I’m currently sampling one of The Scotch Malt Whisky Societies’ drams each month which is great fun. It also spreads the dram love out for a little longer instead of binging on them all at once – which is so easy to do!
My second dram-a-month, this month, is their members only SMWS 36.155 “Marmalade In A Nutshell”.
The 36.155 is a Speyside dram, quite sweet but with some nice, spiciness at the end. As usual though, stocks are limited (currently 36) so this dram will soon be taste-bud history!
A sad thing in a way, some may say. But then, in a world where everything is always available 24/7, it’s a real pleasure to savour and enjoy something which is unique and ‘of the moment’ and is not part of the standard uniformity of our consumer orientated lives.
Anyway, enough of the speeches! The SMWS (@SMWSUK) has very kindly sent me a sample to try – thanks guys!
So, what did I think?
Tasting Notes – SMWS 36.155 “Marmalade In A Nutshell” (56.9%)
A Speyside (Benrinnes Distillery) 20 year old, distilled on 15th. August 1997. Matured in a Refill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
185 bottles released.
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Nose: Vanilla fudge, mint, orange and apple hit me straight away – right between the nose! Very luscious and creamy. Palate: Much like the nose really. Luscious, sweet, creamy, fudge and vanilla with some apple and hints of chocolate with a little mint. Finish: Some dry wood. There’s plenty of power at the end with some nice spice and pepper but it’s the lovely, smooth, creamy vanilla-ness (is that a word?) which is the highlight of this dram. Overall: I really do like the SMWS offerings – so much flavour, punch and bang for your buck! |
Buy SMWS 336.155 “Marmalade In A Nutshell” £82.00 to Members |
About The SMWS
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is a club unlike any other.
As well as being a place to connect with other like-minded whisky lovers, they are also internationally renowned for their mission: “to provide our members with an adventurous and fun journey of discovery of the world’s widest collection of single cask whiskies.”
Conceptualised in the late 70’s and established in 1983, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, now 35 years old, has branches and partners bars in 19 countries globally. The Society has a selection of over 500 casks every year, each cask yielding a few hundred or less whisky bottles which are unique to that cask.
Rather than name their Whiskies after the distillery, the Society has a coding system. The Society also creates fantastic tasting notes summaries for their Whiskies and other bottles. The whiskies are straight from the cask single malt, undiluted, without chill-filtration or colouring at cask strength.
More recently the Society has been named Independent Bottler of the Year in Whisky Magazine’s prestigious Independent Bottlers’ Challenge (IBC) competition.
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