Five Drams – The Joy!
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society gathering has come … and gone.
The Vaults was the place to be in September as part of their week-long celebration of all things SMWS taking place at their spiritual home in Leith.
Brand ambassador John McCheyne once again took the helm to stream live on their Facebook page (facebook.com/thesmwsuk/) to sample through five exceptional 25ml drams.
The Gathering Discovery Pack’s five 25ml bottles:
- SMWS 107.16
- SMWS 44.99
- SMWS 64.108
- SMWS 35.239
- SMWS 33.137
The pack features a range of flavour profiles with some casks bottled exclusively for The Gathering and an extra special bottling which will only be available by the dram, to be shared through The Gathering week – and the Discovery pack!
So, what did I think?
Here are my tasting notes … and the one which was my favourite!
Tasting Notes – SMWS 107.16 – “Truly A Fairy Tale” (67%)
A Speyside Dram (Glenallachie Distillery) 7 years old, distilled on 4th. April 2011. Matured in a 2nd. fill toasted butt.
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Nose: Rich and plummy, stewed fruits with aromas of wood toffee & chocolate orange – yum! Palate: Stewed fruits, toffee, caramel and creamy vanilla. Finish: A rich, but not too harsh fire! Adding some water makes it gloriously smooth. Overall: This is fantastic for a 7 year old cask – a revelation! |
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Price £35.00 Packs are limited – ONLY 30 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! |
Tasting Notes – SMWS 44.99 – “A Real Cracker” (55.9%)
A Speyside Dram (Craigellachie Distillery) 14 years old, distilled on 9th. June 2004. Matured in a refill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
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Nose: Apples and vanilla with a hint of mint. Palate: Sugar candy sweet with some spicy vanilla and stewed fruits. Finish: A short spice with some fruity vanilla at the end. |
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Price £35.00 Packs are limited – ONLY 30 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! |
Packs ARE STILL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE!
Tasting Notes – SMWS 64.108 – “Something For The Weekend” (61%)
A Speyside Dram (Mannochmore Distillery) 10 years old, distilled on 5th. March 2008. Matured in a refill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
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Nose: Plenty of banana, tropical fruits and vanilla! Some white new wood. Palate: Creamy and spicy with lovely tropical fruit flavours. There’s some creamy, sweet banana with hints of citrus. Finish: Some nice spice there as well! Treacle is in there as well as tobacco. Addition of water brings out lots of full flavours. |
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Price £35.00 Packs are limited – ONLY 30 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! |
Tasting Notes – SMWS 35.239 – “Sweet Seduction” (52.9%)
A Speyside Dram (Glen Moray Distillery) 23 years old, distilled on 27th. October 1995. Matured in a 1st. fill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
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Nose: Polish and old leather – dusky libraries! Fruity with sweet apples & rum – heaven! Palate: Sweet, rich, fruity and slightly oily with licourice and treacle. Finish: A super smooth finish with rich pepper but it’s a lovely, syrupy dram to be sure! |
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Price £35.00 Packs are limited – ONLY 30 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! |
Tasting Notes – SMWS 33.137 – “Campfire Marshmallows On Singed Sticks” (59.9%)
An Islay Dram (Ardbeg Distillery) 10 years old, distilled on 27th. November 2008. Matured in a 1st. fill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
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Nose: A massive hit of peat, smoke, salt and charcoal – like fires on the beach – glorious! Palate: Peaty, antiseptic and sweet. Creamy fruits infused with smoke. Finish: More of the same with the sweetness beating the peat leaving just a few whisps of smoke! |
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Price £35.00 Packs are limited – ONLY 30 CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! |
My Favourite
Out of the 5, I think it’s got to be the SMWS 35.239 – “Sweet Seduction”. A great, syrupy, sweet, fruit joy with some un-expected and welcome licourice.
I must mention SMWS 33.137 – “Campfire Marshmallows On Singed Sticks” though. This dram will be loved by all Peat lovers, myself included!
Many thanks to SMWS (@SMWSUK) for sending the samples and for a great afternoons dramming!
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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