Page 86 - Sharp November 2024

DOWN TO A SCIENCE
GLENMORANGIE EXPLORES A BOLD NEW PATH IN REIMAGINING ITS FLAGSHIP EXPRESSION
By Christine Sismondo
H OW DO DISTILLERS KNOW WHEN A WHISKY IS AS GOOD
as it gets? Well, in the barrel room at The Glenmorangie Distillery Co., there’s no magic formula. The quest to find the sweet spot for each unique expression of Scotland’s favourite single malt is a work in progress, based on years of research and
experimentation.
Case in point: Glenmorangie The Original 10 Years Old, a standard-bearer and a perennial favourite with a loyal following, thanks to its smooth body and stunning balance of fruit and vanilla. Some whisky makers might choose not to mess with a good thing. Still, Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Highland distillery’s director of distilling and whisky creation — well-known for challenging the status quo when it gets in the way of progress — decided it was time to see if it could be improved.
“My team and I started to wonder whether we could reimagine our flagship expression, The Original, for even more deliciousness,” says Lumsden. “The result is The Original 12 Years Old! Smoother, creamier, and even more complex, I like to think it ‘turns up the volume’ on our signature whisky’s classic notes of orange, vanilla, peach, and honey.”
Experts also agree that the new expression is even more lush, silky, and flavour-forward than before. This past spring, even before it was widely released, The Original 12 Years Old scooped a coveted gold medal at the prestigious World Whiskies Awards.
Although many associate Lumsden with innovation and creativity (to the point that some whisky writers affectionately refer to him as a “mad scientist”), the director still has a deep love for the essential DNA of Glenmorangie, which has a signature profile that’s central to the identity of this singular spirit.
“In 1984, when I was studying in Edinburgh for my PhD, I tasted single malt scotch whisky for the very first time,” he recalls. “That whisky was Glenmorangie. I’ll never forget my first magical sip and how I became beguiled by its complex range of flavours.”
Fourteen years after that first taste, Lumsden was hired to helm The Glenmorangie Distillery Co., where he immediately started playing with experimental aging programs that involved the use of casks that were rarely, if ever, used to age single malts. Well ahead of the curve, Lumsden released special edition bottles aged in barrels formerly used for outliers such Marsala wine from southern Italy or Hungary’s coveted Tokaji dessert wine. As well, he aged whiskies in exotic wood, such as the famed Japanese mizunara oak.
A scientist by training, Lumsden cemented his rep as a serial inventor by adding botanicals to barley during the kilning process and collecting local yeasts from the fields around the distillery to make a groundbreaking terroir single malt. To top it all off, in 2011, he sent a single malt into space to see if near-zero gravity would impact the spirit’s flavour.
It’s little wonder that, when Beyoncé went in search of a distiller to help with her new rye whiskey, SirDavis, it was Lumsden who selected the mash bill and led the project of creating the perfect rye to pay tribute to her moonshiner grandfather.
Making rye with pop icons and sending spirits out to space is fun, of course, but at the end of the day, Lumsden is driven by a curious mind and the desire to pay homage to the unique character of a spirit that first launched in 1843, when a small brewery in Scotland’s far north was first converted into a distillery. Blending innovation and tradition is truly at the heart of Lumsden’s whisky-making philosophy and legacy.
Or, as he puts it: “During my many years at Glenmorangie, I have always aimed to keep the whisky true to my memory of that first taste in 1984.”
Thanks to Lumsden’s reverence for tradition, the lush and complex flavour profile of stone fruit, vanilla, honey and citrus of The Original has been lovingly preserved. And owing to his commitment to innovation, it’s now better than ever.
86 NOVEMBER 2024
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FOOD & DRINK