Jura 1988-2005 - 16 Year Old - Douglas Laing - Old Malt Cask - Single Cask 1704

The Jura distillery was originally built on the island of the same name in 1810, but closed between 1901 and 1963, when distillation recommenced after a rebuild by new owners Charles Mackinlay & Co. Invergordon bought Mackinlay & Co. in 1985 and were then themselves acquired by Whyte & Mackay in 1993. After some spectacular twists and turns, Whyte & Mackay is today owned by Emperador, a subsidiary of the Philippines-based Alliance Global. 

Jura’s single malt whisky has been officially released in the familiar oval bottle since the early 1970s. Official bottlings were historically always bottled as Isle of Jura but today are sometimes labelled simply as Jura. Often dismissed as a little too mainstream, Jura surprised many whisky fans with some acclaimed cask strength peated whiskies in the early years of this century. At auction independent bottlings of 1960s vintage Juras by Cadenhead’s, Samaroli and Signatory are highly sought after.

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, who left the business in 2023. 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.