The Glenmorangie Pride 28 Year Old was released in 2015 as the next step in the prestige Pride series, following the Pride 1981 and Pride 1978 before it. Distilled in the late 1980s, the whisky spent most of its life in American ex-bourbon casks before being moved, at around eighteen years of age, into Grand Cru Burgundy wine casks for a further ten-year finishing period. It was bottled at 28 years old and 46.2% ABV.
A decade of Burgundy wine-cask influence is exceptional by any standard. Wine casks are notoriously temperamental, quick to overwhelm a spirit if left too long, and the success of the Pride 28 rests on the fact that Glenmorangie's tall-stilled spirit is light and fine enough to absorb that much wine influence without losing its own voice. Dr Bill Lumsden has spoken often about the necessary partnership between base spirit and cask, and this is an unusually pure expression of that philosophy.
In the glass, the Burgundy contribution is clearly present but never crude. Red fruit, rose petal and a gentle tannic grip all speak to the finishing casks, but the honey, citrus and orchard-fruit signature of Glenmorangie is still audible underneath. The palate is silky rather than heavy, and the finish carries a floral, dried-flower character that is quite unlike anything the distillery's standard range offers.
Released in a limited run and presented in a substantial crystal decanter, the Pride 28 was priced in the low thousands and has not grown cheaper on the secondary market. It is a bottle aimed at the serious collector and the occasional grand-occasion pour rather than the everyday cabinet.
As a demonstration of what Glenmorangie does better than almost anyone — patient, unusual cask work carried on a base spirit light enough to take it — the Pride 28 is a quietly triumphant release.
