| Glenmorangie | | | | But running four wash and four spirit stills at-the |
| Single Highland Rare Malt Scotch Whisky | | | | -mme time takes great skill, especially as some of |
| Few distilleries have been as transformed I the | | | | them behave differently. The longest serving man |
| malt explosion as Glenmorangie. 'In til 1970s there | | | | here, Kenny McDonald, has had .1 running battle |
| were two stills and we were selling five cases of | | | | with Number Two wash still tor years,' says |
| malt a year," says manager Graham Eunson. 'Now | | | | Graham. 'You can come in and he's yelling at it. It |
| we've go( eight stills, we're the biggest selling malt | | | | just doesn't behave.' |
| in little chance that success will breed | | | | The water and stills each play their part in |
| complacency here on the northeast coast; for this | | | | creating Glenmorangie's spicy, pear-drop and apple |
| is a firm that is forever asking why trying out | | | | character, but it is rounded out and given added |
| new ideas, trying to grasp the elusive secret of | | | | complexity by a wood policy, masterminded by Bill |
| Scotch. You might expect space-age control | | | | Lumsden, that's among the tightest in the |
| panels, but you won't find any. | | | | industry. Not only does the firm now insist on |
| 'I've yet to be convinced of the benefits) | | | | using only ex-Bourbon casks made from air-dried |
| computerization in a distillery,' says Graha 'And I'm | | | | wood from certain slopes in the Ozarks, but it |
| yet to be convinced that the capit expenditure | | | | also controls what type of warehouses are used |
| needed to install computerization justifies laying a | | | | to age the Glenmorangie stocks. |
| man off. you replace a mashman with computer | | | | The 10-year-old, for example, has a recipe for |
| equipment then you have to employ an evei | | | | first and second fill wood, so certain types of |
| more expensive engineer to solve any problems.' | | | | casks are placed in certain types and areas of |
| That was music to the ears of Brian Gilmour, who | | | | warehouses. They are pinning it down to the |
| was mashing as we chatted. He was turning | | | | microclimate within each warehouse. With an |
| valves, nudging the temperature this way and | | | | ever-expanding range of finishes and plans to |
| that, and always listening; for, as he explained, | | | | release a malt made from barley grown on its |
| part of his jol is knowing the significance of each | | | | own farm, the range just keeps growing. Graham |
| sound -whether it's the change in pitch of the | | | | believes this is the difference between a malt-led |
| pump or the switchers girning away. 'The fact it's | | | | company and a blend-led one. |
| manual keeps you involved,' he says. 'It giv< it | | | | I worked for a blend-led firm before this and you |
| that personal touch - and there's always | | | | were a number. The people who took the |
| something to be done!' | | | | decisions on whether you are open or shut didn't |
| It means that Glenmorangie's long-running 16 Men | | | | know who they were affecting or how their |
| of Tain campaign is no PR gloss. Neither are these | | | | decisions impacted on people and communities. |
| old guys looking back with rose-tinted glasses. | | | | The guys here have strong feelings about |
| This is a youni team well aware of the needs of | | | | Glenmorangie's success. They are the custodians |
| today's J industry, but faithful to tradition. 'I'm a | | | | of the distillery and the fact that they make |
| traditionalist, but a realist as well,' says Graham. T | | | | something that's known worldwide gives them |
| don't believe in change for change's sake and | | | | enormous pride.' |
| altering production to cu the workforce is beyond | | | | TASTING NOTES |
| me. Can you imagine if Glenmorangie was the 16 | | | | Glenmorangie 10-year-old |
| megabytes of Tain?' | | | | The benchmark distillery style: pear drops, light |
| The workforce here understands their distillery's | | | | orange and citrus fruit, light spice and a crisp note. |
| little quirks - from the use of ha water to the tall, | | | | Delicate but with a good, smooth and soft body. |
| slim stills that stand like elegant pillars in the | | | | Glenmorangie 15-year-oldfinished in new wood |
| cathedral-like stillhou Their height and narrowness | | | | 43%ABV Creme brulee, orange peel and vanilla. |
| means not only this there's considerable interplay | | | | Light spice and a hint of sooty wood. A mix of |
| between vapour and copper, but that only the | | | | bracing air and vanilla on the finish. |
| lightest Vti pours can force their way to the top. | | | | |