Glenmorangie’s Mad Scientist Is Making Whisky For the Masses and Nerds
Dr. Bill Lumsden was the head of distilling at a packed London venue early November. whisky Scotch creation single malt distillery GlenmorangieHe looked out at the crowd of revelers and enjoyed the good vibes. “We’re all about the ‘C’ word!” he shouted. There were equal parts of laughter and groans from the audience. “No, not that one, I mean ‘consistency!’” More laughter and groaning, although exactly which other “C” word he was referring to cannot be confirmed.
This London event was a celebration of the new “It’s Kind of Delicious and Wonderful” ad campaign for the brand, a collaboration with photographer Miles Aldridge. It was actually a chance for the famously witty and unfiltered whisky scientist to share some of his banter with a friendly and slightly tipsy crowd. The fact of the matter is that Glenmorangie is consistently delicious and wonderful, and that is due in large part to Lumsden’s penchant for boundary pushing and experimentation.
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I was able talk to him earlier that day in a quieter, but more serious, hotel conference room. As usual, he was one the most interesting people in the room. scotch whisky industry. I’m not going to call him the Willy Wonka of whisky, because way too many writers have beat me to that analogy. So how about this instead—he’s a tousled Victor Frankenstein giving life to single malts that become more powerful than their creator… although this whisky isn’t assembled from body parts and doesn’t run amok and destroy villages. I guess that’s why the overused Wonka analogy just works better.
“My philosophy about whisky creation hasn’t changed from the day I joined the company,” said Lumsden. “What has changed is the acceptance of what I do… Part of the challenge I have is to try and work within the rules, but do something a little bit different. I don’t do things just for the sake. At the end of the day, can I produce a product that’s going to be good?” Then he dropped in another ambiguous letter word. “Will I be able to still add the D into it? That has to be the driver.” (The “D,” stands for “delicious,” by the way.)
Lumsden’s most recent experiment is entitled Tale of the Forest. Lumsden actually invented this idea many years ago. The whisky has been in barrels at least a decade. But this single malt was made from barley, kilned with wild herbs, and released this fall. That concept might sound more like gin than whisky, but this is still single malt as defined by the Scotch Whisky Association’s rules and regulations—as Lumsden noted, ultimately he has to work within those guidelines. Another example of his unique approach to the category is Allta (12-year-old whisky) made with wild yeast and finished in this unusual type of sherry cak, Spios. This whisky is aged in rye. whiskey Barrels in place of the standard bourbon, and Tusail which is made from a variety of floor malted barley that hasn’t been used much over the last 50 years.
Historically, the aspect of whisky making that Lumsden has had the most success in tinkering with is maturation and finishing—for example, using different species of oak as well as barrel types (the core lineup of barrel-finished single malts is evidence of this). He says that primary production is what is most exciting at his experimental distillery, the Lighthouse. “That can be anything from the barley to the water to the mashing, the fermentation, the distillation regime,” he said. “The Lighthouse will finally allow me to explore that a little bit more.” But he said that his personal whisky experimentation fetish is fermentation. “In our industry it’s been treated simply as a commodity—you add yeast in one end and you get alcohol out the other.” He wants to continue to explore the possibilities beyond that, so it sounds like there could be some more whiskies on the way along the lines of the previously mentioned Allta.
The Lighthouse is a modern, tall building that holds whisky secrets. The warehouse is another example, with a few barrels of whisky that we have never tried. Lumsden said that the idea behind the Lighthouse was to allow him to try things that he couldn’t in the main distillery because of production schedule or equipment. “Some of the things that I make there, it’s highly likely that we wouldn’t be able to call them scotch whisky,” he said. “But the fact that it has been built on site at Glenmorangie also means that if we choose to do so [and it meets the SWA guidelines], we can label the products as Glenmorangie single malt scotch whisky.”
Glenmorangie, despite all the experimentation (or maybe because of it), has undergone major branding changes that are meant to appeal to a wider audience. One look at the website’s flashy colors and design—not to mention the new bottle labels rolling out—will give you an idea of this thematic shift. Glenmorangie X, a single malt that doesn’t have an age statement, was launched last year. It is intended to be used in cocktails. Part of the reason for this new expression was the perception that it is “sacrilegious,” as global marketing & business development director Caspar Macrae put it, to use single malt whisky in a drink. “With X, we deliberately wanted to create a product which removes that slight fear or inhibition about using a single malt in cocktails,” he said. “Because Bill and I both love our whisky neat, but we adore a great cocktail as well.”
So yeah, there’s a whisky for everyone from Glenmorangie—the Original 10-year-old expression, it should be noted, is as good a single malt for seasoned pros or beginners as you will find anywhere. Lumsden says that despite all the science and precision that goes into his job, it’s all about the feelings. “I think very metaphorically, and I view my whiskies in terms of particular flavors or colors or textures,” he said. “I have great joy when I drink whisky, and sometimes I’m in a sad moment as well. It’s very reflective, but I think it’s important to weave that into your product. It’s something personal and emotional.”
These are five of our favorite Glenmorangie whiskies, which you can now try.
This single malt was made from barley that had been kilned or dried after malting. It was then infused with woodland botanicals, as opposed to a smoky Scotch which uses peat. These include juniper berries, birch bark, heather flowers and, yes, a little bit of peat in the mix as well. The result is a bright and floral whisky that is truly unlike any that you’ve sipped before, and it works fantastically in cocktails as well.
Dominique Ansel, the famed pastry chef, collaborated on this precursor to Tale of the Forest. The inspiration was a pineapple upside down cake that Lumsden’s daughter made for him, and he tried to capture those flavors by finishing the whisky in Tokaji wine casks. Ansel then came up with a few “caketails” that were meant to be paired with the whisky. These sweets are now gone but the whisky remains readily available.
This whisky is limited edition and is part the Glenmorangie Private Ed series. Allta means “wild” in Gaelic, and that refers to the fact that wild yeast that was discovered on the barley growing near the distillery was used to ferment the mash, as opposed to the standard yeast that most distilleries use in Scotland. Yeast has a huge impact on a whisky’s flavor, and in this case the result is a biscuity, fruity, spicy palate that sips nicely at a higher 51.2 percent ABV.
Glenmorangie whisky can be very polarizing. The unique flavor makes it a difficult whisky to choose. Signet was inspired by coffee and the taste is reminiscent of that. The whisky is made from chocolate malted barley, meaning it’s roasted to achieve a certain flavor profile that explodes with espresso, dark chocolate, toast and spicy notes. This bottle is sort of reminiscent of newer American single malts, although it’s still scotch whisky through and through.
Glenmorangie’s Grand Vintage series whiskies are high-priced, unique single malts. This latest edition has an entirely new character. Only 1998 vintage has been aged in new charred oak barrels, in the same manner as bourbon. This is in contrast to the use of ex-bourbon barrels and other barrels that are commonly used to age Scotch. This whisky, which is now 23 years old, has aromas of apple, plum, and notes of orange and chocolate on the palate.
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