Laphroaig 1976 Scotia Royale 35 Year Old

The Scotia Royale brand was devised by A. Gillie & Co, former proprietors of the Glen Scotia distillery. The company produced Scotia Royale as a blend up until the closure of the distillery in 1984. Its subsequent ownership, Loch Lomond Distillers, revived the brand around 2012 as an independent bottling label, and produced only a handful of these well-aged single cask releases before it was sold to a UK based private equity management firm called Exponent in 2014, and a again in 2019 to Hillhouse Capital Management in Asia. The subsequent ownership preferred to focus on the brand as a blend again, so these single malt releases are a real rarity.

This 1976 vintage Laphroaig is one of 211 bottles.

Laphroaig is the largest of the three heavyweight Islay distilleries in Kildalton, out-stripping the production capacity of neighbours, Ardbeg and Lagavulin, by over 1 million litres per annum. Despite its traditional appearance, Laphroaig was always a forward-thinking distillery. It was bottled as a single malt as early as the 1920s, an unfashionable option at the time, especially for a peated whisky. They were also shrewd in capitalising on post-Prohibition America to add trademark sweetness to their spirit through the use of imported ex-bourbon casks, and hired Scotland’s first ever female distillery manager, Bessie Williamson, in 1954. Laphroaig is one of only a handful of distilleries in Scotland to still use in-house maltings, providing them with 20% of their annual requirements, and contributing to the distillery’s unique flavour profile.