Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie Distillery
Region: Highland
Location	Ross-shire
Owner	Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Founded	1843
Status	Operational
Water source	Tarlogie Springs in the Tarlogie Hills
Number of stills	12 wash stills 12 spirit stills
Capacity	6,000,000 litres/per annum
Glenmorangie
Type	Single malt
Age(s)	Original (10 Years) "Extra Matured" Range (~12 Years) 18 Years 25 Years
Cask type(s)	American White Oak, Ex-Bourbon Casks (Main) Oloroso Sherry Casks Ruby Port Casks Sauterne Wine Casks "Artisan" Air dried White Oak Casks
ABV	40%–46%

Glenmorangie (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable:  listen ; the toponym is believed to derive from either Gaelic gleann mor na sith "vale of tranquillity" or gleann mór innse "vale of big meadows") is a distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland that produces single malt Scotch whisky. The distillery is owned by The Glenmorangie Company Ltd, whose main product is the range of Glenmorangie single malt whisky. Glenmorangie is categorised as a Highland distillery and boasts the tallest stills in Scotland. It is available in Original, 18, and 25 year old bottlings, special cask bottlings, cask finishes, extra matured bottlings, and a range of special edition bottlings. The Glenmorangie Company also owns the Ardbeg Distillery on Islay and The Scotch Malt Whisky Society based in Leith, Edinburgh.

History

Legend tells that alcoholic beverages of one kind or another were produced in and around Tain since the Middle Ages.

It is said that the production of alcohol started at Morangie Farm in 1738, when a brewery was built that shared the farm's water source, the Tarlogie Spring. A former distillery manager, William Matheson, acquired the farm in 1843 and converted the Morangie brewery to a distillery, equipped with two second hand gin stills. He later renamed the distillery Glenmorangie.

The distillery was purchased by its main customer, the Leith firm Macdonald and Muir, in 1918. The Macdonald family would retain control of the company for almost 90 years.

Glenmorangie, like all distilleries and breweries in Britain suffered terribly between 1920 and 1950, with prohibition and then the Great Depression in the United States reducing whisky sales. The distillery was effectively mothballed between 1931 and 1936. The depression ended with World War II , but the war effort left fuel and barley in short supply and the distillery was again mothballed between 1941 and 1944. Exports of whisky were important during the war, but enemy action disrupted and destroyed deliveries to the United States and Canada.

Towards the end of the war and in the immediate post war period, the distillery increased production and was running at full capacity by 1948. The number of stills was increased from two to four during 1977. Water supply became a concern during the 1980s with development of the land around the Tarlogie Springs becoming more likely. This development could have reduced the quality and quantity of water available to the distillery, so the decision was made by Macdonald and Muir to purchase around 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land around and including the Tarlogie Springs to guarantee the quality and quantity of water necessary. The distillery once again engaged in expansion during 1990 when it added a further four stills, and two additional fermentation vessels (or washbacks) were added during 2002. Four new stills were added in 2009, bringing the total to twelve.

The Macdonald family retained ownership of 52% of the company through a complicated London stock exchange listing which saw the family hold the majority of the voting shares of the company. The family sold the company in 2004 for around £300 million to the French drinks company Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Following the acquisition by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Tayburn design agency were appointed to redesign Glenmorangie as part of a brand overhaul. This included the introduction of a new, more curvacious bottle, and the renaming of some of its variants. Its Wood Finish whiskies were given new names such as The Quinta Ruban, Nectar d'Or and LaSanta, which were also advertised as non chill-filtered for the first time.

Commentators have observed that the redesign appears to re-position Glenmorangie as an international luxury brand. According to Professor Paul Freathy, the director of the Institute of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling, "The French-sounding names are an unusual innovation, because what makes whisky unique is the traditional tie to Scotland. It's a brave strategy."

According to the Tayburn design agency, "Following the acquisition of Glenmorangie, parent company LVMH made clear their strategy to move the brand into the world of luxury. We have been working on a number of projects to reflect this 'new world' positioning. Our work continues to challenge traditional perceptions of whisky branding, introducing Glenmorangie to a modern, luxury fraternity."

For some years, The Glenmorangie Company supplied its whisky for the production of "own brand" blended whisky by supermarket groups. This ceased in 2009 when it sold off the Glen Moray brand.

Glenmorangie has been the best selling single malt in Scotland almost continuously since 1983, and produces around 10 million bottles per annum, of which 6 to 6.5 million are sold in the UK. Globally, Glenmorangie has a 6% share of the single malt market.

Production

The stills which stand 26 ft (7.9 m) high

Glenmorangie's water source is the Tarlogie Springs, situated in the Tarlogie Hills above the distillery. Barley grain is supplied by Highland Grain Ltd, a co-operative of farmers in the area. The stills used, the tallest in Scotland at 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) tall, with 10 feet 1.25 inches (3.0798 m) necks, are claimed by the company to produce an extremely light taste. The distillation process is undertaken by a staff of 16, known as The Sixteen Men of Tain, who work year round, with the exceptions of Christmas and periods of maintenance.

Casks maturing at The Glenmorangie Distillery

Glenmorangie uses a number of different cask types, with all products being matured in white oak casks which are manufactured from trees growing in Glenmorangie's own forest in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, United States. These new casks are left to air for two years before being leased to distillers Jack Daniel's and Heaven Hill for them to mature bourbon in for four years. Glenmorangie then uses their barrels to mature their spirit. The Original range will mature entirely in ex-bourbon casks, while the Extra Matured range of bottlings are transferred into casks that were previously used to mature other products such as wine, port or sherry in a process called finishing. These form part of the regular range of products Glenmorangie produces. Glenmorangie also obtains small batches of other casks for finishing and release limited edition bottlings from these. Following acquisition by LMVH, Glenmorangie produced a rare limited edition aged in casks previously used to mature Château Margaux; these bottlings are now (2011) extremely hard to find and are priced accordingly.

The warehouses in which the casks are stored are also believed to affect the taste of the whisky. Glenmorangie have released a special edition bottling, titled Cellar 13 which is from the warehouse closest to the sea, as the whisky is believed to have a distinctive flavour.

Bottling of the Glenmorangie and Ardbeg brands takes place at the The Glenmorangie Company's purpose built bottling plant in The Alba Campus at Livingston, West Lothian, just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. Glenmorangie previously bottled Drambuie in a joint venture with the Drambuie Company; this arrangement ended in 2010.

Pronunciation

The name of the whisky is  /ɡlɛnˈmɒrəndʒi/ glen-morr-ən-jee, with the stress on the 'mor' and rhyming with orangey, not */ˌɡlɛnmɔˈrændʒi/ glen-mor-an-jee as it is commonly mispronounced.^{[citation needed]}

Current products

Glenmorangie Single Malt

• The Original (10 Years Old)
• Lasanta (Sherry Cask Extra Matured)
• Quinta Ruban (Port Cask Extra Matured)
• Nectar D'Or (Sauternes Cask Extra Matured)
• Astar (exclusively matured in Designer casks)
• Artein (Super Tuscan Extra Matured)
• Sonnalta PX (extra matured in Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks)
• Finealta (exclusively matured in American white oak casks and Spanish Oloroso sherry casks)
• Signet
• Extremely Rare (18 Years Old)
• The Quarter Century (25 Years Old)

Accolades

Glenmorangie's products have tended to garner very high scores from international Spirit ratings competitions and from liquor reviewing bodies. Its 12-year Lasanta and 18-year single malt spirits, for example, have never received less than gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competitions. The 12-year Lasanta has received "Tier 1" status from Proof66.com, which aggregates liquor ratings from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Wine Enthusiast, and others. Over the last 5 years Glenmorangie has won more 'Gold Best in Class' awards than any other single malt Scotch whisky from the International Wine and Spirits Competition.

External links

• Brand website
• Company website
• Details of how to visit Glenmorangie distillery
• Dr. Whisky on Glenmorangie