Hunter Laing Whisky
| For three generations, Hunter Laing has bottled some of the finest whisky Scotland has to offer – without owning a single cask to start with. Today the family has also become distillers in their own right. |
About Hunter Laing
Hunter Laing & Co. is a classic name in the Scotch whisky trade, built for generations on bottling other people's casks rather than distilling their own. The family business holds substantial stocks of both young and old whisky from many different distilleries, giving them the freedom to shape the series they bring to market. For collectors, the name matters because so many releases are single cask – each cask its own story, its own label, its own limited bottle count – while beginners can use Hunter Laing as a shortcut to tasting distilleries rarely seen as standalone releases.
History & background
Hunter Laing & Co. was founded in 2013, when brothers Stewart and Scott Laing chose to split the old family firm Douglas Laing into two independent companies. The family's roots in the whisky trade go back much further, and over the years they've built a reputation as one of the great, well-respected independent bottlers. A major new chapter arrived in April 2019, when the family became distillers themselves with the opening of Ardnahoe Distillery on Islay – their first ever distillery, on the island's north-east coast.
Production & style
As a bottler, Hunter Laing doesn't distil in the traditional sense (aside from Ardnahoe), but instead selects, matures and bottles casks from a long list of Scottish distilleries. The firm regularly sends out sample bottles of its casks so international importers can pick the releases best suited to their market – a process that gives series like Old Malt Cask and The Sovereign their wide spread of styles and ages.
Signature style
Varied, authentic, single cask
No fixed flavour profile, but a guarantee of unfiltered distillery character – each cask shows the individual distillery raw and relatively untouched by heavy vatting.
Facts
| Bottler | Hunter Laing & Co. |
| Founded | 2013 (family whisky history much older) |
| Pronounced | "Hunt-er Lehng" |
| Region | Glasgow (office), Islay (own distillery) |
| Country | Scotland |
| Owner | The Laing family |
| Official website | hunterlaing.com |
Did you know?
Hunter Laing named their own distillery Ardnahoe after the small loch it sits beside – it's the easternmost of Islay's distilleries, looking straight across the sound to the neighbouring island of Jura.
If you like Hunter Laing, you should also try:
Douglas Laing Whisky, Signatory Vintage Whisky og Cadenhead's Whisky.

