Up to 1,250 members of the worldwide whisky club will come together online!
Saturday 30 September 2023 at 2pm
“All Together Now” – The SMWS Aims To Taste Their Way To A New Whisky World Record!
As they approach the milestone of 40,000 members around the world, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has announced it will attempt to set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the most participants in an online whisky tasting event.
The online whisky tasting will take place on Saturday 30th September 2023
Up to 1,250 members of the worldwide whisky club across the UK, USA, Japan, China and Australia will come together online and take part in the three-dram tasting for around 45 minutes on Saturday 30th September 2023.
The record-setting attempt is taking place during ‘The Gathering’, the flagship event in the Society’s year-long series of 40th anniversary activities for its growing community of members around the world.
Founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by maverick Pip Hills, the SMWS started out as a small group of like-minded whisky lovers who shared a passion for single cask whisky. Now owned by the Artisanal Spirits Company, but with Hills, now 82, at the heart of its 40th-year celebrations, the Society is now the world’s largest whisky club, with almost 38,000 members in more than 20 countries across the globe.
Partnering with video production company GLO to live-stream the tasting via Zoom, the Society’s world-record bid will see their members taste three Society drams during the online event.
The drams to be sampled are:-
- Cask No. 55.78 What a Spread!, a 13-year-old rich and sweet bottling from a Speyside distillery, with tasting notes of “spiced toffee, creme brulee and a touch of fresh oak”
- Cask No. 39.244 Tutti Frutti in a Wooden Bowl, an 11-year-old whisky from the SMWS Juicy Oak & Vanilla flavour profile.
- Batch 15 Smokus Fruticosus, a blended malt comprised of malt whiskies from the islands of Islay & Orkney.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has come a long way since Pip Hills and his friends started exploring the amazing array of flavours in single cask whisky in Edinburgh in the early 1980s.
Now, 40 years later, the Society has almost 40,000 members around the world, including around 18,000 here in the UK, so what better way to celebrate that by bringing so many of our members together to go for this world record.
We’re delighted to be playing our part in this world record attempt – we’ll certainly have fun trying to do it!
– Madeleine Schmoll: Event host and Social Media and Community Manager at The Scotch Malt Whisky Society UK
Madeleine Schmoll is the event host for the record breaking attempt!
About The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS)
• The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was established in Edinburgh in 1983 and has 37,000 members around the world.
• It is owned by The Artisanal Spirits Company (ASC) plc
• The SMWS bottles rare single cask and single malt whisky, exclusive blends and a range of other Single Cask Spirits.
• The Society has bottled whisky from 180 distilleries from Scotland and beyond
• The Society offers a new batch of around 20 different single malt whiskies every month
• Members have access to four exclusive SMWS Members’ Rooms in Leith, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London along with a global network of 100 partner bars.
• The Society offers a variety of membership options that can be tailored.
• For more information about the Society, visit: https://smws.com/, Twitter: @SMWSUK Facebook: @thesmwsuk Instagram: @smws_uk
About The Artisanal Spirits Company (ASC)
• The Artisanal Spirits Company (ASC) plc is based in Edinburgh
• The Artisanal Spirits Company (ASC) plc is building a portfolio of premium brands that bring together some of the world’s best spirits producers with a growing movement of discerning consumers by curating unrivalled collections of craft spirits.
• ASC owns The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) and in 2021 it launched J.G. Thomson & Co. Inspired by its namesake, which was originally a wine and spirits merchant in Leith, Scotland, in the 1700s, J.G. Thomson is a new, adventurous blender, creating small batch blended malt whiskies, blended grain whiskies, rum and gin.
