Glenmorangie Highland single malt Scotch whisky has launched Glenmorangie Dr Bill Lumsden x Azuma Makoto 23 Years Old.
This arises from a partnership between Glenmorangie’s Director of Whisky Creation Dr Bill Lumsden and the Japanese botanical artist Azuma Makoto.
Lumsden’s single malt reflects their shared love of nature and all that it encompasses, the distillery says, a concept known in Japanese as shinra bansho. Inspired by that whisky’s notes of flowers, moss and earthy hints, Makoto has created botanical artwork, depicted on the edition’s packaging.
During a trip to Glenmorangie’s Highland Distillery, Lumsden and Makoto were inspired by their surroundings. The botanical artist shared with Lumsden the notion of shinra bansho, which embraces the ground, the sky and everything in between. And together they imagined how they might collaborate to create a single malt which celebrates this.
Lumsden envisioned a whisky blending Glenmorangie’s floral side with the underground world which brings all plants to life. With such a single malt in mind, he first took a classic Glenmorangie, aged in bourbon casks, with aromas of lemon balsam and orchids. He united that single malt with Glenmorangie’s first whisky ever finished in casks that once held Chardonnay white wine from the Meursault appellation in Burgundy.
“Our collaboration with Azuma Makoto is a delicious celebration of nature’s wonder,” Lumsden explains. “Including our first whisky finished in Chardonnay casks from Burgundy, this 23-year-old single malt encapsulates nature in all its forms, through notes of lemon balsam, poached pears and cocoa powder layered on the oaky, earthy tones of the forest floor. Azuma-san’s stunning sculpture, featured on the whisky’s packaging, evokes the fragrant scents and elemental depths of this extraordinarily rare whisky – a gift from nature itself.”
The whisky will be available in select retailers in the UK, China, Japan, Taiwan, India and the U.S. as well as Glenmorangie’s inaugural boutique at London’s Heathrow airport, Terminal 2.
The suggested retail price is $1,375 per 750-ml. bottle.
