Glenmorangie debuts Calvados Cask Finish

Highland Scotch brand Glenmorangie has released its first whisky finished in Calvados casks exclusively in the UK.

The 12-year-old Glenmorangie Calvados Cask Finish is the fifth product in the distillery’s Barrel Select Release series of small-batch single malts, which explores the flavours that arise from different cask finishes.

Glenmorangie’s director of whisky creation, Dr Bill Lumsden, wanted to explore how the soft, orchard notes of Calvados could enhance the single malt’s ‘classic fruity finesse’.

“Since Calvados casks have never been used before at Glenmorangie, I was intrigued to see how their elegant, orchard notes would complement our whisky’s award-winning fruity style, with a judicious finish,” he explained.

Using a whisky that had spent more than a decade ageing in American white oak Bourbon casks, Lumsden transferred the liquid into casks that previously held Calvados du Pays d’Auge from Normandy for 20 years.

The resulting liquid offers an aroma of baked apples and pears with flavours of toffee apple, almond marzipan, star anise and chocolate praline.

Lumsden described the whisky’s flavour profile: “Entwining scents of baked pears, vanilla and jasmine with tastes of toffee apples, lemon balsam and spice, this rare whisky takes all that is good about Glenmorangie, to richly delicious new heights.”

Glenmorangie Calvados Cask Finish (46% ABV) is available exclusively in the UK from the brand’s website, priced at RRP £75 (US$95).

Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or was recently renamed The Nectar, with a new recipe and an elevated age statement.

The brand’s parent company, LVMH, saw spirits sales fall by double digits in the third quarter of 2023.