With nearly seven decades experience in the Scotch Whisky industry, leading independent Scotch Whisky specialist, Douglas Laing & Co announced the release of their brand new Island inspired “Vatted” Malt – Rock Oyster.
This is the 3rd vatted malt release in recent years , after the “Scallywag” and “Timorous Beastie”.
Paying homage the sea, Douglas Laing’s Rock Oyster is a Small Batch bottling created using the finest maritime Malts including those distilled on the rightly esteemed Islands of Jura, Islay, Arran and Orkney.
Bottled at 46.8% alcohol strength and traditionally without coloring or chill-filtration , the4 design is also very attractive as much attention and consideration was spent creating the packaging which features a bespoke illustration of both an oyster, and a nautical scene, while telling the story of this seafaring spirit. I really like the packaging of this one…
Rock Oyster, NAS , 46% abv, £35
Nose: Closest thing you can get to eating an apple pie on a beach in Scotland, without flying over. Lovely malty, fruity apples, gentle peat, malt and seaside. Salt, and and very slight hints of ash. You get bits of every island in that one. really so.
Palate: It’s certainly peatier on the palate than you might guess it to be by the nose, some more ash, and peat in addition to pepper , smoke, and some honey, as well as salt. It gets quite spicy with more pepper when you let it swirl in your mouth, and dry.
Finish: Peat, ash, and lots of pepper, going fairly a long way.
Conclusion:
This is a very nice dram indeed, cracking stuff to be honest, and far better than the two previous vatted malts [“Scallywag” and “Timorous Beastie”]. Nice work! it’s really peppery ashy and peaty, far beyond what I was expecting and in a good way, as not to be one dimensional. Lovely stuff. I want that dram in my whixky cabinet, and for 35 quid it is not a bad deal.
Good work lads.
Score: 85/100.
PS: Fancy winning a bottle? they have a competition now LIVE on FB, so check it out to win a bottle of this lovely drop of drammage.
official sample provided by D.Laing