A HISTORIC Glasgow whisky company has appointed the granddaughter of its founder as its new boss.
Cara Laing was last night named as the new managing director of Douglas Laing & Co, the blending and bottling business which was established in 1948.
Ms Laing has been with the family-owned firm since 2013, having originally entered the industry in 2006.
The firm’s website notes that after graduating from university with a marketing degree, Ms Laing joined Whyte & Mackay as brand manager for Jura single malt. Ms Laing then become marketing manager for Bowmore and Glen Garioch single malts at Morrison Bowmore Distillers.
She became the youngest woman to appointed a Keeper of the Quaich, a prestigious society for those who show outstanding commitment to the Scotch whisky industry, in 2014.
READ MORE: Buzzworks, Di Maggio's shine amid the hospitality gloom
In a post on professional networking site LinkedIn last night, Douglas Laing & Co said: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Cara Laing as managing director of Douglas Laing & Co.
“Established in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing, a gentleman with a genuine love and serious passion for whisky, Douglas Laing & Co has remained an independent, family-run business. Transitioning through three generations, the mantle has now been assumed by Cara, the granddaughter of the founder.
“Cara brings forth a wealth of heritage, history, and expertise that has been instrumental in refining the Douglas Laing process and perfecting the creation of consistently extraordinary whiskies.”
Douglas Laing & Co was established by Fred Douglas Laing in 1948. It was subsequently run for more than 40 years by his sons Fred and Stewart until, in 2013, the brothers split the brands and assets of the business into two separate entities as part of succession planning for the next generation.
Fred Laing retained the Douglas Laing name and was joined by daughter Cara as head of brands marketing. Stewart Laing set up new Scotch whisky venture, Hunter Laing & Co, alongside his sons Andrew and Scott.
Fred Laing is the chairman of Douglas Laing & Co.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here