Old Malt Casks

The Old Malt Cask range was first released in 1999 by Douglas Laing & Co. Ltd. as single cask whisky usually bottled at 50% ABV.

Lets try a few of their releases.

After being demobbed from the RAF after WW2 Fred Douglas Laing worked with an American friend developing the King of Scots brand to sell throughout Europe and the USA. In 1948 he took sole control and launched the company Douglas Laing as a whisky blending and bottling firm. Using just handshakes he set up preferred filling programs with Distilleries throughout Scotland - many of these deals remain in place today.

When Fred died in 1982 his sons, Fred Jr. and Stewart, ran it jointly until 2013 when, saying they wanted to build a secure future for the next generation of their families, decided to split it up dividing the assets and existing brands between two new companies: Hunter Laing & Co. (Stewart) and Douglas Laing & Co. (Fred).

Both men have children taking on active roles as the third generation of leadership within the family businesses. Stewart's sons Andrew and Scott and Fred’s daughter Cara started taking a more active role in the two companies.

Stewart took control of the Old Malt Cask, the Old & Rare Selection, House Of Peers and Sovereign Single Grain, as well as their bottling facility in East Kilbride. In 2016, Hunter Laing & Co. revealed plans to build its own single malt distillery on Islay. Ardnahoe distillery began distilling in November 2018.

Fred continued to offer their Single Cask Provenance range, as well as brands such as Director's Cut, Double Barrel, Premier Barrel, McGibbon's and introduced Old Particular and the Remarkable Regional Malts ranges. In 2017 Douglas Laing & Co, revealed their own plans to open a distillery, Clutha, on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow. They also took over the Strathearn distillery in 2019.

The Old Malt Cask range was launched in 1998 to commemorate the company’s 50th anniversary, at the time it was said that the single cask bottlings would only be available in a limited set of 50. That number has now been passed but Hunter Laing & Co. continue to release new bottlings!

Dram	Auchentoshan 1990 17yo Single Cask 4217	Braeval 1991 25yo Single Cask 12815	Bunnahabhain 1991 27yo Single Cask 17325	Craigellachie 2006 11yo Single Cask 15034	Loch Lomond 2006 12yo Single Cask 15541
Characteristics	50% ABV Refill Hogshead	44.7% ABV Natural cask strength Refill Hogshead	50% ABV Refill Hogshead	50% ABV Refill Butt	50% ABV Refill Hogshead
Bottler notes	Can't find any!	Nose: Sweet and floral, with honey and strawberries. Palate: Mellow and sweet, with caramel, vanilla and oranges. Finish: Medium length, with a lingering gentle sweetness.	Nose: Fresh with oranges, tea and caramel Palate: Sweet and rounded with butterscotch, honey and chocolate Finish: Long and slightly dry with a little oak.	Nose: Rich on the nose with dark chocolate, red plums and toffee. Palate: Caramel, sultanas, orange and hint of mocha. Finish: Long and lingering with a touch of pepper	Nose: vanilla custard with fruit salad and honey. Palate: cinder toffee pineapple sea salt. Finish: long lingering with a hint of peat smoke
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thick legs.	Very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thick legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack, take a while to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thn legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Sweet stewed orchard fruit, digestive biscuits and a little honey.	Sweet orange notes, a little cereal and some honey.	Dry ashy smoke, a little stewed apple and some hints of toffee.	Musty bookshop, fresh berries and some toffee hints.	Huge vanilla custard notes, I was expecting smoke but there is very little here.
Palate	Smooth sweet arrival, lots of honey and brown sugar. Cereal notes develop and then a bite of peppery spice. A few more sips offer barley sugar sweets, stewed apples and more spice.	Smooth and sweet, almost watery. A little lemon citrus and a drying icing sugar note. A little time and air seems to soften the citrus notes - orange rather than lemon.	Smooth thick buttery arrival, honey, toffee and orchard fruit - but it's not overly sweet. A little bite of spice and a hint of peat smoke. Time and air offer weak coffee notes.	Thick syrupy arrival, strawberry jam, plums, black cherries and a hint of sour citrus - yummy! A few more sips offer treacle and drying sherry.	Smooth thick arrival, salted caramel and dried pineapple. School chocolate custard and some coffee notes. Again little in the way of peat smoke.
Finish	Short orchard fruit notes with a small spicy hint.	Short sweet honey and vanilla.	Long dry smoke with toffee apple notes. Nice.	Long dry sherry notes with a hint of spice.	Here is where the smoke comes through - long and dry with a little coffee. Nice.
Overall	There was an easy winner from these five - the sherry butt matured Craigellachie easily better than the other four and easily the best Craigellachie I've ever tried! Second was the Bunna, a little more smoke then the Loch Lomond, similar toffee notes but orchard rather than tropical fruit notes. The Loch Lomond came in next - a little smoke, I was expecting a lot more. The 12 years in a refill hogshead really pulling out the vanilla notes in the the form of custard. The Auchentoshan and Braeval pulled up the rear, a little plain - what I'd call evening openers to get the palate acclimated, nothing special but easily drinkable. All nice easy drinkers despite the 50% ABV, at no time did I feel the need to add water, and they all had a level of complexity that required time to enjoy and understand.I was really surprised by the Craigellachie, the sherry butt making a huge impression on the spirit. My first look at Old Malt Cask releases but not the last!