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Glenmorangie- "the Glen of Tranquility"- is a distiller of single malt Scotch whisky, located on the south coast of the Dornoch Firth, 4 miles north-east of the town of Tain, Ross-Shire Scotland. It is the best-selling single malt in the Scottish market.
The company also produces another successful single malt, Ardbeg, on the Island of Islay, which was revitalised by the company in 1997. Other brands are the Speyside single malt Glen Moray. They also handle Baillie Nicol Jarvie, Martin's Deluxe and Highland Queen blends. The bottling plant and Headquarters are currently in Broxburn, west of Edinburgh.
The correct pronounciation of the name places the emphasis on the 'MOrangie' (as in the French pronounciation of 'Orange'), not the 'moRAN-gie', as commonly mis-pronounced.
Glenmorangie is distilled in the tallest pot stills in Scotland, at over 5.1 m (16 feet 10 inches) in height. The distillery claims this produces the purest spirit possible.
The whisky comes in 10, 12, and 18-year varieties, and is aged in American ex-bourbon casks. Glenmorangie also release a range of malts that, after ageing in bourbon casks, are transferred to casks that have been used previously to mature a sort of wine. This process is known as finishing, and Glenmorangie offers whisky finished in sherry, port wine, madeira, and burgundy casks.
Another Glenmorangie innovation is their bottling of whisky that has matured in casks in the distillery's cellar, number 13, that lies closest to the sea. It is thought that this different environment gives the whisky a character distinct from the standard Glenmorangie.
For most of its existence, Glenmorangie refused to sell whisky for use in blends, fearing that casks would find their way to independent bottlers. Recently, the distillery has sold casks to blenders with a very small amount of Glen Moray Single Malt added, so that the whisky is technically a vatted malt, and can not legally be bottled and sold as a single. Note that Glen Moray distillery is owned by the same parent company, Glenmorangie plc.
Glenmorangie had been controlled since 1893 by the Macdonald family, who helped to found it. Glenmorangie had been one of the last remaining independent distilleries, most being owned by international drinks conglomerates.
In 2004, it was reported that the family had sold the company to Moet Hennessy, which is in turn jointly owned by the French LVMH and the British Diageo (News story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3761228.stm)). This group controls a huge number of international drinks and luxury brands, as diverse as Louis Vuitton, Guinness, Baileys Irish Cream, Château d'Yquem, Dom Pérignon, Cloudy Bay and Johnny Walker, as well as around a dozen single malts. As of December 2004, this takeover bid worth £300 million is still under consideration by the UK's Office of Fair Trading.
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