Old & Rare Caol Ila 32 Year

Tasting Notes

Producer Tasting Note

Nose: This pale-gold coloured whisky has an intense and complex nose with liquorice, sea salt, peat smoke, leather, and lemon juice.

Palate: Pleasantly soft and sweet on the palate, with a chocolate and nutty quality overlaying the Islay peat influence.

Finish: Toffee and citrus notes of the long, satisfying finish.

Distillery

The Following was written by Andrew Ferguson for the June 2018 edition of Celtic Life Magazine.

Scotland’s Caol Ila distillery is named for the body of water it gazes across, the majestic ‘Sound of Islay’ - a narrow but turbulent ribbon of water separating the islands of Islay and Jura.

The distillery is built almost precariously into the rocks of a steep embankment on a tiny bay. As with all of Islay’s distilleries, Caol Ila had to be supplied exclusively by sea until the middle of the 2oth century. Ships full of barley and oak barrels from the mainland sought a safe anchor from the tempestuous North Atlantic sea. They would return to the mainland with casks of the peaty, smoky, single malt whisky which Islay is still famous for. Then, as today, the vast majority of these casks were destined for blending.

Caol Ila - pronounced “cul-ee-lah” - is a facility full of contradictions. It is, by some margin, the largest of Islay’s eight active distilleries, but it also produces one of Scotland’s most dependable whiskies. Whisky Advocate Magazine refers to the distillery as ‘Mr. Consistent’ - a reflection on how few poor bottlings and casks of the whisky are in the marketplace. Is the size of the distillery and its efficiencies counterintuitively an asset? Perhaps, but these factors also make it one of the least interesting distilleries to visit on Islay, with one crucial footnote; the view from the Still Room at Caol Ila is unrivalled by any other distillery in Scotland, and possibly the world.

The Still Room’s floor-to-ceiling windows offer a panoramic view across the Sound of Islay to the dramatic Isle of Jura beyond. Whales, dolphins and sea otters all frolic in the waters out front, while the sun and clouds take turns revealing and obscuring the wilds of Jura.

In addition to the distilleries, there is much to see on Islay. One would be hard pressed, in fact, to see all eight of the island’s active distilleries in three or four days. I am torn when asked to recommend which distilleries visitors should see; in a perfect world the answer would be all of them. Islay is, after all, Mecca for disciples of malt whisky gospel. But when a distillery needs to be cut, Coal Ila is often the first on the chopping block. Other than the view, the distillery isn’t all that interesting compared with its neighbours.

Although its output is two and three times that of the next largest distilleries, almost none of Caol Ila’s production is matured on the island. More than 99 per cent of its whisky matures in warehouses on the mainland.

The vast majority of Caol Ila’s production is earmarked for blends - most importantly the world’s second bestselling blended scotch whisky, Johnny Walker Black Label. While less than 5 per cent of the distillery’s production is set aside for bottling as single malt by the owners, Diageo, a quirk of the Scotch whisky industry’s supply chains has made Caol Ila the most widely available Islay single malt from independent bottlers. Whisky companies trade casks with one another to add complexity to their blends. Some of these casks find their way into the hands of independent bottlers; Gordon MacPhail, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Port Askaig, and others regularly bottle excellent single cask and small-batch bottlings of Caol Ila.

If you make the trek to Islay (and you should), and have the time, be sure to pop by Caol Ila to admire the view. Whether on tour from the Still Room or from the pier in front of the distillery, the views of the Sound of Islay and Jura - regardless of the weather - will take your breath away. More importantly, try every bottling of the whisky you can find; few, if any, of ‘Mr. Consistent’ are likely to disappoint!

Independent Bottler

Yes, these are two separate companies, but it is difficult to talk about one without talking about the other. So, let's kill two birds with one stone, shall we? - Evan

The Hatfields & McCoys. The Montagues and Capulets. The Laings and... The Laings?

History is full of family feuds. It is also full of long-running game shows promoting the vicious rivalry. Sometimes, though, a family doesn't need to have an outside influence to struggle against because the issue lies within.

The History

Douglas Laing is an independent bottler that was founded in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing after he acquired the rights to the King Of Scots Blend. Fred Sr. and his wife had two sons. Stewart Hunter Laing was born in 1946. Fred Hamilton Laing (Fred Jr.) was born in 1950. Both brothers eventually joined Fred Sr. working at Douglas Laing. Before that though, they both had apprenticeships at other Scotch Whisky companies; something that seems to be a hallmark of families who make Scotch Whisky their trade.

Stewart Laing joined his father Fred Sr. at Douglas Laing in 1967. He had previously apprenticed at Bruichladdich Distillery and other places within the industry. Stewart and his wife had their first son, Scott, in 1979. A few years later in 1982, their second son Andrew was born.

Fred Laing Jr's first apprenticeship was at Whyte and Mackay starting in 1968, where he learned all parts of whisky production and business, including the art of blending. From there he moved to White Horse Distillers in 1969 to further enhance his blending knowledge. In 1972, he officially joined his Father, Fred Sr., at the family business of Douglas Laing. In 1982, Fred Jr's daughter Cara was born.

Fred Sr., AKA Fred Douglas Laing; the founder of Douglas Laing & Co, passed away in 1984. It was then up to his sons to run the company on their own.

Splitting The Family Company

Brothers' Stewart and Fred Jr. quietly – or not so quietly – didn’t really get along. This eventually led the two to go their separate ways in 2013. Stewart Laing took with him some brands created at his former company such as Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare. Fred Laing Jr. kept the Douglas Laing and brands such as Big Peat, Old Particular, and of course, the exclusive rights to his fabulous moustache.

Fred Laing Jr. & daughter Cara Laing - the new Douglas Laing

Douglas Laing continued on, operating under Fred Jr's stewardship to this day. They have created some new labels since, focusing more on the Blends and Blended Malt side of things than Hunter Laing typically does. Fred Laing was joined by his daughter Cara at about the same time as the split.

Douglas Laing does bottle single casks of whisky under the Provenance, Old Particular and XOP labels. However, with Fred Jr's knowledge in blending and the brand King of Scots still in hand, the company has kept a big focus on blending, introducing an entire line of regional blended malts over the late 2010s. The company has dubbed this lineup The Remarkable Regional Malts of Scotland. These include:

• Big Peat - a blended malt made entirely of single malts from Islay
• Scallywag - representing the Speyside region
• Rock Island (originally named Rock Oyster) - made from malts from the Inner Hebridean Isles of Skye, Mull, Jura, Islay, with the Orkneys and Arran thrown in just for kicks
• Timorous Beastie - name taken from a Robert Burns poem with malt selected from Highland distilleries
• The Gauldrons - featuring a blend of Campbeltown malts
• The Epicurean - representing the dapper Lowland malts

The Douglas Laing company announced the acquisition of its first distillery in October 2019. The Strathearn Distillery, founded in 2013, is located near Methven in Perthshire. Technically located in the Southern Highlands, it is near the lowlands region and about an hour and a half drive from Douglas Laing's headquarters in Glasgow. 

Stewart Laing & sons Scott and Andrew Laing form Hunter Laing

Hunter Laing was founded in 2013 by chairman Stewart Hunter Laing and his sons Andrew and Scott. Hunter Laing came to being from a dividing of assets owned by the company Douglas Laing & Co, which Stewart and his brother Fred Laing Jr. had operated together since Fred Laing Sr. – their father passed away in 1984.

The new company has more of a focus on Single Malt Whisky and often single casks than Douglas Laing, with new releases under Old Malt Cask, Old & Rare, Sovereign, The First Editions, and Hepburn's Choice hitting store shelves periodically. Regular releases as well as the mystery peated Islay Single Malt under the name Scarabus are also consistently available. Oh, and Hunter Laing also bottles rum under the wonderfully silly moniker Kill Devil.

Three years after the split, in 2016, Hunter Laing announced plans to build a distillery on Islay. The company’s Ardnahoe Distillery officially opened in 2019. The first Single Malt whisky releases from Ardnahoe hit shelves in 2024.

It is now more than a decade since Stewart and Fred Laing split the business and their progeny joined them in earnest. The brothers and their respective companies of Hunter Laing and Douglas Laing still show much of the whisky DNA that their father built into it, and them.