Brora 1970 Douglas Laing 32 Year Old / Old and Rare

Brora distillery (originally known as Clynelish) was built by the Duke of Sutherland in 1819. Prized by blenders, the distillery found itself in the hands of DCL in 1925 when they acquired shareholders, Ainslie & Heilbron and John Walker & Sons. DCL closed the distillery in 1967 after opening a new, larger Clynelish next-door, but re-opened the first site, now renamed as Brora the following year. Bottlings of the whisky it produced between then and its second closure in 1983 are now increasingly sought after. Official bottlings of Brora did not appear until 1995, long after its closure, but independent bottlings like this were produced from the late 1980s. In 2017 it was announced that Diageo planned to re-open this formerly lost gem, and the revived distillery filled its first casks on 19^th May 2021.

This is one of only two casks ever bottled from 1970, a year of particularly low production (apparently), and is particularly sought after as no other bottling of Brora exists (that carries the name 'Brora') from before this date.

Douglas Laing were fortunate enough to bottle two casks, this 32 year old and another two years later as a 34 year old.

Douglas Laing & Co was established in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing, affectionately known as “FDL.” The company started out as a blending business, but over time their focus shifted towards independently bottlings single malts. Fred died in 1982, leaving the business to his two sons, Stewart and Fred Jr, who eventually carved it up in 2013, with Stewart leaving to establish Hunter Laing. Fred Jr and his daughter Cara now run Douglas Laing, which continues to bottle single malt and has also revived its blending business. Additionally, the company has recently moved into distilling as well, announcing plans to construct the new Clutha distillery in Glasgow, and taking over Strathearn in Perthshire in 2019.

Brora was distilling heavily peated single malt at this time, to make up for a shortfall in Islay whisky caused by a drought. Vintages from 1973 onwards revert to the lightly peated Highland style.

Bottle 82 of only 297 filled in 2002.