The SMWS 58.31: “Berried Alive”
It’s Month 5 of my regular samplings of The Scotch Malt Whisky Societies’ selection of recently released drams.
November’s dram-a-month, this month, is their SMWS 58.31 “Berried Alive”.
The 58.31 is a Speyside dram and of the original 244 bottles released – only a fifth remain to be sold – SMWS bottlings don’t hang around for long!
The SMWS (@SMWSUK) has very kindly sent me a sample to try – thanks SMWS!
So, what did I think?
Tasting Notes – SMWS 58.31 “Berried Alive” (59.1%)
A Speyside Dram (Strathisla Distillery) 12 years old, distilled on 30th. March 2006. Matured for 10 years in Ex-bourbon hogshead and then in 2nd. fill Chenin Blanc Barrique barrel for the remainder.
244 bottles were released.
(53 BOTTLES IN STOCK AT PRESENT!)
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Nose: Creamy, fudgy, caramel with some fruity floweriness. There’s wisps of lemon in there as well. Palate: Slightly tropical plus there is loads of fruity, plump raisins and vanilla sweetness – all contained in a slight creaminess. Finish: Smooth finish with some medium spice, leather and a grapefruit dryness at the end. In fact there’s quite a lot of tannin there. Overall: A nice dram though a bit dry for me at the finish which I struggled with. But then, I’m not a fan of very dry white wines either while my partner loves them! |
| Buy SMWS 58.31 “Berried Alive” £59.00 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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