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Douglas
Laing's new Glasgow distillery on the
banks of the River Clyde has been named
the Clutha Distillery and is set to
produce a sherried single malt.
Douglas Laing this week unveiled that its new Glasgow
distillery project in the heart of the
city, on the banks of the River Clyde,
will be named the ‘Clutha Distillery’.
The name ‘Clutha’, meaning Clyde in
Gaelic, reflects both the company’s
heritage and the location of the new
Distillery which if everything runs
smoothly with planning and construction
is scheduled to open in the Autumn of
2019.
Douglas Laing & Co was founded in the
city of Glasgow back in 1948 by Fred
Douglas Laing and has remained firmly
based in the city to this day, now a
third generation independent Scotch
whisky specialist family firm the
construction of a new distillery seems a
natural progression for the family run
business given their knowledge and
experience of Scotch whisky and the whisky
business.
The company’s founder, Fred Douglas
Laing grew up overlooking the Clyde, and
was immersed in its shipping through the
1920s and 30s, before establishing his
Whisky business on the Broomielaw so it
is rather appropriate that the Clutha
Distillery will be located in the same
area.
 Although Clutha will technically be a
Lowland distillery, Douglas Laing have
indicated that it will not be a typical
Lowland style whisky which the
distillery will be producing, with their 70 years experience behind them the
Glasgow firm will certainly know the
Scotch whisky market and what style of
whisky it is whisky enthusiasts desire
and with that in mind Douglas Laing tell
me that Clutha will be:
" a specialist, high end Single Malt with a
heavy Sherry influence through its
maturation in ex Sherry casks.
Beautifully crafted without colouring or
chill-filtration, Clutha Malt will
differ from traditional Lowland styles
offering a thick, mouth-coating Whisky
that is sure to impress."
The £10.7 million project which will see
the creation of the new Distillery and
bottling complex in conjunction with the
corporate head office, visitor centre,
Whisky archive and bar/bistro. On top of
the construction jobs the project will
create, once up and running the new
Clutha Distillery is set to generate 41
new jobs with the Douglas Laing
workforce set to almost treble from 24
to 65.
Cara Laing, third generation member of
the Laing whisky family and Director of
Whisky for the company, commented: "We
have long held this ambition for Douglas
Laing to operate its own Distillery and
bottling operation in Glasgow. Not only
will it bring Whisky distilling back to
the South Side of the city, it will
create welcome jobs, generate
significant additional high-value
exports."
The new venture will enable the firm to
focus on developing its highly
successful global export trade - the
company already sells to 50-plus
countries worldwide.
The new distillery will allow further
and deeper growth into existing markets
including North America, Europe and Asia
Pacific markets, in particular China,
plus the UK domestic market.
I am guessing it will be more than a few
years yet before you will be able to
sample a big sherried Clutha Single Malt
Whisky so meanwhile I am sure Douglas
Laing will have something of interest to
satisfy your taste buds, you will find
the current Douglas
Laing whisky range of single malts and
creative blended malts available from
specialist online whisky retailers such
as The Whisky Exchange
and
Master of
Malt
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