SMWS Underwater Barbecue 12 Year Old Blended Malt Whisky (2024) 70cl

This small-batch blended malt was created by bringing together the worlds of bourbon and oloroso cask maturation, along with spirit from the islands of Orkney and Islay. There are Spanish and American oak influences in here that complement the savoury smoke, leaving a post-barbecue glow. A gustatory dram, sure to delight peat heads and foodies alike.

This had a bountiful aroma at first, one chock full of smoke-laced flowers, liquorice, smouldering heather, sweeter sherry impressions and singed orange peel. We also found deeper tones of barbecue smoke, coconut shavings, suncream and silky trails of distant peat smoke. Water brought wet moss, sandalwood, shoreline freshness, wet seaweed and wood-smoked ham. The neat palate balanced sweetness and salinity very evenly, with rich umami broths, charred shellfish, dark chocolate-coated stem ginger, salted caramel and smoked butter. With reduction came seawater, soy sauce, peat embers, cloves, and fragrant wood smoke from a beach bonfire.

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.

50% ABV

70cl