Around the world with the Society
Here’s a flavour of what’s been going on at the world’s most entertaining whisky club
A selection of Scotch malt, grain and international whiskies have brought a haul of eight medals in this year’s International Wine and Spirits Competition.
Members of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society appreciate the endless variety of bottlings that we offer up every month. The judges of the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) were clearly also impressed with both that variety and quality, with the Society scooping one ‘Gold Outstanding’ award, one Gold and six Silvers.
Cask No. 35.275: A desert island dr(e)am took the Gold Outstanding prize, while Cask No. 10.199: Norse mythology won the Gold. Our single grain Cask No. G10.29: Strathclyde Ambrosial was one of the six silvers, along with whisky from Japan in Cask No. 130.4: New flavours from a distant land and Sweden with Cask No. 145.1: A sweet kiss from a smoking mermaid. The Society’s award-winning bottles were:
Cask No. 35.275: A desert island dr(e)am – Gold Outstanding, 98 points
Cask No. 10.199: Norse mythology – Gold, 95 points
Cask No. 130.4: New flavours from a distant land – Silver, 94 points
Cask No. G10.29: Strathclyde Ambrosial – Silver, 94 points
Cask No. 7.250: A supernatural delight – Silver, 93 points
Cask No. 125.77: Graceful elegance – Silver, 93 points
Cask No. 52.36: Cherries, ferries and salted berries – Silver, 92 points
Cask No. 145.1: A sweet kiss from a smoking mermaid – Silver, 90 points
JG Thomson, the small batch spirits specialist that was launched recently by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s parent company, Artisanal Spirits, also made an impressive debut in the IWSC awards, with one Gold Outstanding award, one Gold and three Silvers.
Gold Outstanding with 99 points went to JG Thomson’s Rich, a 23-year-old blended malt Scotch whisky, which the judges described as “fragrant, juicy and decidedly delicious”.
Sweet, a blended grain from 1972, won Gold with 96 points, while three other JG Thomson blended malts scooped Silver medals.
“Our latest series of awards brings our award total to 226 awards to date for our limited edition, member exclusive whisky,” said SMWS chief member champion David Ridley. “This is a mark of the quality and craftsmanship that goes into the unique flavour creations of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottles. This round of IWSC awards also brings an outstanding win for JG Thomson, another part of our Artisanal Spirits family, winning a Gold Outstanding award with an incredible score of 99. The taste experience, served neat or made muddled, of the JG Thomson collection has received warm reviews since its introduction.
“We are delighted with this latest set of accolades – it gives our people, and I hope our members, a reason to feel really proud.”
The IWSC competition is judged by world-renowned experts from across the global spirits trade. Many judges are also distillers themselves, providing a unique opportunity for independent peer feedback.
Find out more at https://iwsc.net/
Getting lucky on St Patrick’s Day
Lucky member Andy Cotton scooped a bottle of the Society’s Cask No. 150.1: Let’s go west! during our special St Patrick’s Day livestream event on Thursday, 17 March. Andy tuned into the livestream and was fortunate enough to have his name pulled out of our virtual hat during the livestream.
Guests on the evening included Denis Hurley from West Cork Distillers, Dave Mulligan from Bar 1661 in Dublin, broadcaster and cultural historian Mark Thompson and Irish whiskey writer Miren Somers. If you missed it, you can still catch the livestream at below – but it’s too late to win the prize!
Blind drams
SMWS members Kate and Callum recently took their turn to host #BlindDrams for the Blind Tasting Consortium’s 19th edition of Blind Drams, a group of friends who swap samples and try them together over Twitter. With each tasting having a theme, Kate and Callum used the night to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They picked five drams with a dinner party menu theme and called them: starter, sorbet, fish, main and pudding. They were keen to demonstrate how good SMWS drams can be. They shared these drams with 26 fellow blind tasters with the big reveal being that they were all SMWS drams. The winner on the night was Cask No. 93.176: Fish 'n' chips eau de vie. Congratulations to Kate and Callum on their anniversary and the successful tasting! Find out more here.
US tastings are back!
Our US team have been delighted to get their show back on the road, with Outturn Preview tastings back in real life at events in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. There’s nothing quite like a dram shared in person…
Austrian valentine’s
In February our Austrian branch celebrated Valentine’s Day with members in both Linz and Vienna. Apart from tastings with some exceptional drams, all female members received a flower and the gents were able to pick an additional dram. To end the weekend of tastings, there was a vertical tasting of distillery 9 – something different but very interesting!