in 1984, Bill Lumsden was in the second year of his PHD in Microbial Physiology and Fermentation Science in Edinburgh. He already had a degree in Biochemistry from Glasgow. But it wasn’t all work and no play for this creative academic because one evening in May he was at a party in a flat in the Marchmont area of Edinburgh, that lovely residential part of Scotland’s capital city just south of The Old Town.
Bill, now Dr Bill, would enter the whisky industry and spend 10 years learning the ropes and becoming a highly respected whisky research scientist. Then in 1995 he joined The Glenmorangie Company where he now develops all our whiskies. Crucially, he is responsible for the consistent brilliance of The Original, a not unsubstantial job, one might say.
In 2007 Glenmorangie 10 Year Old, that whisky Dr Bill first tasted back at the student party, became Glenmorangie Original. It was a relaunch but only a small change. The age profile became less important and we introduced the use of air-seasoned barrels, reducing the bite, increasing the depth. It is imperceptible to some, but overall The Original is, if possible, even smoother, even better. The Original is not our entry-level whisky. Rather, it’s the standard for all our whiskies, carefully created using stills which are the tallest in Scotland.