SMWS Outturn May 2025 goes live on Friday 2nd May 2025
Whisky With Muddy Boots – The Scotch Malt Whisky Society releases (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.
See below the full list of bottles being released for the May 2025 outturn. If you are not a member, 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 April 2025 outturn).
Whisky With Muddy Boots May 2025 Outturn bottles:
Wandering Alchemy
58.4% ~ Bourbon, Oloroso, PX & HTMC Hogsheads ~ 10yo ~ Various ~ £70.00
What witchcraft and molten japery is this? At least, that’s what our raised eyebrows and throaty musings queried. Surely this dram was much older and much more ‘old style’ that it had a right to be? We detected deep and enticing notes of soft, heathery peat smoke. Then encroaching medicinal charms, pine wood, camphor, cooling bonfire embers and tendrils of seaweed! Water dialled up the charm vibes to ‘Roger Moore’: elegant wood smoke, fragrant phenolics, old herbal and tar liqueurs and a kiss of cask-aged mead…..read more
6.79 – Pie Eyed
60.3% ~ 1st Fill STR Oak Barrique ~ 13yo ~ Highland ~ £75.00
We were in the south-east of the United States of America with two dessert pies: one named after the Magnolia State, Mississippi mud, and the other after a string of tropical islands in the Sunshine State, key lime. Oh yes, rich chocolate layers topped with pecans and chocolate shavings met the typical tangy, zesty sweetness in the finish…read more
11.59 – Marmalade Pie
58.3% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Butt ~ 9yo ~ Highland ~ £65.00
The Panel found this one to be distinctly rich and oily, giving the impression of petrolic young riesling wines, along with Iberico ham, Spanish brandy, orange blossom honey run through porridge and stewed apples drizzled with old PX sherry. Reduction brought impressions of braised pork cheeks, aged oloroso sherry, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder and blood orange. The palate suggested big and chunky things such as speck ham, dark-grained rye bread, roasted walnuts, rosemary-infused olive oil, chilli flakes and spicy orange marmalade… read more
12.87 – Velvety Smooth with a hint of Spice
59.2% ~ 1st Fill Ex-PX Butt ~ 35yo ~ Speyside ~ £425.00
The aroma was breath-taking, with unsmoked maple bacon, butterscotch pancakes, candied Seville oranges, black tea and cloves…and the list could just go on and on. On the palate we found a truly irresistible combination of sweet caramel, smooth butter and vanilla, making it a classic butterscotch coffee syrup poured over maple ice cream. After careful reduction, the scent of rum and raisin fudge alongside damson jam and amaretti biscuits appeared… read more
18.75 – Sea Salt and Soot
53.6% ~ 1st Fill HTMC Hogshead ~ 16yo ~ Speyside ~ £85.00
We summarised the neat nose thus – “sea salt and soot, with a whiff of petrol and beef drippings”. And yes, one can describe it as rather singular. That was followed by steak and kidney pie on the palate next to smoked bacon lardons, as well as honey-cured smoked streaky bacon and clootie dumplings. After reduction, the scent was of honey and sea salt-roasted almonds while the taste was that of toasted rye bread, spread with salted butter topped with blueberries and pomegranate seeds… read more
18.76 – Moroccan Pastillia Anyone?
55.4% ~ New American Oak HTMC Hogshead & 1st Fill Spanish Oak Oloroso Hogshead ~ 15yo ~ Speyside ~ £80.00
The aroma conjured up memories from a well-known American sitcom where a Thanksgiving beef trifle (half a British trifle and half a shepherd’s pie) was prepared. On the palate it turned out to be more like an American favourite, key lime pie. Following dilution, we stepped into a humidor to eat spatchcock poussins with orange, sage and ginger. The starting point for this small batch was two bourbon hogsheads of single malt Scotch whisky…. read more
28.109 – End-of-Summer Consolation
62.9% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 9yo ~ Highland ~ £59.00
First sniff – a blast of fruit: apricot, peach and plum-filled marzipan, sherbet lemons and wasp-molested fallen orchard fruits. Peeping out from behind that, we spied balsa wood, linseed oil and hazelnut. On the palate, apricot jam and apple pie joined hands with lemon bonbons, jammy dodgers, greengages and chardonnay, all dancing round a table of oak. The reduced nose got vanilla fudge, pink wafers and walnut whip sweetness, with some dusty, end-of-summer cornfields and rye bread…. read more
30.127 – A Seville Chocolate Orange
60.3% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Hogshead ~ 15yo ~ Speyside ~ £95.00
We all initially noted very similar aromas of vanilla tablet, condensed milk, sweetened caffè latte, raisins and butterscotch. Water brought out orange milk chocolate along with some clearer notes from the sherry influence such as aged pinot noir and beef stroganoff. We agreed the sherry influence increased with water. The neat palate opened with herbal bitters, clementine segments, pipe tobacco, walnut wine, and brown bread spread with treacle. With reduction we noted more orange notes, some grape must and hints of mocha, prunes in armagnac, crème caramel and nutmeg…. read more
35.400 – Serendipitous Cake
56.2% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 29yo ~ Speyside ~ £250.00
A hint of sandalwood incense merged with the vapour from a creamy hot chocolate as they accompanied coconut macaroons, toffee and banoffee pie in a chance encounter. Chocolate-coated raisins and sugar-coated fennel seeds embraced on the palate, adding a layer of lusciousness to cinnamon fudge, vanilla syrup, and toasted coconut flakes. Water released pineapple slices, flambéed in coconut rum, and served on a bed of sponge cake, marzipan and vanilla ice cream… read more
46.152 – The Fruit Merchant
51.6% ~ New American Oak HTMC Hogshead & 1st Fill American Oak Oloroso Hogshead ~ 16yo ~ Speyside ~ £90.00
In the auction house of a fruit exchange, a cocktail of banana, raisins, tropical fruit salad and cherries meandered through the air. Smooth on the palate, like leaving a cube of Turkish delight to melt on the tongue, we found red wine and blackcurrant jam on toasted rye bread, joined by an exotic woody seasoning from a spice merchant’s leather apron. Water introduced apple and refiners syrup on the nose, with coconut, raspberry and cinnamon following on the palate… read more
48.178 – Ample Apple Appeal
59.6% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel ~ 11yo ~ Speyside ~ £64.00
A clean, fresh nose with fruits in a wooden bowl, church candles and a fuchsia hedge got us started. Underneath that lay a background sweetness of toffee apples, chocolate bonbons, parma violets and stem ginger in syrup. The palate’s waxy mouth-feel preceded sherbet straws, milk chocolate and coconut sweetness – plus abundant fruit (custard apple, fruit leathers, grapefruit and peach). The reduced nose proffered mild incense, beeswax, leather and a varnished wooden snuff box, while retaining the fruit… read more
53.492 – Chipotle Pepper-Roasted Peanuts
59.0% ~ 1st Fill Ex-PX Butt ~ 12yo ~ Islay ~ £92.00
A fascinating melange of aromas ranged from Danish oil on oak and beeswax to linseed and engine oil, before finally landing on smoked kelp flakes, a beach bonfire and cigar ash. On the palate, our Hainanese chicken and rice dish was simply soul-warming and comforting, yet with the fiery kick of a smoky chilli sauce. Following reduction, we savoured the scent of peaches grilled over rosemary as well as pastrami with a smoky honey-mustard dressing… read more
59.88 – Breakfast Tea and Potpourri
57.3% ~ Re-Fill HTMC Oak Puncheon ~ 17yo ~ Highland ~ £93.00
The aroma reminded us of sugary breakfast tea, pineapple upside-down cake, panettone and potpourri. On the palate neat, a lively citrus flavour was tempered by tutti-frutti sweetness, rose water, and dandelion and burdock. The finish held a savoury surprise with jarred artichokes marinated in a rich, nutty olive oil. Water added cardamom, honey and blood oranges alongside green olives stuffed with feta. The taste had the pleasant sweetness of lemon juice-drenched crêpes, candied apples, woodruff ice cream… read more
60.47 – Waxed Paper Honeycomb
57.6% ~ 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead ~ 11yo ~ Highland ~ £68.50
Waxed paper enveloped an oozing honeycomb slab. White grapes met white chocolate. Freshly cut meadow flowers and pollen took 40 winks on a bed of cut grass. The nose was clearly young, but nonetheless complex. The palate was again pollen, dessert wine and cold apple juice, with a serving of gummy bears. Water gave the nose matcha mochi, grapefruit and lemon sorbet… read more
64.162 – Adventurers Around a Campfire
53.5% ~ 1st Fill Spanish Oak Oloroso Hogshead & Re-Fill Red Wine Barrique ~ 17yo ~ Speyside ~ £95.00
The neat nose suggested candied fennel seeds, burnt raisins, hickory chips and the petrolic heft of Alsacian riesling. We also found some freshly squeezed orange juice and bouquet garni. Water brought orange travel sweets, peaches poached in sweet riesling and cider apples getting funky in a cellar. This kept evolving to include camphor, dunnage and beeswax! The neat palate displayed a surprising and restrained peat note, along with dark ales, malty richness, toffee apple and hints of cranberry and sloe gravy… read more
68.126 – A Wizard (of Oz) Balancing Act
58.5% ~ 2nd Fill Ex-Muscat Barrique ~ 14yo ~ Highland ~ £79.50
This was moved from a bourbon hogshead into a more exotic Australian muscat barrique (second fill) after 11 years. We encountered a sweet, fruity nose – toasted marshmallows and Danish marzipan, plum and dark chocolate confections, plus apricots roasted with brown sugar and crushed nuts. Panellists also noted suggestions of teak oil, leather and rancio. On the palate, plum jam, kiwi, caramelised pineapple and chardonnay balanced warmer elements of chili, toasted coconut, nutmeg and liquorice… read more
68.129 – Luxury in a Sultan’s Tent
57.7% ~ 1st Fill Toasted Oak Barrique ~ 12yo ~ Highland ~ £70.00
The nose combined scented hardwoods, pine resin, potpourri and old libraries with charentais melon, moscatel, honeycomb and apricot danish sweetness. The palate (with wonderful creamy, syrupy textures) had flavours of toffee, dark chocolate, jelly beans and oranges preserved in brandy syrup; the finish found exotic hints of spice and joss sticks in a sultan’s tent. The reduced nose gave us jasmine, pine cones and woven carpets, leather, putty and cigar boxes… read more
70.63 – Interdimensional Patisserie
54.7% ~ 1st Fill American Oak PX Hogshead & New American Oak Medium Toast Barrique ~ 16yo ~ Highland ~ £85.00
Unbound by physics, we became omnipresent in the pantries of pastry chefs everywhere. Skolebrød mingled with dolly mixtures and cassia bark, woody ginger gave way to rhubarb and gorse flowers, and macarons tussled with crushed soor plooms. The starting point for this small batch was two bourbon barrels of single malt Scotch whisky. They were each transferred to new casks at 14 years old: one cask was a first-fill American oak PX hogshead, while the other was a new American oak barrique with a medium toast and toasted heads… read more