Homerun for ‘Heresy’

The SMWS hat-trick comes from three small-batch ‘Heresy’ bottlings, Batch 39: The five regions, Batch 40: Fruit bomb, and Batch 41: Incognito. Standing up against fierce competition in both the blended malt – ages up to 12 years and single grain – ages up to 12 years categories, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society can once again celebrate another year of exceptional results.

The Society’s ‘Heresy’ range has grown to be a fan favourite among members since its inception back in 2017. Head of whisky Euan Campbell has had free rein to experiment with an unlimited variety of spirits, cask treatments and wood types, making for a welcome addition to our flagship single cask bottlings.

“For The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to receive a hat-trick of three Gold medals from their three entries is an exceptional achievement, especially within such a competitive field. Massive congratulations!” said Richard Cochrane from the Spirits Business.

Here are those ‘Heresy’ winners in full:

Batch 39: The five regions (Blended Malt – Aged up to 12 Years)
When we created Batch 31: Wandering Alchemy, our Whisky Team blended a larger volume than required with the intention of re-casking a portion for further maturation and marrying. This batch is made up of that very whisky, one year on. A celebration of all five whisky producing regions, with notes of sweet wines, decadent desserts and rich smoky undertones.
https://smws.com/the-five-regions/

Batch 40: Fruit bomb (Blended Malt – Aged up to 12 Years)
For the creation of this fruity number the Whisky Team searched the warehouse high and low to find whiskies with inherently fruity spirit character and then blended them in a delicious manner. That’s it! It's a fresh fruity corker of a dram. The stunningly fruity nose opened on opulent notes of pear drops, pineapple cubes, a crisp sauvignon blanc and vanilla crème pâtissière, alongside apple blossom, peach rings and apricot jelly, elevated by a touch of nutmeg and white pepper.
https://smws.com/fruit-bomb/

Batch 41: Incognito (Single Grain – Aged up to 12 Years)
Wow, a one-off custom distillation at distillery 156/G16 you say?! We took a bit of trans-Atlantic inspiration for this one, using some different grains and creating a mashbill of 58 per cent corn, 21 per cent malted barley and 21 per cent unmalted rye. It was distilled in a pot still, which is unusual for a grain whisky, and then matured in heavily charred 24-month air seasoned new oak barrels from Kelvin Cooperage in the US, with toasted heads added to the casks to create even more flavour.
https://smws.com/incognito/