A Douglas Laing Brace

Douglas Laing were a new company to me when I started at the Whisky Shop. I'd sold whiskies from the Signatory range in my brief spell helping out at Weavers, and been a customer of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society for a number of years but really that was the sum total of my experience of indy bottlers.

It was therefore quite exciting to get the chance to try a couple from their range. Many of their range are single-cask, never to be repeated whiskies, which are always great for those that are looking for something a bit different and individual without paying the real big bucks for limited distillery releases. I think it's fair to say that these are whiskies for a rather more selective market, something a little more geeky if you will, but not the collectors and hoarders so much as the drinkers. These whiskies are less about big-release fanfares, pouring whisky over Playboy models and kryptonite-encrusted bottles in sabre-toothed tiger skin lined boxes,* than whisky for the pleasure it gives to drink it.

Old Malt Cask Macallan 16

The nose was initially quite grassy, it wasn't til I'd left it to open up that I got more wood, along with a dusting of demerara sugar and juicy sultana. On the palate it really shined, lots of citrus notes and orange pith accompanied by a spicy ginger note. The finish was dry and malty.

Distilled March 1996, bottled July 2012, 189 bottles from a refill butt. Bottled at 50% abv. Not coloured or chill-filtered.

'Clan Scott' Bladnoch 17

In comparison to The Macallan, Bladnoch is a malt I know almost nothing about, especially having tried an 18 year old independent bottling of Macallan only a week or so ago. This was the first whisky I had tried from Bladnoch so I suppose expectations were governed more by regional profile than the distillery itself.

It has a greenish hint to the pale gold colour. On the nose it's grassy, with fresh hay notes. A drop of water allowed the delicate flavours to develop, I got green apple, gooseberry and lemon-meringue pie; a slight creaminess to temper the fruit. There's a slight tannic grip to the finish

Bottled at 46% abv.

Note: I tried these whiskies through work. I'd like to think this review remains free of bias however. If I hadn't enjoyed the whiskies. I wouldn't have felt the need to write about them.

* The worrying thing is that midst my hyperbole there is some truth.

What's in an age?

I've not long started working for The Whisky Shop. I don't consider myself an expert in whisky; while I do have qualifications in wines and spirits through the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, wine is the dominant part of the syllabuses and whisky is only a part of the spirits components. Much of what I have learnt about whisky prior to working in the Whisky Shop is through working in wine retail, reading around and, of course, drinking it! So my new line of work is very much a continuation of that learning process, and it's one reason I enjoy it; I get to learn every day.

A gentleman came in a while ago asking about Jura Superstition. It's a whisky that's obviously highly regarded by Whisky Shop customers, having just won the whisky of the year award, but because it didn't carry an age statement he had his doubts. I offered a sample but it was a bit early and he declined, and so the 'proof of the pudding' adage couldn't be applied.

In that gentleman's opinion the age statement on a whisky is a vital thing. Even as a fan of Jura he wasn't prepared to buy a version that didn't carry that all important statement. This raises an interesting question about whisky in general, but to use a specific example; does a heavily peated whisky such as Ardbeg need to be ten years old before becoming a fantastic drop? Well, if a scientific sample of the rate of how quickly a bottle of their Still Young got drank round at my house a few years back is anything to go by, then it's a resounding no! It's a whisky that's all about the peat, and I would argue that a much older version, while being more expensive, may well lose that freshness and vitality that makes Ardbeg the purest expression of what Islay is all about. However, an expression that could mix that freshness with older cask character? Well, that would be a different animal indeed.

As was pointed out in a comment after a post I wrote back in October about blended whiskies, even single malts are blended, even if they're not referred to as 'blended whiskies' per se. It's becoming conventional wisdom that whiskies can be great at younger ages than ever before, and so it follows that younger whiskies can contribute an important character and complexity to a single malt. The flip side, and this is why it's interesting that sherry barrel advocates Macallan have come out and rejected age statements in their younger (below 18 yo) whiskies, is that if much of the whisky's character does come from the cask, then that point of maturity becomes crucial, because I sure as hell don't want my whisky to have 'character' that comes from caramel colouring.

The problem is one of reassurance. How can consumers be convinced that age statements aren't being removed as a short-cut, a way of getting the same money out of a customer whilst reducing costs? Well, I'd say take the time to pop into your friendly local whisky specialist and they'll let you try some to prove it one way or the other, and I'm not even going to attempt to claim a lack of bias with that one.