Glenmorangie Releasing A Single Malt Aged In Rye Barrels

Every year Glenmorangie invites whisky aficionados to explore its passion for innovation through an award-winning collection of rare and limited-edition single malts. Today, Glenmorangie introduces the ninth release in the Highland distillery’s Private Edition series, Glenmorangie Spìos, the first single malt whisky fully matured in American ex-rye whiskey casks.

Glenmorangie Spìos (Scots Gaelic for ‘spice’ and pronounced ‘spee-oss’) recalls the heyday of American rye whiskey. Dr. Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s acclaimed Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks, was intrigued by the subtle spicy character of American rye whiskey when traveling to the United States in the 1990s. Inspired by the few remaining rye distilleries he visited (recall this is the era that Pennsylvania’s Bomberger’s was finally shuttered), Dr. Lumsden determined to one day bring a hint of American rye whiskey’s elegant past to a future Private Edition.

Long before the rye whiskey resurgence of today, Dr. Lumsden sourced the finest first-fill casks from American rye whiskey’s heartland of Kentucky and arranged for these hand-selected oak casks to be shipped across the Atlantic, to the Glenmorangie Distillery, deep in the Scottish Highlands. There, over the years, they began to impart their flavors to the pure and smooth spirit that emerges from Glenmorangie’s signature copper stills – the tallest stills in Scotland. The result is a full-bodied single malt whisky that invites rye’s subtleties to shine through.

“I have always loved American rye whiskey’s spicy character and believed our distillery’s smooth house style would perfectly complement the nuances of ex-rye casks,” says Dr. Bill Lumsden. “Glenmorangie Spìos is a full-bodied, savory single malt whisky, that recalls American rye whiskey’s golden age, which fittingly is beginning to regain its former popularity. I hope connoisseurs and collectors will enjoy this latest innovative release in our Private Edition series – a single malt whisky that is unmistakeably Glenmorangie, yet exquisitely different.”

Glenmorangie Spìos will be available in specialist whisky shops worldwide and at The Glenmorangie Distillery Visitor Center. Glenmorangie Spìos is non-chill filtered and bottled at 46% ABV, and has a recommended price of $99.