Allotment Drams / Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old & Redbreast Pedro Ximenez Edition

We have two more recent episodes from our Allotment Dram review series for you. Both are exciting and brand new releases. Firstly Matt discusses the Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old, a distillery exclusive that he recently picked up when visiting. …

We have two more recent episodes from our Allotment Dram review series for you. Both are exciting and brand new releases. Firstly Matt discusses the Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old, a distillery exclusive that he recently picked up when visiting. It has been created to celebrate the opening of the new experimental Lighthouse distillery that has been built next to Glenmorangie up in the north Highlands. Watch to find out more about the innovative project and the whisky, before Matt pops the cork and gives his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then on a very warm late September afternoon, Matt returns to the allotment and takes a look at the new Irish single pot still whiskey of Redbreast Pedro Ximenez Edition. Watch to discover more about the whiskey and the new range that it is joining, plus his thoughts and tasting notes.

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Review / Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old

This new whisky has been released to celebrate the official opening of the new Lighthouse facility at the famous north Highland distillery of Glenmorangie. The Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old is a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry ca…


This new whisky has been released to celebrate the official opening of the new Lighthouse facility at the famous north Highland distillery of Glenmorangie. The Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old is a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks, with a ratio of 80% to 20% respectively. It is exclusively available at the Glenmorangie distillery shop. The new single malt is the brainchild of Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Director of Whisky Creation at Glenmorangie, and is released at the strength of 48% ABV. It is also non chill-filtered. There are just 4,782 bottles in the limited batch and each will cost £85. 

The Lighthouse distillery stands at the heart of Glenmorangie and features a new stone brewhouse and 20 metre high glass stillhouse. The facility, which was also the brainchild of Dr. Bill Lumsden, is designed to allow experimentation and innovation at all stages of the whisky making process. This includes the use of non-traditional grains, different mashing and brewing techniques and altering distillation at various points through the stills (these are exact replicas of the tall stills in the main distillery). 

 

The Glenmorangie Lighthouse distillery.

The casks used for the Lighthouse 12 years old expression have also been creatively woven into the fabric of the building in the form of a wood-aluminium hybrid cladding. This can been seen through the glass panelling. The Lighthouse is powered by biogas generated from the main distillery and is one of the most eco-friendly and sustainable new distilleries in the world. It also features a sensory lab on the top floor which overlooks the Dornoch Firth and beyond.
 
"The Lighthouse is our new home of imagination. Here we can indulge our most fantastical ideas as we strive to create a whole array of different flavours. We will play with raw ingredients, making both small adjustments and big changes, in ways never tried before. Nothing is off limits." 
Dr. Bill Lumsden.
 
Our tasting notes
 
The colour is golden yellow with a hint of copper and the nose is elegant, fragrant and sweet. Notes of vanilla fudge, toffee and sultanas rise from the glass and are followed by golden syrup, apricot jam and a hint of baking spices. Hints of milk chocolate, honeycomb and orange oil are also evident.

On the palate this whisky is soft, gentle and mouthcoating. Initial notes of vanilla custard and toffee are quickly joined by some golden syrup and dried fruits (think of big juicy sultanas especially, plus raisins and candied orange peel). Then comes crumbly brown sugar and that apricot jam from the nose, along with hints of warm ginger cake and warming baking spices (think of cinnamon and all-spice in particular). These baking spices evolve nicely with time and wrap around everything to give a little dryness towards the finish. Later notes of creamed coconut, cocoa powder and toasted walnuts along with a hint of dried tropical fruits are also present.

The finish has decent length and begins sweetly. The dried fruits and honey-like sweetness slowly fades and this reveals the baking spices, oak and some malty cereals. This creates a delicious warmth and depth with an increasing dryness with time.

What's the verdict?

This Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old is an absolute stunner. It exhibits the elegance and class that we have grown to expect from the brand and has just enough sherry cask influence to show, but not overpowers the delicate spirit. Simply put, it is a beautiful and expertly crafted whisky. We will sip and savour our bottle and maybe share it with a few lucky friends.

We are also very interested to see what may come out of the Lighthouse in the future. We love the innovative concept but companies like LVMH, Glenmorangie's owners, do not spend £8 million without wanting to see some return. The pressure is on for some of the experiements to work and get out to market. But we suspect we will have have to wait a few years for that to happen. 

Inbox / The Week’s Whisky News (Sept 10, 2021)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky an…



Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. 
 
Here is the round-up of this week's news ...
 
________
 
 

Aber Falls
The north Welsh distillery of Aber Falls has released its second ever whisky expression - the Aber Falls 2021 Bottling. This follows the Inaugural Release from earlier this year. The three year old single malt features whiskies matured in ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry, plus virgin oak casks. These have been married together by Dr. Kirstie McCallum, the Master Blender for Aber Falls. It is bottled at 40% ABV and will be available in the UK via Tesco supermarkets (Wales only), online retailer Master of Malt and from the distillery website  www.aberfallsdistillery.com. A bottle will cost £26.
 

 

Glenallachie
The Speyside distillery of Glenallachie has announced its latest limited edition single malt - the Glenallachie 14 years old Oloroso Cask Finish. The small batch release will be exclusive to the UK and has seen the whisky matured in first-fill and re-fill American oak casks for 12 years. It has then been finished for two years in ex-Oloroso sherry puncheons. The whisky is released at the natural cask strength of 55.4% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. It will be available through selected specialist retailers in the UK. A bottle will cost £90.
 
"As soon as we acquired the Glenallachie distillery, I knew exactly the direction I wanted us to take the liquid in - a single malt known for its bold and indulgent sherried character. This UK bottling is no different and a sophisticated single malt that exemplifies that direction."
Billy Walker / Owner and Master Distiller at Glenallachie.

 
 

Glenmorangie
The north Highland distillery of Glenmorangie have announced an innovative new project and a new whisky to celebrate that project. The Glenmorangie Lighthouse 12 years old has been created for the official opening of the Lighthouse distillery, which sits alongside the famous single malt distillery in Tain. It is a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and is exclusive to the Glenmorangie distillery shop. The new single malt is the brainchild of Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Director of Whisky Creation at Glenmorangie, and is released at 48% ABV. It is also non chill-filtered. There are just 4,782 bottles available and each will cost £85.

The new Lighthouse distillery stands at the heart of Glenmorangie and features a stone brewhouse and 20 metre high glass stillhouse (both pictured, below). The new facility, which was also the brainchild of Dr. Bill Lumsden, is designed to allow experimentation and innovation at all stages of the whisky making process. This includes the use of non-traditional grains, different mashing and brewing techniques and altering distillation at various points through the stills (which are exact replicas of the tall stills in the main distillery). 
 

The casks used for the Lighthouse 12 years old expression have also been creatively woven into the fabric of the building in the form of a wood-aluminium hybrid cladding. The Lighthouse is powered by biogas generated from the main distillery and is one of the most eco-friendly and sustainable new distilleries in the world, and features a sensory lab on the top floor which overlooks the Dornoch Firth and beyond.
 
"The Lighthouse is our new home of imagination. Here we can indulge our most fantastical ideas as we strive to create a whole array of different flavours. We will play with raw ingredients, making both small adjustments and big changes, in ways never tried before. Nothing is off limits."
Dr. Bill Lumsden.

 
Glenturret
 

The Highland distillery of Glenturret, which is the oldest currently operating in Scotland and dates back to 1775, has announced details of their 2021 range of single malts. This line-up follows 2020's Maiden Release series and features the same six expressions - the no age statement Triple Wood, 10 years old Peat Smoked and then age statements at 12, 15, 25 and 30 years old. However, each whisky is different to its 2020 version and they have been created by Bob Dalgarno, the Whisky Maker for Glenturret.

The Glenturret Triple Wood has been matured in ex-bourbon, re-fill American oak and European oak, and is bottled at 44% ABV. The 10 years old Peat Smoked is made using peated malt and is bottled at 50% ABV. The 12 and 15 year olds are bottled at 46% and 53% respectively. There are just 204 bottles of the 25 years old and 750 bottles of the 30 years old. They are bottled at 44.3% and 41.6% ABV respectively. All are of natural colour and all are non chill-filtered with the exception of the Triple Wood. Prices for each expression were not revealed in the press release.
 
 
Yamazaki
 

The House of Suntory have announced their oldest ever bottling from their Yamazaki distillery - the Yamazaki 55 years old. The highly anticipated global release from The House of Suntory celebrates the Japanese Showa era of the 1960s, a period of significant change for the company. 
 
The rare whisky is made from two pockets of maturing stock - one from 1960 that was distilled under the supervision of Suntory's founder Shinjiro Tori, which has then been matured in Japanese mizunara oak casks, and the other from 1964 distilled under the supervision of Suntory's second Master Blender Keizo Saji and matured in white oak barrels.

The Yamazaki 55 years old is bottled at 46% ABV and is presented in an engraved crystal decanter completed with traditional Japanese touches. It comes housed in a handmade casket constructed from mizunara oak. There will be just 100 bottles available worldwide and these will be distributed between key markets. These include China, Taiwan, the UK and USA. 100 bottles were also released to the Japanese market in 2020. Each bottle will cost £43,250/ $60,000 US.
 
 
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