Glenmorangie has opened the doors to its ground-breaking innovation distillery, the Lighthouse. The new space promises to “redefine every aspect of their craft to create game-changing, spirit-led Glenmorangies.”
Inspired by Director of Whisky Creation Dr Bill Lumsden’s “What if…?” approach to whisky, the Lighthouse is the first on-site innovation distillery dedicated to a single malt brand and created solely for experimentation. Conceived to bring Dr Bill’s most extraordinary ideas to life, it is a playground where he and his team can let their imaginations run wild.
The multi-million-pound Lighthouse is named for its landmark approach to whisky. Like an actual lighthouse, the 20m-high stillhouse can be seen for miles around. Offering unique flexibility with ingredients and processes, it is designed for deliciousness, rather than yield. Key areas of innovation include:
- Stillhouse: Equipped with two of the giraffe-high stills which enable Glenmorangie’s delicate, fruity spirit. But the new stills feature a host of modifications which allow them to alter spirit character by acting as if they were shorter – or even taller.
- Brewhouse: Constructed in the traditional style of the main Distillery, this stone building offers scope for myriad experiments with barley, water and yeast during mashing and brewing.
- Sensory laboratory: Above the stillhouse, with coastal views, the laboratory offers Dr Bill’s team the rare chance to study raw spirit and play with their experiments as they evolve.
“Our Lighthouse is the new home of imagination,” said Lumsden. “Here, we’ll indulge our most fantastical ideas as we strive to create a whole array of different flavours. We will play with raw ingredients and make small adjustments and big changes in ways never tried before. Nothing is off limits, as long as it’s delicious.”
Thomas Moradpour, President and CEO of The Glenmorangie Company, said: “Global demand for Glenmorangie is growing significantly. The first of its kind, our Lighthouse experimental distillery is the keystone of our plans to stay at the forefront of taste innovation. By giving our talented creation team free rein, we will welcome even more consumers worldwide to enjoy delicious whiskies.”
To mark the Lighthouse opening, Glenmorangie is releasing a soft and fruity whisky, limited to 3,000 bottles. Glenmorangie Lighthouse is created with bourbon and sherry casks now encased in the Lighthouse’s walls. Aged 12 years and available only at the Distillery, its spectrum of flavours “is a sign of all the wondrous whiskies yet to come,” says the brand.
Bottled at 48% ABV, Glenmorangie Lighthouse is fresh, bright, clean and perfumed, offering soft velvety vanilla, fresh red apples, and honeycomb aromas with the merest whisper of oak. The palate offers a silky mouthfeel that leads into honey, almond, milk chocolate, apricot and fudge, with hints of icing sugar, baked oranges, honeydew melon, and, again very much in the background, soft, sweet resinous oak wood. The finish features more orange, vanilla and oaky notes.
The whisky is priced at $85.
For more information, head over to the brand’s official website.
In July, Glenmorangie unveiled Batch 2 of its Cadboll Estate single estate whisky. In April, the Scotch took home Double Gold honors at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the contest’s top rating.
In June, the distillery unveiled The Grand Vintage Malt 1997. The new offering from the Highland whisky brand was finished in rare Bordeaux wine casks and is the seventh edition in the Bond House No. 1 Collection.
