain to this collaboration. The two outfits had been planning the release for close to a year before it reached shelves.
Little Brown Dog x Living Souls tasting notes
The two bottlers published their own tasting notes, and the contrast is part of the fun. Little Brown Dog reached for confectionery and curiosities. Living Souls described stepping into a kitchen. Both are talking about the same liquid, so we are reproducing both rather than picking a winner. We have not tasted this bottle ourselves, so the notes below are the producers’ own.
| Info | Little Brown Dog notes | Living Souls notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nose | Tinned lychee in syrup, pink grapefruit, antique shop | Cream soda, fudge, banoffee pie |
| Palate | Candy floss, blueberry panna cotta, Haribo Starmix | Ripe peach, a gentle wisp of smoke, a touch of pineapple |
| Finish | Sherbet Dip Dab and rooibos tea | Long and balanced |
| Colour | Highland Coo toffee (natural) | — |
ABV: 41.2% | Cask: 1978 Glen Garioch malt, plus 1978 and 1979 Cambus and Carsebridge grain | Age: 46 years | Bottle size: 70cl | Price: £185 | Natural colour, non-chill filtered
The common thread across both descriptions is soft, sweet, slightly tropical fruit, which is the classic signature of very old, well-kept stock that has not been dominated by its cask. There is a hint of smoke in the Living Souls account, but nobody is calling this a peated whisky. At 41.2% the strength is low, which is normal for spirit of this age that has spent decades quietly losing alcohol in the warehouse.
Price and availability
The Little Brown Dog x Living Souls 46 Year Old is priced at £185 for a 70cl bottle and is available now throughout the UK. Aberdeen Whisky Shop in Union Street has it listed, with collection in store available, and the bottlers have said export markets will follow.
For an international reader, £185 for a 46 year old Scotch that includes grain from two closed distilleries is worth putting in context. Bottlings of 40 year old and older grain from silent distilleries usually command a significant premium, often well into the hundreds and sometimes four figures for the oldest single casks. Pricing a 46 year old blend built partly from that same closed-distillery stock at £185 reads as deliberately fair rather than collector-gouging, which fits Little Brown Dog’s stated approach to pricing.
Is it worth £185?
If you collect closed distilleries, this is an easy one. You are getting 1970s Cambus and Carsebridge, plus a 1978 Glen Garioch, in a single bottle, at a price that undercuts what those grains tend to fetch on their own. The age statement does the talking and the stock is not repeatable.
If you mainly drink young, high-strength, cask-driven whisky, this is probably not for you. At 41.2% and 46 years old, the appeal here is delicacy, old-fruit softness and balance, not power. This is a slow, contemplative dram rather than a statement of intensity.
For anyone curious about what genuinely old blended Scotch can be when it is built from good single casks rather than filler, it is one of the more honest examples on shelves right now. Move quickly if you want one. Three casks does not make many bottles.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Little Brown Dog x Living Souls 46 Year Old? It is a one-off 46 year old blended Scotch whisky created by independent bottlers Little Brown Dog and Living Souls. It combines a 1978 Glen Garioch malt cask with single casks of 1978 and 1979 Cambus and Carsebridge grain. It is bottled at 41.2% ABV in natural colour, without chill-filtration.
What whiskies and casks are in the blend? Three single casks from the late 1970s. One malt cask of 1978 Glen Garioch from Aberdeenshire, supplied by Little Brown Dog, and one grain cask each of Cambus and Carsebridge from central Scotland, supplied by Living Souls. The 46 year age statement reflects the youngest cask, distilled on 26 March 1979.
What does it taste like? According to the bottlers, expect soft, sweet, slightly tropical fruit. Little Brown Dog lists tinned lychee, pink grapefruit, candy floss and rooibos tea. Living Souls describes cream soda, fudge, banoffee pie, ripe peach and a faint wisp of smoke. The finish is long and balanced. We have not tasted it ourselves.
How much does it cost and where can I buy it? The price is £185 for a 70cl bottle. It is available now throughout the UK, including from Aberdeen Whisky Shop, with collection in store offered. The bottlers have confirmed export markets are coming, so buyers outside the UK should watch for stockists in their region.
Why are Cambus and Carsebridge significant? Both are closed Lowland grain distilleries in the Alloa area of central Scotland. Carsebridge closed in 1983, Cambus in 1993. Both were founding members of the Distillers Company Limited in 1877. Because neither produces any more, their aged stock is finite and increasingly sought after by collectors.
Is this a single malt? No. It is a blended Scotch, meaning it combines malt whisky and grain whisky. The malt is Glen Garioch and the grains are Cambus and Carsebridge. Blends are often built from cheap young stock, but this one is made entirely from old 1970s single casks, which is unusual.
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