Glenmorangie A Tale Of The Forest (700 ml) (Limited Edition)

Glenmorangie's A Tale of the Forest is a limited-edition expression built around a deliberate transgression: the distillery infused locally foraged woodland botanicals — including birch, heather, and pine — directly into the spirit before finishing, a technique with no precedent in the core Glenmorangie range and rare across Highland single malt production. This decision anchors the whisky to the forests surrounding the Tain distillery on the southern shore of the Dornoch Firth, Ross-shire, where a coastal microclimate moderates temperature swings and the Tarlogie Springs — filtering through limestone and sandstone for up to a century — supply the hard, mineral-rich water that underpins the distillery's characteristically light new-make spirit.

That lightness is structural: Scotland's tallest copper pot stills at 5.14 m enforce extreme reflux, stripping heavy congeners and producing one of the most delicate base spirits in the country. The heart cut runs from 74% ABV down to 60% ABV — a tight window that excludes feinty notes entirely. Maturation proceeds in ex-bourbon American white oak casks sourced from Glenmorangie's proprietary Ozark Mountain forests in Missouri, air-dried two years and bourbon-seasoned before use, delivering the house's signature vanilla and stone-fruit register. The botanical infusion then redirects that profile toward forest-floor freshness — pine resin, green moss, wild heather — before a secondary finishing stage locks in structure.

Special feature: botanical infusion into a Scotch single malt at this stage of production is essentially uncharted territory for the category. The 2019 vintage drinks well now through 2028.