The Glenmorangie Company has unveiled a new single malt Scotch, Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake, as part of a new series of whiskies.
The limited edition expression was the result of Glenmorangie’s director of whisky creation, Dr Bill Lumsden, experimenting with Tokaji dessert wine casks.
Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake is said to evoke memories of when Lumsden would bake with his granny and the pineapple upside down cake his daughter made him for his birthday.
Lumsden said: “In one of my many conversations with Louise Dennett [global head of brand] from our marketing department, where I drip feed her little tit bits of information abut what I’m doing so she can maybe start planning product launches, I had mentioned this product and I thought she was going to be completely amazed by this. But she said, ‘well, I like the way you’re describing the flavour, but Bill, is it not just another wood finish from Glenmorangie?’
“And I said yes, and no. It is a wood-finished product but this tastes like nothing you’ve tasted before. I said think of Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or on acid and steroids and then double it, and you’re only half way there.
“As soon as I started to mention pineapple upside down cake and coconut dusted sponge cake, and syrup sponge pudding, and almond and pecan nut croissants, she really started to get excited and that’s where this idea of cake came from.
“So certainly, Louise deserves most of the credit for the way it’s been presented as cake-like and we just took it from there and developed all sorts of ideas about how to present this.”
Tasting notes include aromas of passion fruit, peach, baking bread, honeycomb and vanilla, leading to flavours of honey, white chocolate, apricot, almond and pear on the palate. The finish is said to taste of honeycomb, chocolate almond and pecan nuts.
Bottled at 46% ABV, Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake will be available to purchase exclusively from Selfridges from 22 September to 18 October, before being made available from other specialist retailers from 18 October. It will be priced at RRP £75 (US$95).
To celebrate the launch, Glenmorangie has partnered with pastry chef Dominique Ansel, maker of the cronut, to create a cake and cocktail pairing – a ‘caketail’.
Ansel put a twist on a pineapple boat cake, which has been paired with a pineapple Old fashioned made by bartender Jeremy Le Blanche. The ‘caketail’ pairings will be available from Ansel’s bakery in New York.
“When I first tried Glenmorangie, it opened my senses to this amazing world of colour, texture, taste and aroma – it’s a new adventure each time,” Ansel said. “I never guessed I could enjoy whisky this much, but there is friendliness to the way Glemorangie tastes. Baking and whisky making are different worlds but they have a lot in common.”