Harrison Ford’s Whisky Deserves a Standing Ovation
The Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition Whisky shows that celebrity liquors can be more than marketing.
No market is saturated with celebrity endorsements and investments quite like liquor. Wines, spirits, and beer are co-signed by athletes, actors, and musicians who, it is hard to believe, have seen a still or picked a grape. Needless to say, it is increasingly rare that a celebrity liquor stands out in the crowd, and even more so that it feels like a genuine passion project. But every so often, a bottle that goes against the grain comes along—making you think that the name on the bottle is more than just a clever marketing tactic. Such is the case with the Glenmorangie Harrison Ford Limited Edition, the latest release from the nearly two-century-old Scottish whisky distillery.
As the face of Glenmorangie, Ford spent time in and around its Highland home, filming Once Upon a Time in Scotland, a miniseries directed by Joel Edgerton that follows the Indiana Jones star’s discovery of the passion and craftsmanship that goes into each bottle as well as the ins and outs of Scottish culture: most notably, kilt etiquette. While there, Ford got to know the distillery team, who got in on the action themselves, acting alongside a Hollywood Great while teaching him a thing or two about the distilling process.
“I loved working with the team at the distillery—they were all great. The whole process of filming was full of unanticipated joys: little unexpected moments,” Ford says. “It’s a tribute to Glenmorangie’s sensibilities that they let us be less than totally serious. I think what Joel has produced has a certain charm to it, because it’s unpretentious and just amusing.”
But the most important person Ford met at Glenmorangie was master distiller and director of whisky creation Bill Lumsden, whom he collaborated with to craft the new Harrison Ford Limited Edition whisky. Together, Ford and Lumsden tasted from casks of Glenmorangie whiskies before deciding on a recipe that would reflect the actor’s timeless appeal. Harrison Ford Limited Edition has no age statement, but the profile is similar to Glenmorangie’s main line of whiskies, which are primarily aged in ex-bourbon barrels. But like a good stage trick, Ford wanted to keep drinkers on their toes, choosing to age a portion of the whisky in toasted Portuguese red wine casks, adding a zesty citric bite to Glenmorangie’s signature smoothness.
