1st SMWS Outturn February 2023 goes live on Friday 3rd February 2023
Fall In Love With Flavour – The Scotch Malt Whisky Society release (outturn) several single cask bottlings of Scotch, Whisk(e)y, Rum and Gin, to name a few, usually on the first Friday of every month. Below is a full list of what the 1st SMWS Fall In Love With Flavour February 2023 outturn has to offer. The 1st SMWS February 2023 outturn is released on Friday 3rd February 2023.
See below the full list of bottles being released for the 1st SMWS February 2023 outturn. (Don’t worry you can join the SMWS here) but be quick several of the bottlings sell out as quickly as the day they are released.
(here is a quick link to last month’s SMWS Outturn: SMWS January 2022 outturn).
Fall In Love With Flavour 1st SMWS Outturn February 2023 bottles below:
4.362 – Salty Nose, Peaty Palate
62.7% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 11yo ~ Highland ~ £65.00
We found this to be a fresh, coastally driven dram, with big initial impressions of laundry drying on a shoreline, plus lemon rinds, beach pebbles, flints and medical herbs. A lovely chalky, seashore vibe. With water we discovered damp grains, hot mash water, hessian, mineral salts and lemon-infused olive oil. On the palate the peat came out more assertively – a lovely heathery Orkney peat smoke with white flowers, green apple acidity, camphor and menthol balm, with touches of kelp and barbecue smoke. Reduction brought a peppery warmth, seawater, anchovy paste and light waxy notes with a suggestion of natural tar extract. This was matured for six years in a bourbon hogshead before being transferred to a first fill bourbon barrel… read more
RW5.2 – Tantalising Tonka Beans
55.3% ~ 1st Fill #4 Char Barrel ~ 5yo ~ Indiana ~ £57.00
We imagined perfume being sprayed out of an antique art deco atomizer, very fruity and very floral with hints of gorse, orange oil, pear drops and linseed oil on new cricket bats. On the palate plenty of spice, nutmeg and cinnamon but at the same time the sweetness of Tonka bean ice cream with Scotch caramel swirl. Water released exotic wood notes, red currants, dried cranberries, root beer and maple syrup. To taste hazelnut and Tonka bean scones with strawberries and clotted cream. The mash bill for this rye whiskey consists of 95% rye and 5% malted barley, matured in a #4 char new oak barrel with #2 char heads… read more
A5.5 – Pitch Dark Fruit
55.9% ~ Refill Armagnac Black Oak Barrel ~ Bas Armagnac – Colombard ~ £195.00
A gorgeous nose, dripping with dense rancio and things like chewing tobaccos, plum wine, bodega funk, orange blossom and then wee complexities like cinnamon liqueur and muscle rub vapours. Reduction brought Battenberg cake, orange wine, crème brûlée, boot polish and wintergreen. Highly aromatic, mature, and expressive. The neat palate displayed liquorice and chocolate liqueurs up front, then fir resins, toasted wood spices and plum wine. With water we found superbly classical things like booze-soaked raisins, eucalyptus oils, strawberry cough mix and mentholated tobaccos. Some leaf mulch and bitter chocolate in the aftertaste… read more
6.61 – Never Judge A Dram By Its Name
62.3% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 11yo ~ Speyside ~ £57.00
Roses, violets and cherry blossom blended with sweet apples and milk chocolate biscuits, while malted barley joined breakfast cereal in a pine forest. The palate, however, was thick with caramel sauce, rich honey and toasted coconut amid a peppery backdrop of ginger, green chillies and wintergreen. Earthy herbal notes emerged with water as dried sage, thyme and tarragon danced with red liquorice, gooseberry jam, and rum and raisin ice cream. The palate now expressed cloves, spearmint and ginger biscuits with star anise and black peppercorns. Blood orange joined dried banana chips while toasted pine nuts and oak tannins framed the finish… read more
7.280 – Coconut And Guava Paste Popsicle
56.6% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 18yo ~ Speyside ~ £115.00
An incredible bouquet of aromas greeted the panel, floral honey, bananas soaked in brandy, lush apricots, fresh pineapple and tropical perfumed wood with a delicate minty scent in the background. On the palate the apricots turned into cream cheese Danish pastries – a creamy and oily mouthfeel, smooth and sweet, cocoa dust, fruit pastilles and hazelnut milk chocolate biscuit bars. A drop of water, if you wish, and even more tropical on the nose emerged with a homemade lemon and lime squash and coconut water, while the taste reminded one panellist of a paletas de coco con bocadillo (coconut and guava paste popsicles) – sounded delicious… read more
R9.10 – Soothing Sensation
57.9% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 16yo ~ Panama ~ £82.50
A wonderful all-embracing sweetness on the nose neat; rum and raisin, mango and pineapple in toffee, crème brûlée with maple syrup and a sprinkling of cinnamon. A silky-smooth sweet texture awaited us, banana bread with slightly salted butter and guava jam, next to mille-feuille and a rum baba sponge cake. A drop of water and a hint of sweet floral orange and gorse blossom emerged beside burning pure sandalwood incense sticks imagining the soft caress of the trade winds as we lay in a hammock framed by two palm trees while listening to the song Caribbean Blue by Enya… read more
9.260 – Buckthorn Mousse and Juice
56.1% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 14yo ~ Speyside ~ £76.20
A wonderful all-embracing sweetness on the nose neat; rum and raisin, mango and pineapple in toffee, crème brûlée with maple syrup and a sprinkling of cinnamon. A silky-smooth sweet texture awaited us, banana bread with slightly salted butter and guava jam, next to mille-feuille and a rum baba sponge cake. A drop of water and a hint of sweet floral orange and gorse blossom emerged beside burning pure sandalwood incense sticks imagining the soft caress of the trade winds as we lay in a hammock framed by two palm trees while listening to the song Caribbean Blue by Enya… read more
G15.26 – A Rumour of Peatreek
60.0% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 8yo ~ Highland ~ £50.50
A truly ethereal and elegant manifestation of peat smoke we thought. The nose was initially scented with jasmine tea, smoked flowers, peach schnapps, lemongrass and salted butter. Then came green apple, subtle cough medicines and hints of gauze and delicate antiseptic. Water evoked tiger balm, putty, beach pebbles, drying seaweed, camphor and acrylic paints. The neat palate immediately gave the impression of lemon-flavoured mouthwash, plus medicinal mouth gel, lightly smoked cereals, browned butter, lime curds and smoked peach. With water we got bath salts, fragrant traces of bonfire smoke, light petrolic hints and lovely flavours of caraway, smoked fennel and paprika… read more
12.73 – A Barrel of Laughs
56.2% ~ 2nd Fill HTMC Barrel ~ 11yo ~ Speyside ~ £66.80
Initial nosing revealed pineapple cubes, banana bread, vanilla custard and an impression of sooty sausages on a BBQ with sweet honey glaze, with simmering wood spices in the background and suggestions of treacle, aniseed and madeira cake. Reduction brought spearmint gum, juicy fruits, eucalyptus toothpaste, graphite oils and hessian with the warmth of black pepper. The mouth was initially full of citrus liqueurs and fresh exotic fruit notes, before wood spices returned, along with bay leaf, herbal bitters, cough syrups and date molasses. Water brought some punchy notes of paprika, flapjacks, banana fudge, peach schnapps and spiced caramel latte. A whole heap of fun. Matured for nine years in a bourbon barrel before being transferred to a first fill heavy-toast, medium-char barrel… read more
16.89 – Retro Walnut Ashtray
63.3% ~ Re-Charred Hogshead ~ 9yo ~ Highland ~ £57.00
The aroma recalled, for some, the cigar smoker of old watching black and white television while chomping on long stogies, and next to them a retro walnut wood ashtray. The taste neat was deep, dark and dominating, like a flaming torch, before flavours of singed smoked pigeon breast, chicken liver parfait on burnt toast and hickory-smoked almonds appeared. Following reduction, we found burnt Cumberland sausages, smoked eel and dark chocolate, with liquorice and smoked salt on the nose. The taste was that of Spanish-style oxtail braised with chorizo, a sandwich with habanero sausage-smoked beef strips and, in the finish, a raspberry treacle tart… read more
28.96 – The Night Comes On
60.1% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 10yo ~ Highland ~ £61.20
Initially the Panel noted nicely drying qualities such as soda bread, putty, white pepper and chalk. We also got the impression of freshly bailed hay, sandalwood, freshly cut grass and roasted chestnuts. Reduction brought further chalky vibes, with wee sooty notes, brittle waxes, crushed ivy and lanolin. When neat, the palate displayed dried heather flowers, mineral oils, shoe leather and touches of spiced marmalade, cask char and a touch of chilli. Water brought out some elegant notes of dried herbs, old-style shilling ales, mustard powder and dried honeycomb… read more
39.269 – Brandied Blackberry Fool
58.7% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Hogshead ~ 12yo ~ Speyside ~ £71.30
The aroma left us with very different imaginings and associations. One Panellist walked into an old barber shop, another into a ‘festival bathroom’ with that typical waft of sweet and floral, slightly chemical (in a good way!), while yet another baked a cherry pie. To taste, we all dipped chips into a chipotle berry fruit salsa. Water added stewed fruits in syrup, ripe plums, raisins and yeasted dough soaked in liqueur on the nose. On the palate we enjoyed a brandied blackberry fool combining the slightly tart with the sweetness of whipped cream. Following eight years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill oloroso hogshead… read more
48.158 – Pumpernickel
59.7% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 10yo ~ Speyside ~ £57.00
The scent reminded us of a bowl of salmorejo, that cold Spanish tomato soup, with Serrano ham and olive oil-laced croutons, before we had a sip of barley wine packed with bittersweet malt. On the palate we found a Breton galette made with buckwheat batter and filled with creamy leeks, cheese and a fried egg. This time, it came with a blonde ale that had a moderate bitterness and maltiness. Following reduction, we discovered aromas arising from pumpernickel rye bread and butter pudding, as well as peanut butter banana toast. To taste, a tarte flambée, combining a crisp dough base with charred edges and a topping of bacon and melted cheese… read more