Douglas Laing Yula 21 Year Old

A Tasty Dram Whisky Blog tasting notes

The second edition of Douglas Laing's Yula 21 Year Old has been out for about a month or so. I finally have some time to properly sit down with it and sample this blended malt.

I marked the first edition as excellent in my notebook (I do not give a numeral score to whiskies). Edition number 2 is essentially the same whisky only one year older. If I read the press release right, Douglas Laing used the same components from last year with one year of extra maturation before marrying and bottling the blend.

I'm not going to repeat the story of Yula (or Iula) here. If you want the whole story, I'd rather say... google it. Without further ado, here are my tasting notes of Douglas Laing's Yula 21 Year Old.

Identity Card


  • Douglas Laing's Yula 21 Year Old
  • Blended Island Malt
  • 21 year old blended malt
  • Alcohol: 52.3% ABV
  • Outturn: 900 bottles

Tasting Notes Douglas Laing's Yula 21 Year Old

Colour: Dark gold. Our nordic princess seems very fond of gold jewelry. Swirling reveals an oily texture.

Nose: Lemon sherbet and briny sea air. Wood stain and salty caramel fudge. Pine wood and resin. Orange peel and a slightly medicinal note. A whisper of smoke, dried apple and lavender icing.

With water a mint-lemon cream appears. The smoke surfaces more overtly. A hearth in a wooden cabin.

Taste: A totally different dram at first. Scorched wood and ash. The second sip is a bit softer but then the smoke hits you again. Bitter wood, allspice, clove and dried mint. A melange of Indian spices

With water: Honey sweetened tea served in a wooden mug toasted on the inside. Dry charcoal, clove and allspice. I know this association does not exist but melon on the BBQ comes very close to what I'm experiencing.

Finish: Burned bread from the toaster and rye rusks. A long dry finish.




A photo posted by Gert Claus (@tastydram) on




Douglas Laing is  positioning itself  more and more as a blender with their range of Remarkable Regional Malts. Although they have been doing it successfully for almost seventy years with the Double Barrel series, Clan Denny and a few others. The Yula trilogy is Douglas Laing's contemporary magnus opum.

From great casks comes a great blend (provided you have a trained nose to construct a whisky). There's no secret behind that. And it's a visually striking bottle too. Pocket Rocket Creative did a great job too.

Picture: Douglas Laing (bottle)
A sample of this whisky was provided by Douglas Laing. Since it’s absolutely no use lying to one’s self,  opinions expressed in this review are of course my own honest opinion.

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