Glenmorangie launches X to cater to the cocktail market

With its nearly 180-year-old history, Glenmorangie is one of the older companies in the Scottish whisky industry. So, when it decided to launch a whisky 'made for mixing' it raised a few eyebrows. After all, a single malt is meant to be enjoyed neat, with a few drops of water or on the rocks. However, a younger audience and a growing cocktail culture has created a gap in the market. While generally it is blended whiskeys that are used in cocktails, there is no reason a malt cannot be used, provided it has the right flavour profile.  

Glenmorangie, which is a part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy (LVMH) group, launched its latest offering X by Glenmorangie in India last month. "With some of our older expressions the customers are nervous about adding soda or making cocktails. I wanted to offer a Glenmorangie that made it easier for people to be more relaxed about it. I was trying to make a more democratic product," says Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie's director of distilling and whisky creation, who is often described as the 'Willy Wonka of Whiskey,' known for his pioneering and experimental work. Lumsden created Signet, a chocolate malt whisky. Last year, he also released a limited-edition called Tale of Cake which was finished in dessert wine casks.  

Lumsden says that when he started distilling X, it wasn't with the sole intention of making a whisky for mixing. "I made a whiskey specifically for drinking. Have it neat, on the rocks or mix it. But because of the target audience and the price point, we knew that a lot of people will probably use it for mixing. So that's where it came from. When I drink a whisky cocktail, I still like to be able to taste the whisky and I wanted to ensure that with the Glenmorangie X. So, I knew it had to be a spicy, rich, full-bodied whiskey," he says. Lumsden has employed the same technique that he did for the Glenmorangie 15-year-old which was finished in new charred oak barrels, which has "given it a nice, spicy base note," he says.

While the X is a non-aged product, Lumsden says he doesn't work with anything less than 8-year-old. "Its age profile is just a little bit less than the Glenmorangie original," he says.  

Lumsden points out that with X they are targeting a more democratic audience, which may just be younger.

"I feel that a single malt drinker who likes his drink for its taste, flavour and the process that goes behind it, should also be able to enjoy a good whiskey cocktail. And they might not want to use a Glenmorangie 18-year-old in a cocktail. The Glenmorangie X makes it easier for people to have a cocktail," he says.

Agrees Smriti Sekhsaria, Marketing Head, Moet Hennessy India: "A segment of consumers are experimental in nature and curious about the flavour possibilities that cocktails bring. Indian consumers are also bringing that experimentation to whiskey. They are moving away from whiskey on ice or neat. This trend is quite similar to what we are seeing globally."

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