Scotch Malt Whisky
Society bottlings get first new look in over a
decade.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), which is a
rather unique international whisky club which is
approaching its 35th anniversary has given its
iconic green bottle a bit of a makeover.
This is the first change to the SMWS bottle in over
a decade, the most obvious change which you will
notice first with the new bottle is the introduction
of 12 different colours, in the caps, in a strip on
the label itself and in the age statement. Each
colour conforms to one of the Society’s unique 12
flavour profiles, from Young & Sprightly through to
Old & Dignified, which they have introduced to help
you navigate the hundreds of bottlings they release
each year. By defining whisky more by aromas than by
region, they want to make it easier to focus on the
flavours.
You will also notice that they have given their logo
a bit of a makeover, the Vaults in Leith still takes
pride at the heart of the Society’s modernised logo.
The spiritual home of the SMWS dates back to the
18th century and is one of Scotland’s oldest
commercial premises. We’ve emphasised the shape of
the bottle in the building as a tribute to its
history as a warehouse for the drinks trade and
long-term home of the Society.
Each bottle will still carry a entertaining and
descriptive name as well as a succinct Tasting
Note, written by the members of the SMWS secretive
Tasting Panel.
The Society never name the distillery of origin on
the bottle but give each distillery a code number
and that has not changed, each bottle will still be
adorned with a
SMWS Code Number where the first number
represents the distillery the whisky is from and the
second represents the number of single casks that
have been bottled from that distillery.
One of the biggest changes in their new design is
making sure the age is and always will be up front
as well as the date of distillation. The bottle will
also tell you the cask type, region and strength of
each whisky which will continue to be bottled at
cask strength.
SMWS bottlings are only available to society members
but many bottling eventually find there way to specialist online whisky shops such as
Master of Malt
|