Glenlivet 1971 Douglas Laing 29 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.

The Old Malt Cask series is one of the most established independent labels on the market. It was launched by Douglas Laing in 1998 and bottled by them until 2013 when the brand became part of the Hunter Laing portfolio instead.

This 1971 vintage Glenlivet was bottled in 2001.

Well-known as the oldest licensed distillery in Scotland, for many years ‘Glenlivet’ was a byword for quality, with many single malts using the Glenlivet suffix in an attempt to reap the benefits of associating themselves with the Banffshire distillery. Indeed, owners Pernod-Ricard now put a heavy focus on the brand being ‘The Glenlivet’, encouraging their consumers not to accept any imitations. Glenlivet is in a long-running battle with Glenfiddich for the title of best-selling single malt, with both now selling over a million cases a year. George Smith secured a license to legally distil at Glenlivet in 1824, and it remained family-run until 1978 when Seagram bought a controlling stake in what had by then become The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd, and counting assets such as Glen Grant, Benriach and Longmorn among its portfolio. When Seagram collapsed in 2001, Pernod-Ricard acquired its sizeable Chivas Brothers Scotch whisky division, with Glenlivet the crown jewel in an empire rivalled only by Diageo.

One of 558 bottles.