1 of 187 bottles produced from a single bourbon cask.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004.
In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!
The nose was fresh and fragrant with the grown-up complexity of white port and manzanilla sherry mixed with potpourri, apple chutney and almond paste. On the tongue a keen warmth from sichuan peppers, black peppercorns and peppermint oil coated vanilla ice cream with caramel wafers before leafy, red wine tannins enveloped the finish. Water unveiled a more creamy demeanour with custard, hazelnuts and cocoa butter plus butter icing on cask char and fruit chutney. Fragrance returned with lavender and heather on shortbread with clotted cream and almonds. The tongue-tingling burn was now lost in soft textures and sticky dessert wine on a nutty finish.
Knockdhu’s size – it remains a ‘two-stiller’ – had much to do with DCL’s decision to close it down in 1983. In that time of excess production, it tended to be the small sites which suffered the worst.
Internally, it is a mix of the old and new. The mash tun has a lauter system, but the washbacks are wooden, while the distillate is condensed in worm tubs.
The new make is heavily sulphury as little reflux is encouraged in the stills, but when that cooked vegetable element both flies off and is absorbed into palate weight, the dominant character is citric and intense. Fresh and vibrant when young, its weight allows it to mature well.
In recent years, a heavily peated variant has been made.
In 1877, Scotland’s largest grain distillers [Cambus, Cameronbridge, Carsebridge, Glenochil, Kirkliston and Port Dundas] joined forces to found the Distillers Company Limited [DCL] as a way of safeguarding their business against pot still distillers who at the time were switching between malt and grain depending on where the best profits were to be made.
In 1893, it made its first move outwith its Lowland grain heartland and built a distillery next to the village of Knock, just outside Keith, the first move in the creation what was to become the dominant player in Scotch whisky (DCL would eventually evolve into Diageo), encompassing grain and malt production as well as blending houses.
The site was chosen by DCL founding member John Haig & Sons because of its railway links, supply of local barley and availability of peat, and remained in the DCL stable until it was mothballed in 1983, one of many sites the firm had to close when the ‘whisky loch’ was at its deepest.
Its ownership passed to Inver House in 1988, who soon had a single malt on the market. This was called AnCnoc, rather than the distillery name, which Inver House felt was too similar to the already established Knockando.
In recent years Inver House has created a wetland area outside the distillery where the distillery’s spent lees is treated. A range has now been established, with 12, 16 and 21-year-old expressions at its core, supported by annual vintage releases.
57.4% ABV
70cl
