Until midnight on Tuesday 14th June, we’re offering you the chance to receive a complimentary branded Glencairn Glass, worth £6.95, when you purchase one of our single malt whiskies online and in-store.* The perfect addition to your whisky cabinet, it also makes for a beautiful gift to which you can add a personalised gift note.

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The Society has had another bumper batch of award medals, in the UK and around the world. In the International Spirits Challenge (ISC), the SMWS not only matched but bettered our performance from last year, with four Gold medals as well as an outstanding Double Gold award. In Japan, our team won two Superior Golds and three Golds in the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition.

We had our best-ever result in the Scotch Whisky Masters competition, winning five of its highest-award Master medals and one Gold. In the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, we won three Double Gold and three Gold medals, while in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge we won the Chairman’s Trophy for our small-batch blended malt, Tabanco Time, along with six other awards for our single cask bottlings from across Speyside and Islay.

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READ MORE ABOUT SOCIETY AWARDS

Looking for something different? Discover all our events on our website and make the best out of your summer.

WHAT’S ON IN JUNE

See you soon!

SEE ALL EVENTS

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

THE DALMORE – SHERRY CASK SELECT

12 YEAR OLD – WITH FREE GLASS

70cl | 43% ABV

Sherry Cask Select is the newest addition to The Dalmore’s acclaimed Principal Collection of Single Malt Scotch Whiskies. This delicious and decadent Highland Whisky was initially matured in ex-Bourbon casks for a period of 10 years, developing rich flavours of chocolate, citrus, vanilla and spice. The whisky was then finished for two years in Sherry saturated casks from Andalusia, imparting sweet fruits and Autumnal spice.

Nose: Caramelised orange, ginger and sultanas, laced with honey.

Palate: Dark chocolate and crushed almonds with a dusting of cinnamon.

Finish: Sweet mangos, panna cotta and lemon sponge cake.

£74.95

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Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 446: Nc’nean Huntress

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries Nc’nean’s latest release. This time Anabel and her team opted for a slightly different composition than for their regular batches, namely 61% STR Red Wine Casks and 39% Ex-Bourbon casks. It is also bottled at a slightly higher alcohol percentage. This is the spring whisky par excellence of this young, dynamic distillery that now boasts quite a few loyal followers. The special thing about this whisky is that it was produced with three different yeast strains, one of which is normally used for the production of rum!

https://youtu.be/jP-SNYQG7f8

CHIVAS BROTHERS INVESTS IN SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OF SCOTCH WITH £88 MILLION EXPANSION OF ABERLOUR AND MILTONDUFF DISTILLERIES

Exclusive Access to Smoke Point
Get early access to one of our most anticipated releases of the year!

One of the most anticipated releases of the year is here!

Winner of Double Gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the oldest and largest spirits competition in the world, Smoke Point has made it through the final “sweeps” rounds and is now one of two whiskies contending for Best of Class Canadian Whisky!

About Smoke Point.

Smoke Point single malt whisky is a proprietary vatting of whisky that has been aged in barrels smoked with driftwood from our shore and native woods found around the distillery. The rich smoky flavours carry a salty tang and hint of iodine from the seaweed and salt on the driftwood that balances perfectly with the sweet creamy mouthfeel of this award-winning whisky. Experience campfire, cigar smoke and oak on the nose. Chocolate, fruit, and toffee on the palette, finishing in a delicious combination of creme brulée and salty graham cracker. In Smoke Point we have created a whisky for you to enjoy that captures the spirit of the island campfire and brings the best of Vancouver Island to the canon of smoky, peaty whiskies.

For a limited time, in celebration of Father’s Day we’re offering 10% off all bottles available through our online store. Simply apply promo code DAD2022 at check out (offer is valid now until June 19th).

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A quick reminder that the deadline for collection requests is fast approaching. To register your interest in a collection please complete the form which can be found HERE. Please ensure collection requests are received by the deadline of Monday 13th June 2022.

Scotland – Collection Points

Inverness – Tuesday 14th June 2022 – From 11am by appointment
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Elgin –  Tuesday 14th June 2022 – From 11am by appointment
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Aberdeen – Wednesday 15th June 2022  – from 11am by appointment only
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Islay – Wednesday 18th May 2022 – From 6.30pm by appointment only
*Request deadline Monday 9th May 2022 at 12 noon

Scotland – Home Collections

Perth  –  Wednesday 15th June 2022  – from 11am by appointment only
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Dumfries – Monday 20th/Tuesday 21st June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Ayrshire – Monday 20th/Tuesday 21st June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Fife & Kinross-  Thursday 23rd June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Stirlingshire –  Thursday 23rd June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Campbeltown – Thursday 19th May 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Edinburgh – Monday 27th June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

England – Home Collections

England – Home Collections – Thursday 16th June 2022 – Monday 20th June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

England – Collection Points

Manchester – SK8 – Monday 14th June 2022
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

London AM – NW2, SW16, E16 – Sunday 19th June 2022 – from 10am by appointment only
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

London Evening – W14 – Sunday 19th June 2022 – from 10am by appointment only
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Wales – Collection Point

Newport – NP18 – Saturday 18th June 2022 from 9am
* Request deadline Monday 13th June 2022 at 12 noon

Collections are limited and by appointment only. If you would like to attend please complete the form which can be found here. Please note deadlines apply for collection requests. It would be appreciated if bottles could be packed for uplift. In addition a submission form and label should be completed. Submission forms can now be completed via your main accounts page. A winner in our auction? We are now offering a delivery (to collection point) service to customers who are dropping bottles off for a future auction. This service is charged at £12 (inc VAT), optional loss and breakage cover is available.

Cask Whisky Investors Share Excitement for the Latest UK – Mexico Trade Deal

On the 20th May 2022, the UK and Mexico kicked off negotiations to expand on the pre-existing trade deal between the nations. This trade agreement is focused upon expanding the ease at which services and goods can pass between countries. For the whisky investment industry this trade agreement will help to further reduce tariffs on scotch whisky, thus increasing the demand for scotch.

Already great strides have been made in boosting the demand for whisky in Mexico, with the nation being the 7th largest consumer of scotch in 2021. Meanwhile in the preexisting trade deal, one of the biggest moves was the approval of a Geographical Indication for scotch, thus protecting the substance from counterfeits. This has meant that the road has been paved for scotch demand to rise rapidly in the world’s 16th largest economy. In fact due to its rapidly growing population and rising incomes, the demand for imports is expected to grow by 35% by 2035.

One simple principle of whisky investment is that when the demand for scotch rises, so does the price of an investment grade cask. Since more people are consuming the scotch, the cask not only becomes rarer, but is increasingly needed to be bottled or blended in order to meet the demand. The main thing holding back the further proliferation of scotch within Mexico were tariffs which prevented all but the wealthiest being able to regularly afford to purchase whisky. With the removal of these tariffs the wider population will be able to purchase whisky at cheaper prices.

While tequila is the dominant spirit within Mexico, there is little competition between scotch and whisky due to differing drinking cultures surrounding the spirits. In fact due to the trends of premiumisation these two alcohols have seen a rapid rise in popularity, due to their unique flavours and the adoption of both into more widespread mixology. This in turn has instead pushed out spirits such as vodka as younger generations turn to these more exotic spirits.

Of such importance is the trade in spirits between these nations that the opening negotiations were held at drinks multinational Diageo’s London offices. Diageo owns some of the largest scotch distilleries on the planet and two of the biggest tequila brands, meaning that the company is well positioned within the booming Mexican spirits market.

The future looks bright for whisky investors as the talks continue, since this will further open up Mexico and the larger Latin American markets to the expansion of scotch whisky. If you wish to find out more about other recent trade negotiations please see our other articles about India and Australia.

About Hackstons

Located in the iconic Gherkin building in the beating heart of London, Hackstons is a multi-asset brokerage specialising in physical and tangible goods such as scotch casks, luxury timepieces, gold coins along with classic cars and designer handbags.

Media Contact: dominic@hackstons.com

General Enquiries: info@hackstons.com

If you are interested in finding out more about why whisky investment represents the pinnacle of alternative asset investing due to the government support the industry receives, get in touch with us at our website.

News from the Distillery

Cask Store

Walsh Design Group, structural engineers are currently working on our fire safety and disability access certificates to clear the way for the construction of our cask store. We are very excited to be moving forward toward a significant maturation facility to take full advantage of our unique maritime climate.

Investment Phase 2 – Cask Store and Related Developments

We are now making practical progress towards our proposed cask store development and will be focusing on the practical steps required over the summer months.  This phase of our development will require various site visits, design and planning meetings and obviously some initial funding.  We will be seeking to raise a further €750,000 equity investment.

Each existing shareholder will be offered the opportunity to invest and in the event that this is oversubscribed then shares will be allocated on a pro rata basis. The subscription price has not been set at this time, and each shareholder will be notified in more detail over the coming weeks.

Meanwhile in order to progress this exciting phase of our development we have arranged a facility to partially fund the ongoing initial development tasks which has been provided by one of our shareholder directors.

Whiskey Live – Friday – Saturday 10 – 11th June

We are also attending the Dublin Whiskey Live event in the RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion where we will be featuring both our cask-aged gin and 3 SQ. MILES. Please drop in if you are planning to attend.

Caring for our Swallows

There are various nesting areas around the distillery in some of the old buildings left over from the fish farming days. We have come to appreciate our swallows and to look forward to their return each year. Since some of these buildings will no longer be accessible to them, we have created alternative nesting facilities that are out of harm’s way. We hope that our swallows will appreciate their new homes.

Virtual Reality Tour of our Distillery

We are delighted with the virtual reality tour of our distillery commissioned by Bord Bia which we are glad to share with you here.

https://youtu.be/Tcs9R2NnWYw

This is best viewed on a VR device if available. This will be combined with a Virtual Reality Tour of the Fastnet rock lighthouse to be shown to visitors to the Island. We hope that this makes more visitors aware of our distillery and encourage them to buy our products locally.

Údaras na Gaeltacht Video

Léiriú Sugradh Teo are completing a short 30 Sec Video on the Distillery for Údaras na Gaeltachta. This is currently being edited and we will share it when it becomes available.

PBS – United States

We are delighted that we are to be featured in a program to be aired on the PBS network in the United States. This will be shot tomorrow, so presumable it will be the Autumn schedule. Since this will be significant marketing opportunity in the USA we are currently doing everything we can to secure distribution in that market.

Cape Clear Island Lavender Project

We are delighted to be associated with a visionary project spearheaded by Joe O’Driscoll and Mike Daly to develop a new natural resource based and sustainable industry on Cape Clear Island. This is to promote the cultivation of Lavender and its many uses in a wide range of artisan and craft projects. To test the market some of these products are currently available in the Island Craft Shop and are already proving their popularity.  We have allocated our ½ acre field surrounding our well for Lavender cultivation but plan to install a picnic table in what should become a most pleasant and fragrant spot.

AMERICAN DREAM TASTING
WITH
DREW MAYVILLE

22nd June 2022
7:00pm

@ Alba Tasting room within Silverleaf.
80 Houndsditch, EC3A 7AB, London

The tasting of the year is finally here!!

Drew Mayville has more 40 years of experience with some of the largest companies in the beverage alcohol industry. Drew joined Sazerac (at its Buffalo Trace Distillery location) in 2004 as the Master Blender and Director of Quality. The vast breadth of his experience comes from almost 23 years of experience with Seagram’s. While at Seagram’s his progressive experience encompassed all areas of manufacturing, including the Distillery, Quality, Bottling,Packaging QA and Specifications, Blending, and Technical Services for North America. Drew was the last Master Blender to serve under the Seagram dynasty.

At Sazerac, Drew has worked hands on with all the award-winning products produced at Buffalo Trace in addition to the other highly acclaimed spirit categories of the company. Drew is active in overseeing a number of award-winning products produced at various locations for Sazerac, and promoting and educating the public on some of the world’s finest spirits. His passion is not only to make the finest quality products but also to delight and excite the consumer with his work.

He will be running a session within Silverleaf and we will be tasting the line-up below:

Double Eagle Very Rare 20 Year Old / 45%

Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Old / 2020 Release / 47.8%

Thomas H. Handy / 2021 Release / 64.75%

Mister Sam

Weller 12 Years Old / 45%

O.F.C. Bourbon 1993 / 45%

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