NOEL ON WHISKY: DOUGLAS LAING COMPLETES OLD PARTICULAR COLLECTION

DOUGLAS LAING'S O P “ELEMENTS” SINGLE CASK COLLECTION

Leading Scotch Whisky specialist, Douglas Laing & Co, had announced a series of Old Particular Single Cask Limited Edition bottlings for 2019, inspired by the four Elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. This has now seen fruition.

The Old Particular Single Cask Collection features four Whiskies each paired with one of the Elements – they were to be available globally from specialist retailers worldwide.

The Old Particular Elements series consists of Craigellachie 12 (fire), a Cameronbridge 27 (air), a Caol Ila 8 (earth) and a Jura 12 (water).

"OUR CASK SELECTION AND PACKAGING DESIGN PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE NATURAL ELEMENTS THAT CONTRIBUTE SO HEAVILY TO THE PRODUCTION OF SCOTCH WHISKY. FROM OAK TREES TO CHARRED CASKS, PEAT AND WATER, THIS SPECIALIST SINGLE CASK COLLECTION WILL CELEBRATE THE ROLE OF THE ELEMENTS OF NATURE IN THE WHISKY-MAKING CYCLE.” Cara Laing, Director of Whiskies, Douglas Laing

The series took off in Feb 2019 with the “Fire” bottling which, very aptly, is paired with a mocha-spiced Craigellachie 12 YO bottled at 53.9% ABV from a well-fired and characterful Sherry butt. All the Old Particular Elements Single Casks are to be bottled at natural cask strength and offered without colouring or chill-filtration. Moreover, the packaging for these specialist bottlings depicts an intricate illustration of each of the four Elements.

The second release in the Old Particular Elements Collection from Douglas Laing was a single grain Scotch whisky produced at the Cameronbridge distillery, the Cameronbridge 27 YO 1991 bottled at 56.5% ABV and paired with “Air”.

The third release was a Caol Ila 8 YO bottled at 58.5% ABV representing the element “Earth”, bottled at natural cask strength without colouring or chill-filtration. This cask was distilled in June 2010 and bottled May 2019.

A 12 YO single malt whisky that is shortly to be released will mark the end of the four-part series: the Jura 12 Years Water Edition with a cask strength of 54.3% ABV. The Jura 12 Years Water Edition was finished in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butt, which rounded up the Jura whisky’s salty, maritime character with wintery spicy notes and toffee aromas.