The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), founded in Edinburgh in 1983, is a membership organisation which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 170[1] malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and throughout the world, bottles them and retails directly to its members. It also runs four private members' rooms in the UK and in several international locations.
The origins of the Society lie in Phillip "Pip" Hills' travels around the Scottish Highlands in the late 1970s, during which he sampled several whiskies drawn straight from the cask.[2]
Hills was so affected by what he tasted that, in 1978, he persuaded several acquaintances to share in the cost of a cask from the Glenfarclas distillery. Over time, the group of friends expanded to become a small syndicate and more casks were purchased, bottled and distributed to subscribing members.
Coinciding with the decision to open membership to the wider public in 1983, the Society purchased its first property, The Vaults, in Leith; a building, whose vaulted wine cellars reputedly stretch back to the 12th century.
The Society created a set of members' rooms there.
In 1996, the Society launched a share scheme for its members, the proceeds from which were invested in the purchase of a London venue.
2004 saw the Society open a second venue in Edinburgh – a Georgian townhouse on Queen Street. In the same year, the Society was acquired by Glenmorangie plc.[3]
To mark the 25th anniversary of its foundation, the Society redesigned its bottles, to include more information and a full tasting note on the front of the bottle.[4]
In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors from Glenmorangie plc (now under the ownership of LVMH).
In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.[5]
Membership
To buy whisky bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, it is necessary to be a member. Membership in the UK costs £85 for the first year and can be purchased with a choice of add ons. Members are required to pay a smaller annual renewal fee every year to retain membership – the cost of which varies depending on type of membership and location.
New members receive a membership pack containing 3 sample bottles of Society whisky and various other items including a Members' Handbook and Notebook, a lapel badge and membership card.
Membership entitles members to buy Society whisky and also gives members access to its private members' venues (along with the ability to bring 3 non-member guests), and the opportunity to buy tickets for various tasting events. The events are held at is members' venues and also at other non-Society venues around the country.
Members also receive a quarterly publication called Unfiltered – an award-winning [6] magazine that keeps them up to date on Society news, plus articles from the wider whisky world.
Locations
The Society has four Members' Rooms in the UK, where whiskies are sold by the bottle or for consumption on the premises by the dram. These are located at The Vaults, Leith; 28 Queen Street, Edinburgh; 38 Bath Street, Glasgow and 19 Greville Street, London. The Society also operates non-member bars under the Kaleidoscope brand. There is a Kaleidoscope bar situated at 28 Queen Street in Edinburgh which sits alongside the company's members–only bar. The second Kaleidoscope venue was based in Devonshire Square in central London but has since closed.[7]
It also has branches in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.S.A.[8][citation needed]
In 2010, the Society partnered with The Hotel du Vin & Malmaison group to introduce a new 'whisky snug' bar concept to the Aberdeen Malmaison, Brighton Hotel du Vin and Birmingham Hotel du Vin.[9]
Bottlings
Casks are only acquired by the Society after approval by an appointed 'Tasting Panel', comprising Society representatives, those directly involved in the distilling industry and various other suitably qualified parties.
The Tasting Panel also gives each bottling a whimsical set of tasting notes which provide an indication of what flavours and textures the drinker can expect. Each bottle is also given a quirky and descriptive name – such as 'Kissed up by sweet promises' or 'Intense menu of seduction'.
The resulting 'outturn' of each cask is given a unique, two-part numerical identifier, representing first the originating distillery and second the individual cask from which the bottle was taken. For example, 2.35 represents the 35th cask acquired from distillery number two.[10] Society bottlings are always referred to using this numerical code, rather than by the distillery name, as individual casks are unique and, therefore, may not be representative of the whisky produced by that distillery for ordinary retail.
The number of bottles available from each outturn of a cask can vary – but single casks by their very nature only produce a limited amount of whisky so, more often than not, there is only a small number of bottles available, making each release rare and sought-after. The Society releases new whisky selections for its members once or twice a month.
The Society has also bottled single casks from grain whisky distilleries, identified by the prefix 'G' in the cask number. Other non-whisky spirits have been released, such as gin, rum, and cognac, as well as blended whisky and cognacs. Each variety has their own bottle number prefix.
Occasionally, the Society releases bottlings with special labels – such as the Far Flung Flavours, a set of three bottles with labels and names that break with the traditional style of Society labels. Each bottle has a specially designed label based on the key characteristics of the whisky – for example, 'Wasabi Wipe-out', which featured an illustration of a Sumo wrestler surfing on the label.
As of September 2010, around 3,597 single casks had been bottled by the Society since 1983.
Society whisky is bottled at its original cask strength, typically upwards of 55 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV). It is more common in the Scotch whisky industry to reduce the spirit at bottling to around 40 per cent and put it through a chill filtering process, which prevents it from clouding at low temperatures.[11]
Scotch whisky is malt whisky or grain whisky, made in Scotland.
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
Single malt Scotch refers to single malt whisky made in Scotland. To qualify for this category, a whisky must have been distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and made from a mash of malted barley. Therefore, a single malt means that the whisky has not been blended elsewhere with whisky from other distilleries. As with any Scotch whisky, a single malt Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured in oak casks in Scotland for at least three years, although most single malts are matured longer.
Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery.
Royal Brackla distillery is a Highland Scotch whisky distillery on the Cawdor Estate, near Nairn in Scotland. The distillery is operated by John Dewar & Sons Ltd for Bacardi.
The Glenlivet distillery is a distillery near Ballindalloch in Moray, Scotland, that produces single malt Scotch whisky. It is the oldest legal distillery in Scotland. It was founded in 1824 and has operated almost continuously since.
The Macallan distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Craigellachie in Moray in the north-east of Scotland. The Macallan Distillers Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Edrington, which purchased the brand from Highland Distillers in 1999.
Glenmorangie distillery is a distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland, that produces single malt Scotch whisky.
Glenfiddich distillery is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery owned by William Grant & Sons in the Scottish burgh of Dufftown in Moray. The name Glenfiddich derives from the Scottish Gaelic Gleann Fhiodhaich meaning "valley of the deer", which is reflected in Glenfiddich's stag logo.
Grant's is a blended Scotch whisky, produced by the company William Grant & Sons in Scotland.
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's largest bottling plant, until its closure in 2012, a decision announced by Diageo in 2009 which would bring the 190-year association between the brand and Kilmarnock to an end.
Ardbeg distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery in Ardbeg on the south coast of the isle of Islay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, in the Inner Hebrides group of islands. The distillery is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, and produces a heavily peated Islay whisky. The distillery uses malted barley sourced from the maltings in Port Ellen.
Bruichladdich Distillery is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay in Scotland. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin. It is owned by Rémy Cointreau and is one of nine working distilleries on the island.
Springbank distillery is a family-owned single malt whisky distillery on the Kintyre Peninsula in western Scotland.
Bailie Nicol Jarvie was a brand of whisky which was produced by The Glenmorangie Company in Scotland. It was named after a character in Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy. It is a blended Scotch whisky, which has a good following in Scotland, but is relatively unknown in other parts of the world.
Glen Moray distillery is a Speyside distillery producing single malt scotch whisky. Situated on the banks of the River Lossie in Elgin, Moray the distillery started production in September 1897. It was sold in 2008 by the Glenmorangie Company Ltd. to La Martiniquaise.
Glenturret distillery is two miles northwest of Crieff in Perthshire, Scotland on the banks of the Turret River.
It has been common practice in the whisky industry for more than a century for distilleries to sell barrels of whisky to blenders and independent bottlers as a means of making additional income. In fact, some distilleries exist solely to serve independent bottlers, and do not market any brands themselves.
Abhainn Dearg distillery or Red River distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery in Uig, on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. It is the most westerly distillery in Scotland. The name is Scottish Gaelic for "Red River" which itself takes its name from a bloody skirmish in the dark ages when local people won a battle against Viking marauders.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to whisky:
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