Highlights online this month include:

  • The SMWS at 40 – Back to where it all began: As The Scotch Malt Whisky Society celebrates its 40th anniversary, Unfiltered editor Richard Goslan takes a trip back in time in the company of founder Pip Hills, to the remote farm where his whisky epiphany took place.
  • The SMWS at 40 – Against the grain: If your interest in the whisky world is relatively new, then you’ll be familiar with an industry outgrowing itself year after year, with ever more expressions lapped up by passionate whisky drinkers. But as the Society celebrates its 40th anniversary, it’s worth casting our minds back to 1983, when the Scotch whisky industry was in a less than happy place, and on a global basis, matters were not much cheerier. Gavin D Smith takes us back 40 years to the challenging circumstances when the Society decided to go against the grain.
  • The Whisky Year Ahead – A dram fine year: As the Society enters its 40th anniversary year, we have some extra special bottlings coming your way. Unfiltered asked spirits director Kai Ivalo what to expect…
  • Whisky History – Scotch & Sherry: It’s 40 years since The Scotch Malt Whisky Society launched its first bottling list, with an 8-year-old Glenfarclas ‘matured in sherry casks – hence its rich depth of colour’, according to our inaugural offering (£13.45 at the time). Cask No. 1.1 is one in a long line of highly prized sherry-matured whiskies. But how did sherry, of all wines, become so closely associated with the finest Scotch? Iain Russell has been doing some digging to find out.
  • New Member Focus – Welcome to The Scotch Malt Whisky Society: Priding ourselves in being unconventional whisky experts, we focus on standing out by doing things differently. For 40 years, we’ve celebrated whisky in its purest form, with our expert Tasting Panel hand-picking exclusive whiskies from over 150 distilleries for our members. Recent recruit Duncan Gorman takes a look at how to make the most of your membership as we kick off a new year of whisky adventures with the Society.
  • Burns, barley and brothers of one creation: Ahead of our celebration of Burns Night in 25 January, human rights activist, Professor Emeritus and Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University Professor Sir Geoff Palmer reflects on what Robert Burns means to him as a barley farmer, a poet and at one point as the man who planned to emigrate to Jamaica to work on a slave plantation.
  • Knowledge – Glittering Prize: Could the use of gold help solve one of the whisky industry’s biggest challenges, to judge a spirit’s maturity without an expensive and time-consuming process? Tom Bruce-Gardyne investigates to find out how the precious metal could benefit the whisky world.
  • Member profile – Three generations of Society love: For long-standing member Michael Ashley, the Society has now connected his family over three generations, through their shared passion and intrigue for unique Society drams. The Society’s Duncan Gorman caught up for a chat with Michael about his family’s linear love for the Society and its whisky.
  • Share a dram with… Francesco Ramella, SMWS Country Manager & Ambassador for Italy.
  • Brian Watts – An Appreciation: Brian Watts, master distiller and general manager of Great Northern Distillery (GND) in Ireland, died suddenly and unexpectedly on 13 October 2022 at the age of just 60 years. Stuart McNamara pays tribute to a remarkable Scotsman who contributed so much to the development of the Irish whiskey scene.