About this deal
I think it’s fair to say that there are legitimate higher costs associated with smaller releases. I also think it’s fair to say that, given the proportionality, it isn’t these higher associated costs that are primarily driving prices ON these smaller releases these days. Both are respectable ideas, and I didn’t take the Noob as saying that associated costs WERE the main drivers on present pricing (and “induced” rarity is a legitimate point that almost nobody talks about).
Finish: Medium-long and warming. Raw honey pervades, and fades with more apricot, marzipan, and absolutely no bitterness. Decadent.But the ‘80s and ‘90s saw a gradual move away from blends to concentrate on single malts. For many years, the 10 Year Old expression was the only one bottled by the distillery but in 1987 Glenmorangie released a 1963 vintage single malt which was finished in oloroso sherry casks. This was followed in the early ‘90s by a Port cask-finished whisky and then a plethora of other cask finishes like Madeira, sherry and Sauternes. The switch to single malts was completed in 2014 when the Bailie Nicol Jarvie was discontinued. Taste: An initial burst of mint toffee, with baked fruits such as caramelised oranges and apricots, lots of honeycomb, almonds and dates. Milk chocolate, marzipan, white pepper and ripe, juicy honeydew melon. Glenmorangie will be forever in my mind a “blank slate” malt, which takes to barrel finishes like Velcro. Glenmo, to me, has no house style and changes itself, chameleon-like, with each new release. The 8th “Private Edition” (what exactly is private about these?) Bacalta, for instance, is aged in standard ex-bourbon casks and then finished in Malmsey Madeira wine casks. Apparently “Bacalta” is Scots Gaelic for “Baked”, and these casks were, at one point, “baked under the sun” or some nonsense. Personally, I think that means someone forgot the shipment from Madeira had arrived in the parking lot and left the barrels there for a few weeks before someone brought them inside, but maybe I’m a skeptic.
It remained under the same ownership for the next 90 years, but Glenmorangie still suffered from the ups and downs that plagued the industry throughout the 20th century. The American market was particularly important for Macdonald & Muir with their Highland Queen blended whisky, named after Mary Queen of Scots. Consequently, Glenmorangie struggled throughout Prohibition, which came into force in 1919, and the distillery closed in 1931, only to reopen in 1936. The Glenmorangie Private Editions are basically experiments – some more successful than others. (I wasn’t a fan of the previous Private Editions release – Glenmorangie Milsean.) Dr Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s director of distilling, can have a whale of a time adding whiskies to different casks. So what’s the story this time? Well the whisky – which I believe was 12 years old matured in ex-bourbon casks – has been finished in “sun-baked” Malmsey Madeira casks. Dr. Bill Lumsden arranged for American oak casks to be made and heavily toasted, before being seasoned with Malmsey wine and… left to bake in the heat of Madeira’s sun. I imagine this is more than being left around the cooperage due to some administrative error. (And to be clear, staves already tend to bake in the sunlight, but I suspect this is a different set-up.) The casks were then emptied… how precious was that Madeira to be disregarded so easily in the name of Scotch whisky! It’s OK! I’m sure soda is super-cheap to make, but dang if it ain’t worth my 50 cents on a hot summer day. I’m OK if 25 cents of that is profit to all the folks who brought it to me.The classic Glenmorangie style as epitomised by Glenmorangie 10 majors on fresh fruit like oranges and peaches burnished with sweet American oak. Whisky creator Dr. Bill Lumsden is fond of saying that “that the orangey is morangey in Glenmorangie”, as a way of communicating the core flavour profile and how to pronounce the distillery name. Oh and hey, LVMH, don’t think I haven’t noticed that these annual “money pit” special editions have been stealthily increasing in price every year. That said, I guess one shouldn’t be looking at products from Louis Vuitton for value.