Provenance?

[Martin]

I've tasted a couple of different Provenance whiskies and as far as I understand, they buy in whisky from others and then refine them in their own way. So far, everything I've tasted that has been labelled as Provenance has had an excellent flavour to it and been noticeably more smokey then the original whisky.

I'm primarily looking for info about one of the many Provenance whiskies that are available. I have tried it once, but can't recall its name, it has very little colour to it and the smokiness is simply out of proportion! I really like Whisky to be filled up with smoke, but this was something out of the ordinary and I was wonderig if anyone knows which one it might have been?

All other info about Provenance is greatly appreciated.

[Jojo]

Martin - I'm looking into to this and should have info very soon. Thanks for your patience!

[Martin]

No worries,

I've tried to get some answers to this question for more then 2 years now, so a couple of days/weeks more isn't a problem.

[Jojo]

Martin - here is the response we received from Douglas Laing & Co. Ltd - perhaps a bit more than you asked for, but here it is nevertheless....

As a family owned company, we are always happy to discuss, clarify and amplify on any points and matters arising about our Provenance and Old Malt Cask bottlings.

The Provenance is bottled by our associated company, Douglas McGibbon, a family name on my mother’s side of the family – she was Morag Hamilton McGibbon and they were of Islay stock – with many of them visible 6 feet under the graveyard of the round Kirk in Bowmore. Morag married my father , Fred Douglas Laing – hence the two companies under the one umbrella.

My dad was a blender and bottler who actually bought out a group of Americans after WW2 inheriting the King of Scots and House of Peers blended Scotch Whiskies at the time with enough whisky stocks to see him through only 2 or 3 years. It was, therefore, necessary through 1948/9 and onwards to start a filling programme at the distilleries of his choice around Scotland to protect his position. That filling programme continues today and forms the backbone to our OMC and PRV selections – enhanced occasionally by exchanges that we make within the trade normally when we offer 10 – 20 casks of our younger stock for 5 – 10 casks of older stock that we might consider appropriate. As a Scotsman, this is rather nice as no cash is involved.

So in terms of the Forum question, no, we do not buy in stock for others. The only way we “refine them” is by deciding whether they are good enough for Single (OMC) Cask bottling of for small batch (PRV) bottling after which we will add distilled water only to reduce the strength to 50 or 46 respectively. We believe one of our unique qualities is that if we decide a Cask is good – but not good enough – then we can blend it into our King of Scots, House of Peers or JPS blended whisky programme.

It is nice to hear from Martin in the Forum that he likes what he has tasted and he noticed it was smokier than the original (though he did not mention the Distillery). I believe that is because we are still rather old fashioned in style and method. Yes, for commercial reasons to stretch the stocks we chill filter our blended Scotch Whiskies when we bottle at 40 or 43%. However, we believe the Malts are enhanced in terms of nose, mouth-feel, palate and finish when they are not chill filtered so that all the essential oils and fats/taste properties are left in the bottle. Martin is probably noticing also the finger printing and enhancement that selecting one or two barrels from a batch of 8 or 10 brings to the equation as these will have been the most interesting, arguably diverse flavours we found on the day of tasting.

We do not colour any of our OMC or PRV Malts so with these two selections you cannot gauge taste from the colour. You might catch a real wallop from an innocent looking wee blondie – so be careful!

Martin may have tasted a Caol Ila – perhaps a Port Ellen or a Bowmore from our Provenance selection – it would have depended how much money he had in his pocket at that time as the Port Ellen – closed in 1983 – does not come cheap but we are one of the few independents with great stock of it. In Europe the selection is wider as the rest of the world accepts 70 cl bottles whereas the USA only takes the 75 cls.

This is probably too much info for you/Martin but hope it helps and is in indicative of the way we try to handle all enquiries. --Fred

[Martin]

I'm very grateful for that very detailed answer! The Whisky I bought was at about 40-50 Euros (Bought in Denmark), if that could be a hint. Didn't know that Bowmore was available as a provenance but I'm sure going to look for it now, since the original Bowmore is a great Whisky and I suspect that the Provenance whisky is even better.

I've tasted the Caol Ila and while I'm not thrileed about the original, the Provenance version is really tasty and good value for money. Never heard of the Port Ellen, but if it's rare I suspect it will be out of my financial reach, cause even if a whisky is great, I have an upper limit at about 50 Euros for whisky.

Thanks once again for this answer, now I know what to look for!

Regards,
Martin

[Martin]

Completely forgot to ask, but does Provenance have a web page or is there another site were I can see all the Whisky's available from them?

[Jojo]

Completely forgot to ask, but does Provenance have a web page or is there another site were I can see all the Whisky's available from them?

Start here - www.douglaslaing.com/products/provenance.htm - but you may need to contact them directly to keep abreast of the entire collection. Let them know Joanne from Whisky.com sent you their way. : )

[Martin]

Thanks a bunch, saved my evening!:)

[Jojo]

You're welcome. And, be sure to contact them through email in you need more info. They are very good about responding and taking care of their customers. : )

[Sir Provenance]

Hi Martin,

I've seen you prepare for the Provenance - Series interested if it is still looking at times but my homepage past, these deals exclusively with the Provenance - Series by Douglas Laing :)

[Martin]

Back to once again say:

THANK YOU!

I found the one I was looking for, it was the Provenance Summer and I recently had my second go at this, all though the first tasting was some time ago.

This time, it had a little more flavour to it then I remembered and it might not have been all that smokey either, but never the less, it was still a great Whisky that I enjoyed thoroughly! Luckily for me, my father isn't as cheap as me when it comes to Whisky, so he spent the cash needed to get a bottle and with a little luck, he enjoyed it as much as I did, so I might get to taste this on a more regular basis from now on:D

[Jojo]

Great story - thanks for sharing. Hope you're having a great holiday season!

Cheers ~ Jojo