.rock oyster - cask strength

From Douglas Laing's Remarkable Regional Malts series, they have put together a blended malt from distilleries of most of the Scottish Isles where distilleries are at work. including some of the beefiest Islay malts, a briny Orkney, a citrus-malty Jura and a honey-sweet Arran.

57.4% abv, €50
blended malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, honey, cereals, spicy, black pepper, briny, a hint of smoke, citrus, rasped orange peel, liquorice root, milk chocolate flakes

Palate: sweet, honey, treacle, floral, honeycomb, heather, buttercups, citrus, rasped orange peel, a hint of smoke, liquorice root, a touch of mint

Finish: sweet, honey, floral, heather, honeycomb, liquorice root, definite smoke
Mark: +++++ 

Conclusion: I liked the original well enough, and this is a touch better. Kudos for Douglas Laing for adding an undiluted version to the range.

.many thanks to Douglas Laing for sending us this sample

.scallywag - cask strength

The Scallywag, a little rascal of a Fox Terrier from the Laing family, portrayed on the Speyside blended malt from Douglas Laing - part of their Remarkable Region Malts series. A collection of Speyside Malts, including Mortlach, the Macallan and the Glenrothes, matured in a combination of ex-Sherry butts and ex-Bourbon  hogsheads, firt released in November 2013 at 46% abv. In June 2015 (I know, I am a little behind on my notes because of stuff, and things), the company released the first limited release at cask strength, startling the Fox Terrier and knocking off its monocle...

53.6% abv, €50
blended malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, vanilla pods, spicy, star anise, cinnamon, fruity, apple skins, citrus, orange peel, dried fruit, dried mango slices, dried banana chips, hints of mint, eucalyptus

Palate: sweet, treacle, honey, spicy, cinnamon, a hint of anise, vanilla flavoured pipe tobacco, dark chocolate shavings, citrus, blood oranges

Finish: medium long, dark chocolate, a hint of tobacco, vanilla pods, dried fruit, cranberries, blueberries
Mark: +++++ 

Conclusion: I wasn't very enthusiastic about the original 46% release, but this one tickles my senses on the right spots.

.many thanks to Douglas Laing for sending us this sample

.laphroaig - 14yo - feis ile 2015 - douglas laing - old particular

Feis Ile 2015 was great, we were there for for some of the events, but as these things go; you can't have 'em all, and the busy schedule of our friends from Douglas Laing completely missed ours. We did however receive a sample of their first annual Feis Ile bottling...

48.4% abv, €150
single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: ash, smoke, burning meat, sweet, liquorice root, fresh eucalyptus leaves, floral, heather, hints of lavender - a 'dry' glass reveals seawater and cereals - beautiful

Palate: spicy, black pepper, sweet, honey, creamy, eucalyptus, smoke, red berries,blackberries,citrus, lemon peel

Finish: long, smoke, ash, sweet, honeycomb, fruit, cherries, blackberries, more eucalyptus freshness, hints of salt, citrus, tangy zest
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: Yeah... I'm there again. Lovely place, great whisky, and the Lads and Lassies of Douglas Laing have completely understood this was the right thing to bottle for a Feis.

More info: distilled in January 2001, matured in refill butt #DL 10694, bottled in February 2015 into 636 bottles

.timorous beastie - 40yo - douglas laing

Douglas Laing have a great series of blended malts available, The Bold Islay vatting Big Peat, the Maritime Rock Oyster, the rich and fruity Speysider Scallywag, and the poetic Highland vattig Timorous Beastie. From the latter, they have released a 40 years old version, of which the last dram in the bottle was donated to the Mrs by Belgian redhead Viking and Douglas Laing Ambassador Jan Beckers during our Saturday dinner at Maltstock 2016.

54.7% abv, €200
blended malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, honey, honeycomb, cereals, fruit, mango, berries, blackcurrant

Palate: spicy, a hint of cinnamon and allspice, sweet, honeycomb, cereals, floral, rose-hip, berries, raspberries, sweet ripe strawberries, blackcurrant

Finish: medium long, sweet, berries, blackcurrant, floral, rosebuds, rose-hip
Mark: +++++ 

Conclusion: She is balanced alright. Balanced like an Olympic gymnast on the balance beam. Like a dubbeltje on its side. A pyramid on its tip. She's ridiculous. Other than that, I can say she's good, very quaffable, and for a 40 year old (blended) malt, for today's pricing, very good value for money.

More info: Too bad there are only 1080 bottles available world wide...

.girvan - 25yo - old particular

Douglas Laing, one of the well known independent bottlers, have an Old Particular range, where they present single casks of whisky that has reached a certain age at cask strength, which includes single grains...

.the glenrothes - 16yo - old particular

I am not overly fond of the Glenrothes whiskies, mostly because most of them tent to give me rather extravagant sulphur notes. Some of the independent bottlers use their own casks, which seem to use an other policy regarding casks, which makes them a lot friendlier on the (my) nose and palate.

.yula - batch #1

"Inspired by the ancient Islay legend of a beautiful but tragic Norse goddess, Douglas Laing presents Yula, the first of a three part trilogy of limited edition Island Malt Scotch Whisky. Douglas Laing’s Yula is comprised of several of the Islands’ most sought after, peated malts. To be released consecutively in three limited edition batches, the first of which is bottled at 20 Years Old, Yula charts the spirit’s journey and celebrates the Laing family’s own proud origins on Islay. Just 900 bottles of Yula’s First Chapter are available globally."

.invergordon - 50yo

Day 24 of the Drinks by the Dram WhiskyAdvent calendar 2015. The Guys and Dolls at the office must have thought to go out with a bang, and they have found something that fits this description perfectly...

.big peat - christmas 2015

Ho ho ho... Big Peat is back with the fifth Christmas edition of his all-Islay blended malt (still including Ardbeg, Bowmore, Caol Ila and even Port Ellen), and his sleigh is on fire! Smoking hot at that because of the cask strength release...

.strathclyde - 27yo - old particular

Strathclyde. A whisky many have never heard of, but most will probably have had some blended in a whisky of the Pernod Ricard range. Now, Douglas Laing have released a range of single grain bottlings, that include one of this distillery, which produces about 40 million litres of spirit per year - most of which disappears in said blended whiskies.

.cameronbridge - 25 yo - old particular - douglas laing

With the recent up-rise of single grain whiskies, Douglas Laing added some fine specimens to their Old Particular range. It appears to be my very first Cameron Bridge I have ever made a note of...

.north british 21yo - old particular #10797

50.9% abv, €100, single grain, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, powdered sugar, fruit, pears, lichee

Palate: spicy, herbal, cinnamon, cloves, fruit, lichee, green herbs, marjoram

Finish: a hint of bitter orange zest, sweet, fruity, pears, lichee, medium long
Mark: ++/+++ 

Conclusion: I think I never tasted lichee as a note before, but now that I have found it, it is probably hard to get of for future grains. Fun.

Whisky wise, this is not exactly my cup-of-whisky; she lacks an "oumpfh" a grain can have. I think she could have profited of a longer maturation time.

Only 294 bottles have been filled from this refill hogshead.

Many thanks to Douglas Laing for supplying us with this sample

.arran - 18yo - old particular

From the lovely Isle of Arran distillery, cared for and matured in a dark corner of Douglas Laing's warehouse for eighteen long years, a sweet, very sweet dram. One to get to know, perhaps..?

.rock oyster - batch #1

In the company of Big Peat, Scallywag and Timorous Beastie, Douglas Laing now has released a new Blended Malt in the shape of Rock Oyster. Comprised of malts from the isles of Orkney, Arran, Islay and Jura amongst others, she is named in honour of the sea and the maritime peppery saltiness it imparts to the whisky.

.talisker - NAS - provenance

From Douglas Laing, we received a sample of this Talisker without an age statement as part of the #RockOyster twitter tasting. A Young and Feisty little dram, this....

.highland park - 18yo - old particular #DL

For the twitter tasting #RockOyster, we received some samples from Douglas Laing that were a sketch of what could be added into their latest blended malt: the Rock Oyster.

.bunnahabhain - 17yo - old particular #DL 10584

As part of the twitter tasting #RockOyster, we received a sample of Douglas Laing's Old Particular series, containing a Bunnahabhain from August 1997, that has matured in a refill hogshead until December 2014.

.littlemill - 25yo - douglas laing #10349

56.2% abv, €230, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: feint, grainy, floral, lavender, warehouse

Palate: sweet, cardboard, oily creamy mouth feel, Christmas cake

Finish: sweet, honey, medium dry, herbal, fruity
Mark: +++++ 

Conclusion: complex, semi affordable, great stuff.

Quick note made at Jan Beckers' Douglas Laing masterclass at Whisky Live Holland in the Hague, 15 November 2014

.rosebank - 21yo - douglas laing - director's cut #10146

53.8% abv, €600, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: jasmine tea, oolong lapsang tea, fruit, mushrooms, earthy

Palate: dry, fruity, floral, roses, fwp

Finish: floral, roses, sweet, vanilla, dry, tannins
Mark: +++/++

Conclusion: floral, tea, tannins, that sums it up. If you like that, go for it.

Quick note made at Jan Beckers' Douglas Laing masterclass at Whisky Live Holland in the Hague, 15 November 2014

.probably speyside's finest distillery - 46yo - douglas laing - director's cut #9176

49.7% abv, €480, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, winey, fruity, tobacco

Palate: sweet, chocolate, fruity, dried fruit

Finish: dry, sweet, medium long
Mark: +++++ 

Conclusion: a bit too dry for my taste. Confirmed this is Glenfarclas.

Quick note made at Jan Beckers' Douglas Laing masterclass at Whisky Live Holland in the Hague, 15 November 2014