Strathmill 12 Year Old 2005 SMWS Single Cask 100.17 Fresh As A Glacial Facial Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2017) 70cl
Strathmill 12 Year Old 2005 SMWS Single Cask 100.17 Fresh As A Glacial Facial Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2017) 70cl
1 of 157 bottles produced
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 SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.
TASTING NOTES by Philip Storry
The nose has pine wood and lemon, with a hint of ginger. The mouthfeel is thin with no cling. The body has lemon, cherry, and then a big hit of crystallised ginger. The finish is short - gingerbread and lemon.
Water brings out thin, rapidly expanding whorling that settles quickly into brief mottling. The nose gains hints of Cedar wood and cinnamon, and loses the pine wood. The body gains cinnamon and menthol notes, and the ginger is more present. The finish gains more spice.
This treads the line on my spice tolerance - the sweetness balances out the spice heat nicely. It's a post-dinner dram, to have with ice-cream.
About Strathmill
Light in character, Strathmill uses a long fermentation regime to help create fruitiness.
The distillery’s main production quirk comes in the form of a purifier pipe running from the lyne arm into the body of the spirit stills.
Like Glenlossie and Glen Spey, this adds a lightly oily character to the new make, here picked up almost as olive oil which mixes well with the lightly fruity/grassy notes.
Thanks to the River Isla, Keith has a long history of milling, both for meal and weaving (the town still has a kilt museum). Two of those old mill sites have since been converted to distilleries, Glen Keith and Strathmill.
Built in 1892, it was originally called Glenisla (with -Glenlivet suffixed). Its original owners sold it in 1895 to W&A Gilbey which was by then building its holdings in Scotch [see Glen Spey, Knockando]. As Gilbey moved through various incarnations so Strathmill became an integral part of the J&B family.
Its only official release is as part of the Flora & Fauna range.
57.8% ABV
70cl
