On Monday evening, Douglas Laing invited drammers from all over the world to the Facebook fanpage of their Lowland blended malt The Epicurean. There, the company’s Global Brand Ambassador Jan and UK BizDev Manager David hosted round two of A Remarkable Regional Mix Up!, which is a super-fun mixture between a guided online whisky tasting and a try-it-yourself cocktail course. While the first iteration focused on Big Peat from Islay and Timorous Beastie from the Highlands, this time our attention was directed at – you might have guessed this already – The Epicurean from the Lowlands.

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After a short introduction of Douglas Laing in general and the Remarkable Regional Malts series in particular, Jan and David went on to fill their audience in on the history of the Lowlands. While cities as big as Glasgow and Edinburgh lie within the confines of this classic whisky region, it is not necessarily the most well-known of Scotland’s five distinct malt making areas. Jan and David named two reasons for this.

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First, we do not find as many distilleries in the Lowlands as we do elsewhere in Scotland. This is because Lowland distilleries were not exactly easy to hide from the taxmen in the old days of illegal whisky distilling. Consequently, many rogue distillers preferred to set up camp in the mountains or on the islands. And second, this territory’s light and elegant signature style does sometimes get a little underappreciated by whisky lovers. Yet, if you take your time to get to know the gallant spirits distilled by Auchentoshan & Co., you will find their nifty notes of grass, fruit and lemon highly desirable. Just like the Epicurean (and I am talking about the cheeky chap himself now) will never be the loudest or wildest guest at a party, a typical Lowland dram will also neither grab you by the throat like an Islay malt nor coat your tongue in honey like a Highland pour. Instead, it will be an even-tempered yet sophisticated fellow, whose pleasant company you will enjoy at pretty much any time of the day. Thankfully, more and more people seem to share this opinion and thus the Lowlands have lately undergone some kind of a renaissance. The malts produced there have seen a gain in popularity and new distilleries, such as Kingsbarns or Ardgowan, have gone into production.

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Mixology-wise, we came up with a refreshing Horse’s Neck and a fruitastic Appleyard – both of which were very easy to make and helluva tasty to drink. The Epicurean, which wholeheartedly embodies the distinctive Lowland flavours listed above, cuts as fine a figure in a cocktail as it does on its own. To check out the delicious creations many of the live stream’s viewers have produced, hop over to Instagram and search for the official hashtag #TheEpicurean. And if you want to enjoy these two wonderful summertime sips yourself, check out the recipes on Douglas Laing’s website, get the ingredients from the supermarket (you really don’t need any fancy stuff here) and let your inner cocktail mixer go wild!

by Tobi

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The Epicurean (NAS/ Blended Scotch Whisky/ Lowlands / 46.8% / ~35 Euro)

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Douglas Laing: http://www.douglaslaing.com/
The Epicurean on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dltheepicurean/
Archived live stream: https://www.facebook.com/DLTheEpicurean/[…]?type=3&theater
The cocktail recipes: https://www.douglaslaing.com/news/[…]Mix-Up