Glenmorangie has announced the release of Glenmorangie Pride 1974.
Only 503 crystal decanters of the whisky will be available. “Rarer, older and deeper than any which has ever emerged from our Highland Distillery, Glenmorangie Pride 1974 exudes a matchless intensity from its mahogany depths,” the company says.
Liquids used for this expression aged 41 years in either American oak ex-bourbon refill casks or in Spanish ex-Oloroso sherry casks. Those in ex-bourbon showcased Glenmorangie’s traditional flavors of citrus fruit and honey, the company reports, while the Oloroso casks brought forth an expression with notes of toffee, dates, chocolate and myriad spices.
The two were then blended together by Glenmorangie’s director of whisky creation, distilling and whisky stocks, Dr. Bill Lumsden, with an eye towards “the way in which whisky was made back in the days when the spirit of this expression was first distilled. In those days it was more common for a range of different cask types to be vatted together.”
The suggested retail price of Glenmorangie Pride 1974 is around $9,000 per 750-ml. bottle. It will be released globally in May.
This is the latest release from the Glenmorangie Pride line, which showcases the distillery’s rarest liquids. The program began with Glenmorangie Pride 1981, matured for 18 years in oak casks and then extra-matured for a decade in Sauternes barriques from the vineyards of Chateau d’Yquem. Next came Glenmorangie Pride 1978: after 19 years in American oak ex-bourbon casks, it spent 15 years in five casks which once held a Premier Grand Cru claret.
