SMWS
A long running whisky club that has now been running since 1983 and was set up by a group of friends.
Now recognised all around the world with thousands of enthusiastic members this once exclusive club is now probably well over subscribed..
Set up with the intention to be different the SMWS intentions was to discover single cask whisky and to share the experience with like minded people..
The first cask purchased was from Glenfarclas and carries the fabled number 1 character descriptor.
Each distillery the club bought from was given a number rather than actually naming the distillery on the label.. This is an interesting concept as each bottle is a blind tasting until that is you become well educated in the numbering scheme !!
Today the club releases single cask outturns each month with the numbering scheme which is well over 120 different distilleries with new ones coming on line at regular intervals..
Esch bottle also boasts descriptive name that gives an indication to what the tasting panel thought when choosing each individual cask..
35.124 Glen Moray
As you will now have guessed 35 is the distillery code for Glen Moray and this bottling is the 124th cask bottled from the distillery.
Distillery.. Glen Moray
Region.. Speyside
Distilled.. 27th October 1995
Age. 22 years
Code.. 35.124
Cask.. First fill bourbon barrel
Nose.. A sweet start with plenty of vanilla, toffee and caramel slices ( caramel covered in chocolate and laid on a biscuit base ) poached pear and fresh apple peel give this a fruity side that along with gentle spices make this nose rather inviting..
Palate.. As warming spices delight the senses those sweet notes start to make themselves noticed.. Pepper, ginger and a little nutmeg lead into caramel, vanilla and toffee apples before those pear notes reacquaint themselves with your senses..
Finish.. Spices and soft oak
Thoughts.. This was released in 2018 and will be long gone but I’ve heard mixed thoughts about it and a good friend of mine offered up a sample swop with this included so I thought I’d give it go..
There is a typical essence of Glen Moray running through the core on this one and although this is a First Fill Bourbon Cask it has in no way over dominated the spirit after its 22 years of maturation..
This actually feels more like a decent second fill cask but let’s not worry about that..
The cost at Release was £97 which for a single cask, cask strength bottling from any distillery actually equates to good value for money..
If you managed to get one of these what did you think ?
With thanks to Stuart for this sample.
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