Eat Drink Evolve

How can it be this good, and on the other hand, be this price?

I’ve been scratching my head for a few years on this one. I’m not sure how Dr. Bill Lumsden and his team at Glenmorangie can produce one of the most drinkable 18 Year Old whiskies on our shelves and still have it retail at under $100 a bottle. I believe that if Glenmorangie continues down this path of bottling a malt of this caliber, the “Very Rare” 18 Year Old is going to be very rare indeed; once the word gets out about how good a steal it is, then it will soon be a distant memory.

And that, my friends, is why I have chosen this whisky as June’s Malt of the Month; that, and because it is also high up on my ‘Bucket List’ of whiskies and should be on your list to try before you die! I was recently listening to an interview with Dr. Bill Lumsden – Head of Whisky Creation at Glenmorangie -  where he talked about the pains they went through over 25 years ago to source exceptional wood for the casks that the 18 Year Old would lie in. What fascinates me is that if I take myself back 25 years, the furthest I was thinking ahead was whether I had finished my homework for school the next day. But these people were thinking ahead to the new millennium and how the whisky they were casking at that time would be consumed! Anyhow, 25 years ago they began sourcing the very best American Oak casks, in which the new make spirit would age for between 15 and 18 years. Roughly 30% of the 15 Year Old malt was then re-racked into Olorosso Sherry casks for three years, and then the two sets of whiskies were married together before bottling.

The result is an exceptionally rich, yet soft, smooth and rounded whisky (one of the smoothest whiskies I know of) which has honey, vanilla, crème brûlée and caramelized fruit notes all melding together to create a wonderfully luxurious mouthfeel. Yes people, it’s a sexy whisky!

For whisky enthusiasts, your choice of unique whiskies in the $110 dollar range is endless. But if I take $20 off and offer this beauty for $89.99 for the month or until stocks last then this is a serious no brainer. View Glenmorangie 18 Year Old at Vine & Table.