Glenlochy 1952-2001 - 49 Year Old - Douglas Laing - Old Malt Cask - Single Cask

Glenlochy is one of the overlooked lost distilleries of the Highlands. The distillery was founded in 1898 but production was relatively small and Glenlochy’s output was only ever destined for the blending vats. Glenlochy was closed in 1983 by Diageo forerunners DCL during the whisky lake crisis and the distillery buildings were almost completely demolished in 1991 to make way for a hotel.

Glenlochy was never officially bottled as a single malt during its lifetime, but a handful of superb Rare Malts editions of the 1969 vintage appeared in the mid-1990s. Outstanding independent bottlings of Glenlochy have been released by Cadenhead’s, Signatory, Gordon & MacPhail and the SMWS, among others. At the time of writing in 2022 there had been no new releases of Glenlochy since 2015 so it appears that the last stock of this very fine old school Highland single malt whisky may be finished.

Founded in the late 1940s by Fred Douglas Laing Sr, the Douglas Laing company spent decades as whisky blenders and exporters before Fred Laing’s sons Stewart and Fred Jr introduced the highly influential Old Malt Cask single malt range in 1998. The McGibbon’s Provenance and Old & Rare Platinum series followed soon afterwards, establishing Douglas Laing as one of Scotland’s finest independent bottlers.

In 2013 Stewart Laing left the business, taking Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare to his new company Hunter Laing, while Fred Laing Jr was joined by his daughter Cara and her husband Chris Leggatt from Morrison Bowmore. The Old Particular and Extra Old Particular ranges were introduced to replace Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare, and the company has since moved into distilling with the purchase of Strathearn distillery in 2019 and the construction of Clutha distillery in Glasgow.