Douglas Laing Archives

Strathearn Inaugural Bottling and Batch No. 02

Strathearn Inaugural Bottling / Batch No.02

9th July 20259th July 2025Coldorak

Strathearn Distillery is a small-batch single malt Scotch whisky producer located near Methven in Highland Perthshire, Scotland. Founded in 2013 by Tony Reeman-Clark and partners, the distillery operates within a historic 160-year-old stone farm steading, on the site of an earlier 18th-century distillery. Known as probably Scotland’s smallest distillery, Strathearn is distinguished by its artisanal approach, using Maris Otter Malt, small 50-litre casks (at least during the initial ownership) and a notably long fermentation time of up to 144 hours, which contributes to its uniquely fruity character . In 2019, the distillery was acquired by Douglas Laing & Co, a Glasgow-based independent bottler, which expanded its production capacity and launched new expressions such as “The Heart” in 2022. Strathearn manually handles every step from malt preparation to distillation, employing alembic-style stills imported from Portugal. We review the Strathearn Inaugural Bottling and Single Malt Batch No. 02.

Timorous Beastie 40 year old

2nd March 20222nd March 2022Coldorak

Two hundred. This whisky marks the two hundredth whisky reviewed on those electronic pages. And I’m feeling quite happy we (with Julien, with whom I created More Drams Less Drama, and Mac who contributed two reviews as a guest) have reached this humble milestone. Humble, sure, some fantastic writers I read every morning deliver 200 reviews a year and more, and of a high quality to top it all. This is a level acquired with talent and experience, and a level I hope to reach one day. But for now, it took us two and a half years to reach two hundred whiskies reviewed, that’s our small milestone, but we are happy to have reached it. Out of tiny acorns mighty oaks grow, as they say. And that mighty oak will become a beautiful cask to mature fantastic whisky, right? The casks that were used to make this Timorous Beastie 40-year-old were made from oak that came one day, long ago, from tiny acorns.

Port Ellen 1982 Old Malt Cask review

29th January 202028th July 2020Coldorak

A few days ago was my birthday, so I wanted to mark it with a celebratory dram. I thought it was the perfect occasion to taste and enjoy a dram from a lost distillery (not for long though). My choice went to a Port Ellen 1982 Old Malt Cask from the independent bottler Douglas Laing, a dram being 26 years old. But before talking about the dram, let’s talk about the famous Islay distillery.