Glenmorangie 'virgin oak' expression launches

Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy has launched Glenmorangie Ealanta, the fourth annual release in the single malt's Private Edition range.

Scottish Gaelic for ‘skilled and ingenious’, Ealanta is a 19-year old Glenmorangie, matured in virgin American white oak casks.

The 46% ABV expression is non-chill filtered “for maximum texture and mouth-feel” and available globally from this month for £74.99.

The Private Edition range also includes Sonnalta PX, Finealta and Artein.

Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie’s distilling and whisky creation director, said: “The casks selected way back then [the ‘90s] from oaks of the Mark Twain National Forest were absolutely top quality and unusually had not previously held any liquor such as bourbon, so it’s the interaction of our delicate floral spirit from our very tall stills directly with this ‘virgin’ wood that makes for many intriguing flavours.

“New wood also imparts a purity of flavour that I think many Glenmorangie aficionados will find an interesting divergence from our previous Private Edition releases.

“Using virgin oak casks that have been heavily toasted adds huge mouth-filling, buttery, creamy, vanilla flavours – somewhat like a crème brulée topped with almond and marzipan. This makes for a lovely rounded and complex expression of Glenmorangie.”