Port Dundas 1988-2014 - 25 Year Old - Hunter Laing - The Sovereign - Single Cask 10876

The Port Dundas whisky distillery was built in the north of Glasgow in the early 1800s and began making grain whisky alongside malt whisky in the 1840s.  By 1886, when Alfred Barnard made it the first stop on his epic distillery tour for The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, Port Dundas was making over 11 million litres of spirit per year and had already become a key member of the original Distillers Company Limited (DCL) grain whisky cartel.

Port Dundas was extensively damaged by fires in 1903 and 1916. The distillery was rebuilt both times, but production was sporadic until a further major refit after WWII, by which time Port Dundas was only making single grain whisky for DCL’s blends. Port Dundas was modernised and expanded again in the 1970s and had a production capacity of around 39 million litres per annum when owners Diageo finally decided to close the facility in 2010, the distillery’s Bicentenary year.

Hunter Laing was created in 2013 after founder Stewart Laing divided the assets of the Douglas Laing company with his brother Fred Laing Jr.  The new Hunter Laing company received the classic Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare Platinum Selection single malt ranges in the split from Douglas Laing, and Stewart’s sons Andrew and Scott Laing merged their Edition Spirits brand into the new company.

As well as the Old Malt Cask, Old & Rare and First Edition series, Hunter Laing now bottle several new ranges of single malt and grain whisky, including Distiller’s Art, Hepburn’s Choice and the Scarabus brand mystery Islay whisky. In 2017 Hunter Laing began construction of the Ardnahoe distillery on Islay, which produced its first spirit the following year.