Glenmorangie Just Dropped a Whisky That Explores the Terroir of a Far-Flung Scottish Region

Jonah Flicker
·2 min read


Glenmorangie is a scotch whisky distillery known for its experiments with things like maturation and distillation. But making a single-estate single malt is another trick up its sleeve, as proven by the third release of The Cadboll Estate.


Most whisky produced at Glenmorangie, like nearly every scotch whisky distillery, is distilled from barley that is commercially grown by farmers around Scotland. So what makes The Cadboll Estate stand out is that this 15-year-old whisky was made from a mash bill of malted barley entirely grown on Glenmorangie’s Cadboll Estate—hence, the name—not far from the distillery on the Easter Ross peninsula in this far-flung region of Scotland. The first batch of this experiment in terroir came out in 2020, and the distillery believes that using barley grown here will impart the whisky with a different flavor from its other expressions (try it for yourself to see if you agree).

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Dr. Bill Lumsden, director of whisky creation for Glenmorangie, selected barley from two separate harvests a decade and a half ago to make this whisky, mashed and distilled it at the distillery, and put the new make spirit into American oak bourbon barrels to mature. A little bit of the whisky was then finished in Amontillado sherry casks before being blended back together with the main parcel of spirit. “Including a parcel of whisky finished in casks seasoned with Amontillado, my favorite sherry, the third Glenmorangie Cadboll Estate release adds wondrous sherried hints to our barley’s unique flavor,” he said in a statement. “Soft and rich, with notes of deeply sweet spice, toffee, almonds and clove, this whisky celebrates the spirit, flavor and terroir of our homeland in a deliciously different way.”


This is not the only single estate single malt whisky out there, of course. Bruichladdich, for example, has released heavily peated whiskies distilled from barley grown on a single farm as part of its Octomore series. The Macallan Estate contains some whisky produced from barley grown on the Easter Elchies estate. Kilchoman is another Islay distillery making single farm whisky. And over in Ireland, Waterford is leading the way with its Single Farm Origin series of single malt Irish whiskies. So the good news is there are some excellent bottles out there that you can compare to this new Glenmorangie expression.


The third batch of Glenmorangie Cadboll Estate is chill filtered and bottled at 43 percent ABV. You can find it available to purchase from specialty shops and online from The Whisky Exchange, and the entire Glenmorangie lineup, including some high-end special releases, is available now from ReserveBar.

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