Douglas Laing Tasting Room

Since beginning my whisky journey and starting to write this blog, the single most amazing thing that has happened as a result, is the lifelong, brilliant friends that I have made. Whisky is a fascinating drink and it has been my experience that it brings people together in a way that nothing else does. I have had the opportunity to try some amazing whiskies and visit some incredible places, but every one of those opportunities has only been imbued with meaning by the people that I have shared them with.

The last of these amazing experiences was a trip to Campbeltown via Loch Lomond, which I got to share with Chris and Jamie of @TheDramTeam and my good buddy and blogging collaborator @RealDramTom. The next five posts here at The Real Dram will be write ups of our trip, focussing on specific whisky experiences. The first of which was a visit to the home of Douglas Laing.

Douglas Laing Tasting Room

Douglas Laing are one of a handful of family owned businesses that are still in operation in the Scotch industry. They create a range of small batch and single cask, single malt and blended whiskies that offer a fantastically affordable way for the whisky fan to try high quality whiskies from across the spectrum of flavour profiles that are available.

We were lucky enough to be invited to come along to visit their Glasgow based home and even luckier to be invited up to the top floor and into the tasting room. There we spent a happy hour trying some fantastic whiskies, you can see pictures and details of some of the highlights below.

What amazes me about companies like Douglas Laing is the way that they have built a huge catalogue of whisky that is rich in diversity of spirit flavour and profile, whilst maintaining an absolute commitment to quality. Safe to say that whether you get chance to try one of their least expensive whiskies right through to their most expensive that you will be in for a treat.

A limited release of one of their regional malt collection, this whisky was biscuity, creamy and zesty. Full of malt flavours, almonds and honey sweetness it was the perfect “breakfast malt”

A fantastically flavourful single grain whisky. This dram was a lovely mix of creamy vanilla, toasted nuts and caramelsised sugar, like the perfect liquid Crème brûlée.

An oddly savoury sherried whisky that was spicy, resinous and full of Christmas cake flavours.

Classic Caol Ila, with smokey bacon, salty maritime flavours, depth of oak and toffee sweetness.

This special whisky comes from the Xtra Old Particular range and was a real treat to get to try. Its flavour profile changed and grew with each sip, but as an attempt at description it took in the following notes of the zest and fruit of grilled pineapple, the smoke and earthyness of tobacco smoke and a dark leathery, nutty sweetness.

Another of the Remarkable Regional Malts, this one seeks to showcase the region of Campbeltown. It was maritime, smokey, yet woody and sweet with brown sugar notes. A firm favourite amongst our group and a good sign post of what was to come along our trip!

We throughly enjoyed our time at Douglas Laing and if you want to pick up any of the drams that we tried, then head over to their website, which gives you a much wider variety of whiskies and a lot more information about the company.