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Douglas Laing & Co is a Glasgow based
independent blender and bottler which
was established
by Fred Douglas Laing over 60 years ago
in 1948 and today is in the hands of his
son Fred.
Fred
senior started the business by buying
the company that owned the King of
Scots. Then, by starting his own filling
programme which is still carried on to this
day, he developed a great nose and kept
his notes in a "special book". When it
came time for his two sons Stewart and his brother
Fred to enter the whisky business, he was
shrewd enough to send them out to work
elsewhere.
 Stewart went to work
for Ballantines and Fred went to Whyte &
Mackay and White Horse. Meanwhile Fred
senior developed their blends and, when
he died in 1984, he had written down all
the specs in a "special book" for
them
to work from. Going to work elsewhere
helped Stewart & Fred to build up a
network of contacts, but the special
book continues to be invaluable for
them.
A large part
of the Laing portfolio stems from their
extensive filling programme, first put
in place for their King of Scots blend
and now stored and maturing in
distillery warehouses across Scotland.
Douglas
Laing & Co started seriously bottling single
malt whiskies in the 1998 to cater
for the increasing interest in single
malts. They have now released thousands
of single malts and are considered one
of the top independent bottlers in the
industry offering an excellent portfolio
of single malts which have been bottled
in small batches or from single casks.
In May 2013 the two brothers announced
that they were going their separate ways
and focusing on different projects. Fred
Laing realised his career-long ambition
of taking total control of Douglas Laing
& Co. the business his father Fred
Douglas Laing established in 1948, which
is now regarded as one of Scotland’s
most successful independent Scotch
Whisky blenders and bottlers. As Fred
restructured for the future, he
announced that the company will maintain
tradition with a senior appointment from
the third generation of the family; his
daughter Cara Laing who joined the
company as Head of Brands Marketing
having previously led both Bowmore and
Glen Garioch Single Malts as Marketing
Manager.
When the two brothers split the
assets of Douglas Laing were also split,
Fred took total control of Douglas
Laing.
Stewart, under the new company Hunter Laing & Co. retained Old Malt Cask, the
Old & Rare Selection, Douglas (of Drumlanrig) range of Single Malts,
Douglas Blend, House Of Peers, Sovereign
Single Grain and John Player Special
blend as well as the bottling facility
in East Kilbride.
Douglas Laing under Fred retained the Single Cask Provenance
range, Director’s Cut, Double Barrel,
Premier Barrel, Clan Denny Malts and
Grains, Epicurean Blend, the King Of
Scots range, McGibbon's and Big Peat.
In September 2013 Douglas Laing
launched
Douglas Laing Old Particular;
a new core Single Malt Single Cask range
and the first new brand in the new era
at Douglas Laing.
Today you can probably find more than
100 different expressions of Douglas
Laing whisky available at any one time.
They offer a very extensive portfolio
of varying ages from 10 up to 45 years
of age.
Their extensive range comes from over 60
years of filling great whiskies, and
working hard to source and exchange good
whisky and building strong relationships
with a wide range of distillery owners
to ensure a constant supply of top
quality malt and grains to their
customers.
Douglas
Laing Whisky Range
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