A short while back I had the good opportunity to interview one Mr./Dr. Bill Lumsden. Billy, as his friends call him. Actually, this interview was about a year and a half in the making. When I had heard that Glenmorangie & Ardbeg went for OU Kosher certification for the US market, I had it in my head that I should interview Dr. Bill.
Even though this is a blog for ALL whisky lovers (be they people just getting into whisky or whisky veterans), it is called the “Jewish” Single Malt Whisky Society so I imagined that the kosher-keeping Jews who followed our blog would want to know more.
So I reached out to David Blackmore, Global Brand Ambassador for Ardbeg and Glenmorangie, and he vowed to set it up. Sadly, and for many different reasons, the stars never aligned – until now!
Bill shared some good information with me including some details on the Glenmorangie Private Edition release, the next Ardbeg and what might very well be another few Ardbeg releases in the near future.
A big thanks goes out to David Blackmore for setting this up and another to Dr. Bill (Billy) for being such a great interviewee. We had a lot of fun!
Enjoy! (a bit of patience, please. You may have a wait a short bit for the Soundcloud player to load below)
So you’re aware, I missed my train to NYC to meet with David and Bill so we moved the interview from the offices of Moet Hennessey to wonderful restaurant downstairs, Colicchio & Sons (yes, Colicchio as in Tom Colicchio of Top Chef). That being said, there’s a bit of background noise/music/chatter.
Lastly, the last word in the interview got cut off. In case you couldn’t tell from the context, Bill’s last word was “Interesting”…
Today begins a new series here on The Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society’s whisky blog; one that will be featured on the first Thursday of every month.
A couple of months ago, whilst in Scotland, I had the good opportunity to meet up with a certain Mr. Bill Morgan. In fact, as part of our tour, Bill & his wife Carol were kind enough to treat me and the rest in the JSMWS whisky tour to a wonder dinner: Tapas. One one my favorite things. Bill, carol, thank you again!
You might not know who Bill Morgan is but you should. Having worked professionally in whisky between 1965 & 1996, chances are if you’re a whisky drinker he’s helped to make the whisky you’ve enjoyed for the past, let’s say, 50 years or so.
I asked Bill if he could give me a quick overview of his history in whisky and he said:
Briefly speaking, I worked for my father in the floor maltings at Cardhu hand turning malt till they closed in the mid sixties and was transferred to Cragganmore where I soon became head warehouseman.
Bill Morgan during his days at Tamdu as a malting barley buyer
I moved to Highland Distillery’s Tamdhu site where I did almost everything possible during my 26 years employment. These included Saladin box worker, maltings shift work, barley intake and analysis, Group Laboratory worker/senior lab assistant, microbiologist, conducting laboratory hygiene surveys at all sites and micromalting. My career in management with Highland distilleries included Assistant manager /Malting manager at Tamdhu, relief manager for all sites, malting barley buyer and finally 2 years as acting manager at Highland Park.
A lot has changed since my time with Highland distilleries (now Edrington) but the sites back then (pre-1996) which I worked in on surveys and as relief manager were Tamdhu, Glenrothes, Glenglassaugh, Bunnahabhain, Glenturret Highland Park and Glengoyne.
On top of this, Bill has a degree in Biology; Membership in the Institute of Biology and Food Scientists/Technologists and had a paper on distillery bacteria published in Institute of Brewing journal (and developed a new agar medium to grow and count these bugs). So let’s just say, Bill is quite an accomplished guy! (oh, and he was born at Dailuaine!)
As you might imagine, having been literally born into whisky and being in the business professionally for 50 years… Bill’s got some great stories. For the first installment, Bill has decided to share the following one with us:
Clumper, the Clydesdale Horse and the Clearac
The cast: Robin Scott the horseman, Mr. Harpic the gauger (he was clean round the bend) and the horse.
When a business man founded a malt whisky distillery in the latter part of the 19th century he soon concluded that a means of transport between his distillery and the nearby railway station was critical to its success.
Enter our intrepid heroes, Clumper and his Master Robin!
Robin was a huge, ugly creature with a nose like a red pin cushion and a large black beard that some say provided a safe refuge for a large crow family. He was frugal with his diet, which consisted of porridge, egg, wild game, fruit and vegetables. None of these cost anything for as well as being a born thief he was a canny Scot. Robin would steal the pennies from the eyes of a corpse and the sugar from your tea. Mr. Harpic, the customs and excise officer, was a dapper little Sassenach resplendent in sports jacket and flannels and homburg hat.
Clumper The Horse!
Clumper loved his oats and had a nasty habit of biting the bums of passers by who got too close to his front end. It was also somewhat foolish to venture to within firing distance of the other end when his tail was up.
The cunning plan……………………
Our intrepid thief concocted a cunning, fool-proof plan to steal Whisky galore from under Harpic’s nose. Robin had been watching Harpic closely and had deduced that the officer was a creature of habit who shared his fellow countrymen’s addiction to tea, at 10 a.m. precisely Harpic would adjourn to the gauger’s office for refreshments. Drinking his tea at his office window he could keep a beady eye on the filling store exit.
During one such filling the bold horseman entered the filling store at 5 to 10 and filled a bucket with water from the tap and carried it out to give to Clumper, this pattern remained unchanged for several weeks before Robin began to delay his exit to coincide with Harpic’s appearance at his office window viewpoint with his tea. His suspicions were arisen but he decided to watch and wait till the horse was offered the contents to drink.
After a further 3 weeks of Clumper obliging to consume the water Harpic became lulled into a false sense of security regarding the horseman’s motive and reduced his scrutiny of man and horse.
A Switch in time… Robin was ready to act.
Before entering the store he concealed a bucket of water behind the cart and out of view of Harpic’s gaze. When the gauger departed for morning tea he got his friend, Bald Rick, to fill his empty bucket with clearac and waltzed towards the horse and cart.
Glancing towards Harpic’s empty window he realized that the gauger had taken his eye of the ball and slipped behind the cart and made the switch. By the time Harpic appeared again Clumper had his head in the bucket. After his tea the gauger went back to the filling store and the intrepid duo escaped.
This ploy carried on successfully for a few weeks until one day DISASTER STRUCK.
Harpic forgot the key to his office and was forced to return to the store. Fortunately for Robin, Jock Strapp was having a smoke at the door and managed to issue a timely warning. With a burst of speed, remarkable in one so porculent Robin switched the bucket for an empty one and proceeded to fill it with water. The gauger collected his key and set forth to brew his cuppa.
Robin saw his chance…he switched the buckets again and strolled out of the door, clutching the Water of life.
Which only goes to show that you can take a horse to water and make it drink.
Glossary….
Clearac is New Make Spirit – unaged spirit right off the still
Gauger is an excise man,
Harpic is a brand of toilet cleaner and a Sassenach is one emanating from Englandshire.
Porculent is not a real word but it sounded right…
Bill, thanks so much for sharing your story with us! I look forward to the next installment.
Whisky hand grenades. More often than not, if The Glenrothes is brought up in a whisky conversation (whisky comes up in conversation a few times per day, every single day of my life. I love it!), the shape of the bottle comes up. Thankfully, for the sake of the whisky, the topic does then change over to the actual whisky itself.
In many conversations, however, the topic switches once again from how the whisky tastes to how the whisky is bottled (this topic is not exclusive to The Glenrothes in anyway). More to the point, the lower ABV of 43% and the fact that the whisky is chill-filtered. Many whisky geeks I talk to are at a point where they will simply stay away from a whisky unless it’s bottled at, at least, 46% ABV (when bottled at 46% ABV, chill-filtering is not “required”). Put another way, bottled at 46%, the whisky will not cloud up if an ice cube is dropped in or if cold water is added to the whisky.
So, being bottled at 43% ABV and being chill-filtered, what do we get?
On the nose – Hey, I like this! Very rich and thick nose and even a bit nutty.
Hints of Amontillado sherry and all of the fun things that come with it – dried fruits, lemon and honey all encapsulated in a buttery flakey crust.
Baked apples and some of what I consider to be classically Glenrothes, damp wood.
On the mouth – Both watery and thick/rich at the same time (I know that doesn’t make too much sense but there is a mix of feels).
The front and sides of my mouth seem to not be affected by the fluid but the top and back of my tongue tingle with cherry, pineapple and a touch of citrus.
More apples, chalk and wood dust.
Complex? Not very. Tasty? Yes. Easy drinking? Scarily so…
Finish – Over all drying and laced with vanilla.
In sum – A solid whisky that I’d be happy to pour on (m)any occasion(s). Round and rich, sweet yet dry. It’s not mind-blowing but it’s well balanced and seemingly bottled at a nice ABV (43%). I’d love to taste this at a higher ABV but not sure we need to mess with this one. I wonder, however, if a non-chill filtered version of this (a version that retained all of the fatty acids and esters) might have made for a more complex whisky… the world may never know.
Special thanks goes out to Danielle K for the sample!
Most people know who Dr. Bill Lumsden is. Those of you who don’t, he’s THE guy who is in charge of creating all of the Ardbeg & Glenmorangie expressions you enjoy day in and day out.
Glenmorangie Signet, Astar, Nectar D’Or, Quinta Ruban, Lasanta, Original, Sonnalta PX, Finealta… yup, we can thank Dr. Bill for those
Ardbeg Uigeadail, Corryvreckan, 10yo, Supernova, Alligator, Airigh Nam Beist, etc… we can thank him for those too.
So now you know who we’re talking about. I’m going to be interviewing him very soon and I figured I’d give you the chance to offer up a question or two for Dr. Bill. If you have one, please comment on this blog post.
Tonight starts the Jewish New Year – the holiday, as most of you know, is called Rosh Hashanah (which translated from Hebrew means: “Head of the year” or the “Start of the year”).
There are some traditional foods people eat during the new year:
Apples
Honey (dipping the apples in honey then eating the, is done as a symbolic way of welcoming the new year & hoping that it is a “sweet” one)
A round shaped Challah bread (round to symbolize the circle of life)
What I’d like to suggest is a whisky accompaniment or alternative to these foods.
Why an accompaniment? Well, you might like to pair whisky with what you’re eating. Why an alternative? Maybe you’re not Jewish or maybe you are Jewish but don’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah or you’re not a traditionalist. Or perhaps I’m just doing this for fun. Either way, I think there are some good whisky equivilents to the three traditional foods so I wanted to share them with you:
On the nose – Initial few whiffs are very deceiving offering up softer notes of buttered crumpets and dark chocolate.
After nosing is for a bit longer, however, the bite starts to kick in and great vanilla and blueberry notes (yay rye whiskey!) pop as do gingerbread cookies and cinnamon sticks.
A great nose though very stinging (I like that – it lets me know I’m still alive and kicking).
If the ABV weren’t so high I could continue to nose the shit out of this one.
On the mouth – The entry here is soft (yes, even at 50% ABV) and the fluid feels, not tastes, feels like thick Kool-aid drink – take a Kool-Aid packet and add about 10% less water and that’s the feel you get.
Starts off like over-cooked butter then gets earthy. Fresh soil and crystalized ginger – Oh, this is getting stronger, and stronger – alcohol infused flan – Oh, this is good.
Finish – Long and longer. Strong and stronger.
True, this last one may not have the notes of Challah bread but there are those bready notes which are just fantastic and the finish, with it being long & strong, represents my wish for you:
May you all “Live Long and Prosper”
(Leonard Nimoy is a Jew so I can get away with this).
A short while back I had the good opportunity to interview one Mr./Dr. Bill Lumsden. Billy, as his friends call him. Actually, this interview was about a year and a half in the making. When I had heard that Glenmorangie & Ardbeg went for OU Kosher certification for the US market, I had it in my head that I should interview Dr. Bill.
Interesting… Malt, top notch belgian beer (Duvel, my favorite).
Big bright fruits peaches (in white wine) & cantaloupe.
The sweetness is pushed aside and now there a nice tapioca pudding quality to this.
On the nose – Initial few whiffs are very deceiving offering up softer notes of buttered crumpets and dark chocolate.
Starts off like over-cooked butter then gets earthy. Fresh soil and crystalized ginger – Oh, this is getting stronger, and stronger – alcohol infused flan – Oh, this is good.