Save the Date
FESTIVAL DRAM-ALONG
Get ready to dive into a world of flavour from the comfort of your own home with an unforgettable virtual event. Grab your favourite dram, settle in, and let’s raise a glass together!
We’re not just inviting members from around the corner, but from every corner of the globe.
SMWS Fundamentals of Flavour
DISCOVERY IN EVERY BOTTLE
Uncork a Society whisky and it’s the start of a jam-packed journey into fantastical flavours. However, if we delve deeper into sensory science, we can see that flavour transcends metaphorical language to become a journey in the physical sense too. By embracing this new perspective, we can access new worlds of whisky wonderment. Join us, intrepid adventurer, as we set forth to unlock the secrets of our senses.
Cask No. 35.387
MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY
€520.00
PROFILE Spicy & Sweet REGION Speyside AGE 32 years ABV 55.4% CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-PX hogshead
We entered into a molecular gastronomy experience; the welcome drink was a test tube combining orange liqueur, pink peppercorn, smoked mince pie, birch sap, spiced meadand blackcurrant. Both the nose and the palate were full of sweet fruit and savoury spice. Water offered new discoveries, with wheatgrass pancakes enveloping cherrywood-smoked apricots and apple on the nose, calvados-spiked cola cubes and chewing tobacco on the palate, with a coulis of wild berries and ice cream to finish. After 27 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this to a first fill PX hogshead for the remainder of its maturation.
Cask No. B4.11
LIKE A GROWN-UP IN A CANDY STORE
€96.00
PROFILE American Bourbon Whiskey REGION Chicago AGE 4 years ABV 61.1% CASK TYPE #3 char new oak barrel
Like most celebrations, it all started in a mature and grown-up fashion with fresh fennel, dill and coriander seeds leading to the acquired bitterness of pine sap, then ginger, nutmeg and dried pineapple. After a few sips, however, we rapidly reverted to our childhood as tutti frutti bubblegum merged with banana foam sweets, peardrops and aniseed balls, all washed down with cherry cola. A dash of water did little to dampen the sugar high as our sticky mitts reached for jars of fruit jellies, jelly beans and strawberry trifle. Then after a sip of banana liqueur it was back to adulthood for a sensible cup of earl grey tea with a slice of lemon.
Cask No. 80.48
DOORS TO MANUAL AND CROSS CHECK
€80.00
PROFILE Sweet, Fruity & Mellow REGION Speyside AGE 11 years ABV 57.9% CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
Our hosts welcomed us on board with croissants filled with almond paste, covered in icing sugar and presented on a hay bale. A touch of turpentine in the air was joined by the fresh linen on the headrest. To the palate, coffee danced with toffee sauce laced with dark chocolate, a touch of nutmeg, grapefruit and lemon peel. Water transported our nose on to the aeroplane’s first flight of the day; a cold cabin, waxy leather seats, new carpet and a steaming teapot. As we reached our cruising altitude, the palate wove strawberries with toffee and orange juice, with a touch of mixed herbs.
SMWS & Sherry
MADE TO ORDER
Since legislation changed in Spain in the 1980s to determine that all sherry had to be bottled there before it was exported, there’s now no such thing as a sherry ‘transport’ cask. That has led to a whole industry dedicated to building and seasoning casks with sherry, specifically for the whisky industry, as Richard Goslan reports.
Whisky Festival Season
JOIN THE FLAVOUR HUNT
At the heart of the whisky world, where enthusiasts and connoisseurs unite in the pursuit of exceptional single malts, lies a community driven by a relentless passion for flavour exploration. This May, as the whisky festivals across Scotland beckon, we invite you to embark on a journey with us – the Flavour Hunters – where every dram tells a tale of discovery and delight.