The Glenmorangie 10 Year Old from the 1990s in the “Sixteen Men of Tain” tin is a sought-after collector’s item today.
The most significant factor is the tin itself. The “Sixteen Men of Tain” design and the phrase “Handcrafted by the Sixteen Men of Tain” were a central part of Glenmorangie’s marketing for decades. This specific tin design is no longer in use, making it a vintage piece of brand history. It represents a bygone era of the distillery and is a nostalgic item for collectors.
The whisky inside is also different from the current Glenmorangie “The Original” 10-year-old. While the core of the spirit remains the same, the 1990s bottling was produced under different conditions and with slightly different maturation practices. Many enthusiasts believe that the old expressions of Glenmorangie had a more pronounced floral and fruity character, and some prefer it to the modern-day liquid.
The bottling predates the acquisition of the Glenmorangie Company by the luxury goods conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) in 2004. For some collectors, bottles from before such a major corporate change are particularly desirable, as they are seen as representing the “original” or an older style of the distillery’s spirit.