Douglas Laing Blends Scottish and Indian Single Malts
Under its Double Barrel brand, Douglas Laing has created a blended spirit combining single malts from India and Scotland. The blend is called Double Barrel India & Scotland.
Cara Laing, Douglas Laing’s managing director, told Drink Business that the project had been in the works for 2 years. “Essentially waiting until we feel the whiskies are at their optimum point and ready to be carefully married together”.
“We selected to taste a number of Indian single casks from various partners within the wider whisky community and felt these particular casks from the Highland region of India were exactly what we were looking for.”
Douglas Laing Blends First-ever Scottish and Indian Single Malts
Under the Double Barrel brand, blended whiskies have been launched in three varieties:
- a Speyside and Lowland blend,
- an Islay and Highland blend, and
- a Bowmore and Blair Athol 10-year-old which combines liquid from both Scotch distilleries.
It is made from two Scottish casks and two Indian casks, which have not been colored or chill-filtered. Chloe Wood, Douglas Laing’s brand manager, says that samples from each cask were tested to “ensure the flavor profile would be what we expect once blended”.
She added: “Once the blend has been selected, the four chosen casks are married together and left to rest before bottling. As this is a combination of Indian and Scottish Single Malt, the blending and bottling took place in Wales.”
2,000 bottles of the Double Barrel India & Scotland will be launched across Europe and Asia. The distillery has plans to launch in the US as well.
Cara Laing is the third generation of the Laing family to work for the company, which was founded in 1948 by her grandfather, Fred Douglas Laing. Fred blended whisky and established a fillings program with many Scottish distilleries. Cara Laing describes herself as an ‘all-round Whisky enthusiast.
