Big Peat was the earliest addition to what became the Douglas Laing family of Remarkable Regional Malts, introduced in 2009 Big Peat at Christmas expressions are bottled at cask strength, but 2016 edition is a little different to the previous ones - it features whiskies from every active distillery on the Isle of Islay, as well as from the closed Port Ellen distillery! The other family members include the Timorous Beastie, Scallywag, Rock Island (formerly Rock Oyster) and Epicurean blends produced using malts from the Highlands, Speyside, the Islands and the Lowlands, respectively.

Douglas Laing & Co was established in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing, affectionately known as “FDL.” The company started out as a blending business, but over time their focus shifted towards independently bottlings single malts. Fred died in 1982, leaving the business to his two sons, Stewart and Fred Jr, who eventually carved it up in 2013, with Stewart leaving to establish Hunter Laing. Fred Jr and his daughter Cara now run Douglas Laing, which continues to bottle single malt and has also revived its blending business. Additionally, the company has recently moved into distilling as well, announcing plans to construct the new Clutha distillery in Glasgow, and taking over Strathearn in Perthshire in 2019.