It’s amazing what you notice when you are not in a hurry. When you lift your head and catch your breath, what you find is joy. So here’s to taking the time and getting lost in the moments that matter the most this Christmas.

Share the festive joy of slow

From the Glengoyne family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and we look forward to the year ahead with exclusive bottlings and special events created just for you.

Slàinte Mhath,

The Glengoyne Team

Who else is heading for a half century celebration in 2033? That’s the year The Scotch Malt Whisky Society turns 50 and we’re already getting organised. What about you?

If 2033 is going to be a landmark year for you as well – maybe with a big birthday, a wedding anniversary or a group or society celebration of your own – then you could mark the occasion with your very own personal bottling of a whisky from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, by signing up to be part of our exclusive 50th Anniversary Cask Club programme.

The idea is simple – sign up now to share in the experience of selecting a cask of new-make spirit from one of two prestigious Scottish whisky distilleries. You can monitor the cask’s maturation over the next 10 years, and then in 2033, on the Society’s 50th anniversary, you’ll be able to bottle your own whisky with a specially customised label and share the delights of your 10-year-old dram.

The 50th Anniversary Cask Club experience starts from £4,000, depending on what cask type you choose. The up-front price covers the contents of the cask, as well as storage and insurance for the next 10 years. Additional costs such as the bottling fee, duty, and VAT will be payable at the time of bottling.

Don’t miss out – we have a limited number of casks available and they are being snapped up quickly. Grab your chance to own a part of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s story over the next 10 years, with a once-in-a-lifetime bottling to share as part of your celebrations in 2033!

Visit the website now to discover everything you need to know about the 50th Anniversary Cask Club.

BE PART OF OUR WHISKY HISTORY

NOTICE TO EU & INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS

Online ordering is only available for UK Members. If you would like a front row seat for our next decade and live outside UK, please visit the website via the link below to find out more. You can then contact our DRAM-cierge team if you have any questions or are ready to place an order.

Email DRAM-Cierge: dram-cierge@smws.com

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

When someone reminds me each year that we only have minutes to go until Christmas – I am a bit like a deer in headlights – a little startled! But I’m mostly dumbfounded that another year has rolled by in the blink of an eye. So many questions emerge… have we achieved what we wanted to this year? What else could we have done? Who do I owe a drink to for all the work and seemingly unrecognised support they have given us this year?

2023 at the distillery has been a fun year. The team are all fantastic and cheerful. They get on and are good at their jobs, making it a lovely place to arrive each day. The distillers have had one of the busiest years ever, with our largest output ever achieved in a year and a growing contract storage business for other companies’ casks – they have not had much spare time on their hands. We have said goodbye to Stuart, who has decided to try a career in farming, and we wish him well. To try and speed some jobs up, we have invested in a very hi-tech new labelling machine, which should result in straighter labels and more bottles filled per day, which in turn should free up a  bit of time for the most important task of looking after the maturing whisky casks.

I am delighted to see 2023 exports continue to thrive, especially in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Singapore, which have shown significant growth this year. My usual reminder to you all reading – if you have a favourite booze shop or restaurant/hotel that doesn’t stock our whisky, let me know, and we will do our best to get it into stock – no matter where you live. Many thanks to all our distributors, wholesalers, exporters and the teams that work for them for continuing to look after us so well; it is noticed and appreciated.

The distillery has taken on the wonderful Becky to fill our event spaces. These have been a bit of an unintentional secret for many years as we simply didn’t have anyone to shout about them. Becky has arrived all guns blazing and has already shown what is possible – so if you need somewhere for a meeting, conference, event, etc, we are now ready for you.

The events are made even better by the re-opening of the distillery restaurant. The building has been taken on by Lucy and Grant, who formerly ran the Kings Arms at Haugley, a very smart and wonderful award-winning pub in Suffolk. They are a very welcome addition to the distillery site and one you should find time to come and sample – the food is amazing.

We also have a new website, and a reinvigorated distillery shop, which I am told makes online shopping easier. The website, newsletters and all things online have hugely improved this year, and I hope you are now getting lots of newsletters that are more interesting and useful to you than before and a few more discount codes (this makes me scowl, but apparently it makes you all happy, so will continue whilst my scowl becomes even more locked in place)

I think 2024 may be a difficult time for all businesses, and indeed, in the distilling world, the belief is it may be a tricky year, with reports in from fellow distillers of reductions in distilling and cutbacks in staffing – it feels as though the industry is hunkering down for a bit. I am refusing to moan, though, as I am reminded how lovely our life is compared to the poor souls in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza & Yemen and lots of other places not as wonderfully secure as our green and lovely island.

My political bit for the year – the chancellor needs to leave alcohol duty alone! Did you know that today, on a bottle of our Original single malt, which retails at £47.50, the chancellor takes £17.44 in tax? I think that’s quite enough…

On a personal note, thank you to my lovely wife Katy for being there, working twice as hard as I did, and then coming home to work another few hours looking after our two children. The kids have entertained us all year and seem to love school, but back to my initial point, it is Sofie’s 10^th Birthday next week. How is that another year gone rushing by?

Merry Christmas to you all, and thank you for continuing to support us. If you can, make time to come and try out the Grain Kitchen in 2024.

Yours Sincerely,

Andrew Nelstrop

Chairman

Last minute Xmas Gifts?

Still struggling with Christmas gift ideas? Our shop beside Whiski Rooms is open right up till Xmas Eve with an array of delightfully Scottish gifts and treats.

Our gift vouchers make great gifts, so versatile and can be used in all three of our Whiski Venues so take your pick from Whiski Bar on the Royal Mile with its live music every night tor the romantic Whiski Rooms or indulge in a delicious whisky tasting in our shop or just buy a bottle of something tasty with your gift voucher – we ‘ve got it covered.

Our Whisky tastings run daily and cover our Introduction to Whisky, Whisky and Chocolate and Whisky and Cheese tastings and also for the more experienced whisky drinker we can do our Premium Whisky Tastings – something for everyone and fun guaranteed, no experience necessary !

The best thing is you can schedule your gift voucher to arrive when you want it to – all easy convenient and order online from the comfort of home.

Buy Gift Vouchers Now

George Dickel 15 Year Old (16 Years Old) “K&L Exclusive 104.6 Proof” Barrel #06E05-17310 Single Barrel Tennessee Whisky (750ml) $54.99 View

The famous Dickel 15 Year Old continues to deliver the absolute best value in old American whisky. This barrel distilled on May 5th 2006 and bottled on June 22nd of 2022 is one of the highest proof expression we’ve yet to come across. The high corn style whisky is sometimes compared to some of the wheated whisky from Kentucky offering deep rich caramel and complex oak flavors. Few out there can boast stocks as old, but absolutely no one is CRAZY enough to sell 16+ year old whisky for $55. Only 108 bottles at cask strength were produced from this special barrel.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof “Magnum Thief” K&L Exclusive Single Barrel #6694812 Kentucky Straight Bourbon (750ml) $84.99 View

This rich single barrel of Elijah Craig comes in at 9 years old and 117.8 proof. Aed in Rickhouse K on the 3rd floor it is one of those sweet spot center cut of the warehouse barrels.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

THE PERFECT PAIRING FOR
YOUR FAVOURITE WHISKIES

Want to know if your favourite dram pairs best with blue cheese, cured meats or Christmas turkey? We’ve partnered with the whisky experts at Diageo to create a range of tasty food pairings to go with a selection of classic whiskies, from smoky Talisker to waxy Clynelish.

Our wine expert, head buyer and experienced sommelier Dawn Davies MW has matched up which snacks, dishes or desserts pair best with more than 100 whiskies. Simply click on your favourite whiskies to find out our recommended food pairings.

  DISCOVER NOW 

George Dickel 15 Year Old (16 Years Old) “K&L Exclusive 104.6 Proof” Barrel #06E05-16907 Single Barrel Tennessee Whisky (750ml) $54.99 View

The famous Dickel 15 Year Old continues to deliver the absolute best value in old American whisky. This barrel distilled on May 5th 2006 and bottled on June 18th of 2022 is one of the highest proof expression we’ve yet to come across. The high corn style whisky is sometimes compared to some of the wheated whisky from Kentucky offering deep rich caramel and complex oak flavors. Few out there can boast stocks as old, but absolutely no one is CRAZY enough to sell 16+ year old whisky for $55. Only 108 bottles at cask strength were produced from this special barrel.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

THE HEARACH CEREMONY SOUNDS #01: Fraser MacBeath

As you pour a dram of The Hearach, we invite you connect with our island through our first immersive stereo audio recording, featuring sounds recorded in Harris from January to July 2023…

Fiona Langley, clarsach harp, Rhenigidale.

Jillian MacLennan, voice, tour guide at Isle of Harris Distillery.

Donald John Mackay, Harris Tweed weaver, loom sounds, Luskentyre.

Claire Wilson School of Dance, ambient noise, Isle of Harris.

Pupils and tutors, singing, Fèis Eilean na Hearadh 2023.

Iain ‘Tosh’ Macintosh and Neil Mackay, voices, ‘Taigh Mo Shenar’, Tarbert.

Lewis Mackenzie, voice, naturalist and kelp diver, North Harris Eagle Observatory.

Isla Scott, Ellie-Ceit Johnson, and Anna Macleod, singing, St Clements’ church, Rodel.

Roddy Macleod, former lighthouse keeper, voice, Scalpay.

Katie Macinnes, fiddle, Crossbost.

Nature sounds captured at…

Seilebost / Scarista / Scalpay / Rhenigidale / Leverburgh / Tarbert / The Clisham / Leverburgh / The Golden Road / Drinishader.

Mixed and mastered by Scott Jones and Fraser MacBeath © 2023

Whisky Magazine issue #196
Get your hands on our latest issue!

This issue celebrates the incredible 25-year milestone of Whisky Magazine, with the cover featuring each of the past front covers over the last 195 issues. To celebrate the quarter-century milestone, the issue features tastings of various 25-year-old whiskies as well as an engaging list of distilleries that are setting the agenda for the industry for the next 25 years.

Make sure you don’t miss out!
Buy your copy of Whisky Magazine today.

GET YOUR COPY TODAY

GET YOUR COPY TODAY