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| Rick and me posing with some Douglas Laing Remarkable Malt Whiskies |
A blended malt or vatted malt as it was formerly known is a whisky that contains malt whisky (whisky that is made from malted barley) from different distilleries as opposed to a single malt which can only contain malt whisky from one single distillery. Douglas Laing created 4 blended malts which should all represent the typical style of a different whisky region. There is the Scallywag from the Speyside, the Timorous Beastie from the Highlands, Big Peat from Islay and Rock Oyster for the Islands.
The Rock Oyster Cask Strength is made from malt whiskies from the isles of Islay, Arran, Jura and Orkney. It is bottled at 57.4% ABV with no chillfiltration and without added colouring. I was really impressed by this whisky and its maritime character.
Pascal tried the Scallywag which was also very much to his likings. As we were enjoying our whisky we started a conversation with the man behind the stand - Rick. He works for Douglas Laing and came to Switzerland for this event. It was really nice to talk to such a knowledgeable guy so so we decided to take another whisky from DL.
This time we went for a single malt from their Old Particular series. This is a range of single cask whiskies that aren't bottled at cask strength but at a higher ABV. The whiskies that are 18 years and younger are bottled at 48.4% and those that are older than 18 years are bottled at 51.5%. I really like this approach because sometimes older spirits lose a bit of their power and the slightly higher ABV balances this. The whisky that I tried was a 15 year old Ardmore, a peated malt from the Highand region which was matured in a refill hogshead. I really like this distillery and this was a very nice expression.
Normally we would have gone to another stand after finishing our second dram but our conversation with Rick was just too enjoyable to just leave so we told him to recommend us a third whisky. He then chose some Old Particular grain whiskies for us, for me a 27 years old Cambus (a closed distillery) matured in a refill hogshead bottled at 51.1% and for Pascal a 25 years old Cameronbridge matured in a refill butt, bottled at a whopping 60.6% cask strength. We both really liked the whiskies that Rick had selected and I will definitely look more into the category of grain whiskies (which are lighter than malt whiskies) as I haven't really tried many of them yet.
If you thought that we now had enough you are wrong because we also wanted to know what Rick's favourite out of the lot was. He then went and brought a bottle from the Director's Cut range, a selection of single cask whiskies that are bottled at cask strength. This range was the premium segment of Douglas Laing but it was discontinued and is replaced by the XOP (Extra Old Particular). Rick's favourite was a 21 years old Glen Garioch matured in a refill hogshead bottled at 57.4%. It also got the same vintage as me - 1993. I really liked this whisky. It was rather spirit driven with a spicy, gingery character and it had some fantastic cereal notes. With the addition of a few drops of water it developed luscious creamy mouthfeel. Great call Rick. I really like Douglas Laing as a company since they have a very honest approach. Their whiskies always come at a natural presentation without chillfiltration and at natural colour and you get great disclosure of the casks they used. Please check out their website for more informations.
We had a great time at the Douglas Laing stand and this just shows that whisky is best enjoyed in good company. Rick was a great chap and we had a blast talking to him. I am really looking forward to hopefully seeing him again on Whisky Ship Zurich this autumn. Thanks to Rick and Douglas Laing for having us and for these beautiful memory
Slàinte mhath, U
I love how your posts always bring us right into the fun of your whisky experiences! I felt like I was right there with you! Wish I actually was there!
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