Come
Cask No. 26.185
Solo Ice Cream Spiders 14
Cask No. 88.24
When fruit and cream collide 31
Cask No. 82.33
Frolicking fruity spices 31
PEATED
Cask No. 10.225
Servo Surf ’N’ Turf
Cask No. 66.204
Felt roofing a spaceship
LIGHTLY PEATED
Cask No. 39.229
Fruit and peat in a merry dance 32
JUICY, OAK & VANILLA
Cask No. 46.119
A tea room special 32
DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS
Cask No. 18.39
Vamos a la playa 30
Cask No. 11.42 20(0) not out! 18
Cask No. 26.189 (Vaults Collection) Ambrosia 28
Cask No. BAT.14 (Malt of the Month) Douro Cruise 12
BOURBON
Cask No. B3.10
Smouldering coals in a sweat lodge 32
Evolution in a bottle
Andrew Derbidge 6
Our past 20 years shared together 20
Some ramblings from the early days of the SMWS in Australia Phil & Marjanneke McGuire 34
From where it all began Andre Tammes 38
20th Anniversary events 22
20th Anniversary Casks............. 23
Join and win! 24
Virtual Tasting 20 years in one 25 10-15-20 years in Australia........ 26
Rewind to November 2021 for a moment. The polishing touches on our 2022 calendar of events for members was starting to form, and there’s a little note on October that says “20th Anniversary of the Australian Branch of the SMWS”. My initial reaction was “wait a second, the 15th anniversary was just… oh… five years ago!”. Time flies when you’re having fun.
This month is all about celebrating the landscape of whisky appreciation and the community that has lead that charge for the last twenty years in Australia, the SMWS. Twenty years of creating, shaping, educating, and entertaining through incredible whiskies and other spirits along the way. One thing that I’ve often remarked upon on at experiences I’m hosting has been how much the Society has changed, yet has stayed the same. Yes, you’ll see new codes, new events, redesigns, newcomers, and more always evolving. That’s called growing as a club. But some things don’t change, because they are at the heart and ethos of what we’re about. Those are things like the fastidious tasting panel process, or bottling only the best single cask, cask strength, full-flavoured, non-chill filtered, natural colour whisky on earth. At the core, that’s what we rely on, and will continue to do so.
I joined the SMWS as a member in early 2013 from memory. I’d recently moved to Sydney in 2011 and had been to a few tastings at the Oak Barrel hosted by Dave Withers the following year. It was a
ABOVE: Dinner with the whole team at Rockpool Bar & Grill, 2020. L-R: Andre Tammes, Suzy Tawse, John Rourke, Donelle Hampshire, Andrew Derbidge, Matt Bailey.
real eye-opening experience tasting some incredible whiskies and discovering flavour in a whole new way. It was from getting to know Dave and form a tasting group with him and a few others that really paved the way for where I am today. Then one Sunday afternoon in the backroom at the Oak Barrel at a Highland Park tasting (with some 1950’s
& ’60’s expressions on pour, no less) I sat next to a Mr Murray Hassan. Some of you may know Murray, or the “Muzz man” among Society circles. One of our original local Tasting Panel members, he’s regularly hosted Society events, been an integral part of Whisky Fair each year, and really championed what the Society is all about. It also helps that he’s the king of blazers and no one rocks a turquoise pinstripe quite like the Muzz.
Murray got talking to me about the SMWS and asked if I wanted to check it out next week at the Royal Automobile Club. I’d never heard of it before and it honestly sounded like some secret clandestine whisky illuminati thing at the time. I had no idea what I was in for, but I’ve never had a more enlightening introduction into the wide world of whisky like it. Andrew hosted a traditional whisky masterclass and it was a lightbulb moment for me on the spot. I’d previously tried hunting down some independent bottlings with varied success and quality, but all six drams at this tasting were phenomenal. The crowd was vibrant, talkative, and welcoming. The ‘talkative’ part was probably mostly Tony Chapman, another original local Australian tasting panel member who was the life of his table. The whole vibe was really ‘next level’ and opened my eyes to what the SMWS was. I’d tasted
"The two biggest changes over the last ten years I think I could pin down would be (a) the age and demographic of people getting into whisky, and (b) the overwhelming sense of positive community that’s evolved in recent years."
another world out there and the flavour adventure widened immediately. I had no idea whisky could taste like this, nor did I realise there was this burgeoning community of flavour-obsessed interesting people out there. I had already started forming an appreciation for whisky and had attended many other events, but this felt like a real leapfrog moment. It took all “brand” out of it and added full flavour into it. Nerdy codes, detailed tasting notes, incredible flavours. I was hooked. It was also the same night I picked up my first ever Society bottling: Cask 125.71 ‘Chocolate coke float’. Much like Andrew, I still have my first Society bottling and will as usual find the appropriate moment to share it around in due course.
It was shortly after then that I kickstarted my own whisky business, hosting events and tastings around the country, mostly Melbourne and Sydney. I’d been properly bitten by the bug. The funny thing is, I’m now just long-toothed enough that I now see this happening to the next generation on the scene. A good decade or more younger than I, just getting into it, hosting events, discovering their flavour, and introducing others into the magic of single malt whisky. I find this hugely exciting and encouraging as the category grows and develops over time.
ABOVE: Murray Hassan. BELOW: Cask 125.71 Chocolate coke float.That’s something that both Andrew and I have written about a bit in the past: how the scene changes, evolves, and grows over time. The two biggest changes over the last ten years I think I could pin down would be (a) the age and demographic of people getting into whisky, and (b) the overwhelming sense of positive community that’s evolved in recent years. On that first point, I would immediately recall my first Society tasting. I was the youngest person in the room by a good 15 years, and the room was about 95% blokes. Fast forward to now, and it’s not uncommon to see a new swathe of 18-25 year old members, and a much more even split of men and women at many events. The other point I would remark on here is the overwhelming social and community aspect that the SMWS has pioneered in Australia in the last five years especially. The growth of our online community, our in-person community, and then seeing mini and micro sub-clubs spawn off the back of that with new friends sharing an amazing journey together. Those moments you see like when member Sally in Sydney gets her crew together for a festival casks tasting, or when Mark, John, Ally and Tom get 40+ people in a room in Hobart for their Society catchups, and many more examples around the whole country. What more could you ask? That, to me, is the raw essence of what a whisky club should be. The people,
the members, the coming together and sharing great drams and creating incredible memories along the way.
So where have we landed? Back in 2002, the endeavours of John Rourke and Andre Tammes started the Australian chapter of the SMWS, which you can read about elsewhere in this Outturn. Then in 2012, it was a momentous occasion celebrating the 10th anniversary of the branch with tastings and the whole cask of 33.119 ‘A gumtree bonfire barbecue on the beach’, a 10 year old single cask from Islay. In 2017 we then celebrated the 15th anniversary of the branch with Cask 73.83 ‘Anzac biscuits and cricket bats’, a 15 year old sherry butt from Speyside. You can spot the trend here. Now in 2022 we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary with not one, not two, but THREE entire single casks to share around. One of course is a 20 year old to celebrate 20 years of the branch, distilled the year we kicked off. The other two are both carefully selected, incredibly moreish drinkers from distillery codes and flavour profiles that are definitely member favourites.
Our 20 year old cask is Cask 11.42 ‘20(0) Not Out!’, a 20yo from lesser-seen distillery 11, with an extra maturation in an absolutely stunning Miguel Martin exred wine cask. The flavours in this Old & Dignified milestone cask are that perfect balance of old tropical fruits, old lounge
chairs, and dates soaked in kirsch. A delightful balance from the wine cask, and a true lounge dram with your closest friends on a cool evening.
Cask 26.185 ‘Solo ice cream spiders’ was a transportive dram full of those childhood candy corner shop memories of musk sticks, soda tap, pink waxy lollies and the sugary lemon from a can of Solo. Waxed jackets, vanilla bean ice cream, and pink lollies from another decade in your life.
Cask 10.225 ‘Servo Surf ‘N’ Turf is one of the lesser-seen variants of this fascinatingly versatile Islay spirit being a ‘Staoisha’ heavily peated spirit run which was then fully matured in a recharred hogshead. This gave this remarkable spirit a layer of smoky lamb’s wool, mechanical rags, and sooty Islay goodness. Close your eyes and you’ll be eating a steak & Moreton Bay bugs near the beach with a diesel petrol pump not far away.
All three casks have had at least two years of planning, tasting, selecting, and ensuring we’d have the best of the best to celebrate two decades of shaping and growing the Australian whisky appreciation landscape.
To top it off, we have some incredible events being hosted around the country including this month’s 20th anniversary virtual tasting kit, but the jewel in the crown this month is the extremely limited edition triple pack of all three 20th anniversary bottlings in a bespoke, locally made Tasmanian Huon pine sliding presentation box. Each box, much like our casks, is utterly unique, and never to be repeated. Read more about this further into this special edition of Outturn to celebrate our 20th anniversary of the Australian branch.
Cheers.
Matt Bailey ~ Branch Director
ABOVE: The Oak Barrel in Sydney, an integral part of where it all began for Matt.
Having previously written specific anniversary pieces to mark the Society’s 10th and 15th birthdays in Australia, it was tempting to do a bit of a “copy and paste” effort when sitting down to pen something for our 20th birthday. But anything that one wrote in the past is a function of its time and was shaped by the mood, the zeitgeist, and the facts current in the timeframe in which those words were conceived. Much has happened in the five years since I wrote a piece for our 15th birthday, and certainly much has changed since our 10th birthday in 2012. And, needless to say, it’s an almost unrecognisable world (in the sense of the whisky landscape) from our branch’s humble beginnings in 2002. For these reasons, me re-iterating previously-written paragraphs, or even simply leaning on them to pen this column seems inappropriate. Too much has changed. So for this time around, it seems appropriate for me to therefore focus precisely on that: Change.
Think back on two decades of change in your own life. If you’re in your thirties, think back to your life when you were a teenager. If you’re in your fifties, think back to your years in your thirties. And so on. You get the idea. Times were different, right? Regardless of your actual vintage, think back to the world as you recall it in 2002….
For newer members of the Society –and certainly for younger members of
the Society – it is difficult to appreciate what the whisky scene or landscape was like in Australia in 2002. Malt whisky was still a relatively niche product enjoyed largely just by enthusiasts. Perhaps more critically, cask-strength, single-cask whisky was virtually unheard of in this country. E-commerce was not a thing; smart phones didn’t exist (nor did social media as we know it today), and websites were very basic. Information
ABOVE: L-R: Jonathan Walczak, Tony Chapman, Matt Bailey, Matthew Wooler, Andrew Derbidge, Chuck Hahn, Hendy Ongkodjojo.
about whisky was chiefly sourced through just one or two books; whisky was generally marketed and promoted through printed-media advertising and – if you were lucky – at small in-store tasting events. Whisky bars, as we know them today, did not exist. (Although one or two pubs and hotels had a decent selection).
And so it was into that world that the Society launched in Australia, in Sydney, with three initial, introductory tastings held on three consecutive Tuesday nights in November, 2002. I attended the second of those three initial tastings. Much of the early promotion and noise about the SMWS being birthed was circulated amongst the influence circles of our founders, John Rourke and Andre Tammes. This was chiefly to the likes of the Wine and Food Society and similar culinary interest entities, and, to a lesser extent, Scottish interest groups such as clan societies. It would not be unfair to observe that early patronage of the Society was by an older demographic, and almost exclusively male.
The challenges for the Society were steep and stark from the outset.
The operation was ridiculously small and enjoyed zero economies of scale. In fact, quite the opposite. Our two founders were involved in full-time work and often overseas. All aspects
of operations were thus outsourced to appropriate third-party entities: Printing, warehousing and distribution, shipping imports and customs, printing and mailouts, and also the website.
A professional business centre was engaged to answer the phone number and make it sound like the Society actually had an office and admin staff.
(In truth, all calls were simply patched through to John or Andre, or the message was taken and passed on).
As a result of this structure, running costs were high across numerous avenues, which obviously translated to significantly higher bottle prices than what whisky drinkers in Australia were largely accustomed to. And that’s before we even came to alcohol excise.
Remember – cask-strength whisky was virtually unknown in Australia. Society whiskies, bottled around 60% ABV and thus attracting 50% more tax, were directly compared to commerciallyavailable whisky that was almost exclusively 40% ABV, or occasionally 43%. Such was the small volume of stock being brought in with each shipment, shipping by seafreight was impractical.
ABOVE: The bar at our Queen Street members' rooms in Edinburgh.
All stock came to Australia via airfreight – instantly adding further to each bottle’s eventual members’ price.
As such, for any SMWS tasting event in those early years, a significant portion of the night had to be spent simply explaining the product. Time had to be spent explaining what “cask-strength” meant and that there was actually “more” whisky in the bottle, which justified the higher price tag. Explaining the significance of a “single cask”, and why an SMWS bottling of an ex-bourbon cask from Distillery 24 would taste so completely different to the heavily sherried 12yo Macallan the audience was used to tasting at home. Explaining why 3.67 tasted completely different to 3.68. Actually, simply explaining what “3” meant, and what “68” meant. (Okay, so perhaps that’s one thing that hasn’t changed). Explaining what nonchillfiltered meant, and explaining the significance of our whiskies not being artificially coloured, which was the case for 99% of whisky available in Australia. Society whiskies were unique With one, possibly two exceptions (I’m thinking Glenfarclas 105 and the newly
available but hard to find Aberlour a’Bunadh), SMWS whiskies were unlike anything previously seen commercially in the country.
To put some of the above into context here, consider that in 2002, the commercially available, official bottling
of Macallan 12yo retailed in Australia for around $65. (Consider also that, in 2002, consumers worldwide only knew Macallan to be a 100% sherry-matured whisky. Expressions and releases that made use of ex-bourbon casks with names like Fine Oak or Double
ABOVE: The member's bar on the top floor of our Queen Street venue.
BELOW: Queen Street venue staff lead a tasting.
Wood or Select Oak, etc, would not be known and released commercially until several years later). By comparison, the aforementioned SMWS ex-bourbon cask – Cask 24.31, to be precise – appeared on the Australian branch’s first Bottling List for $170. Thus, it was usually a tough gig trying to convince attendees at tastings that the Society’s offerings provided good value – at least in terms of dollars. Instead, we relied on taste. And it was chiefly through taste – that is, by offering something that simply tasted significantly better than the alternatives – that our branch slowly made inroads.
Notwithstanding the generally higher price tags that often needed explanation, what the Society could offer – in spades – was access to a plethora of distilleries that were usually unknown / unheard
of, and certainly not otherwise available in this country. In the early 2000’s, even the best stocked liquor store would have, at best, no more than 10-15 different distilleries/brands on its shelves. And, as
BELOW: Bottles for sale at the Vaults.
BELOW: Spirits manager Euan Campbell.
"...what the Society could offer in spades was access to a plethora of distilleries that were usually unknown / unheard of, and certainly not otherwise available in this country."
was the practice of the day, many brands simply offered one expression, typically a 10yo or 12yo. Some of the bigger brands might offer a 12yo, 15yo, and, say, an 18yo or 21yo. It was through the Society that Australian whisky drinkers could largely access non-standard age statements, such as a 6yo Ardbeg, a 9yo Glentauchers, or a 23yo Glenugie.
The Society was a big beneficiary of the so-called “whisky loch” that resulted from the industry’s shocking downturn in the 1980’s which left unwanted casks maturing for years into the early 2000’s. Rare and well-aged malts were regular features on each Australian Bottling List (the name “Outturn” for our bottling list or catalogue would not be applied until late 2010), and for prices that are near unthinkable in the context
of today’s expensive landscape. (Fancy a 36yo, sherry butt-matured Longmorn from 1968 for less than $350? Or a 40yo Glenfarclas from 1965 for $385? How about a Brora for $240? A Glen Albyn? A Dallas Dhu? How about a Glencraig? We featured casks from almost all the old/ silent/closed distilleries that you now only read about in the books).
So how else was the 2002 version and the early years of the SMWS in Australia different to what members know today? Member buying patterns were very different back then, and it was rare for members to buy “off spec” when the Bottling List arrived in their letterbox every three months. Rather, members were accustomed to trying the whiskies first at one of our tasting events, and then faxing through their orders the following day! Ordering online through our website wasn’t possible until 2007, and members generally placed orders either by phoning the office directly, or faxing in order forms. Or they would hand in an order form to their State Manager at the end of a tasting event. They were genteel times, compared to the frantic rush we sometimes now see on the first Friday of each month.
Unfiltered would not be launched as an international hardcopy magazine until 2008. For local publications, we used to actually produce our own, separate, A4-sized, content-rich magazine every three months to accompany the Bottling List. (All content written and produced locally here). The last such quarterly magazine and bottling list went out in the Spring of 2014, and Outturn became a monthly publication from November 2014 onwards.
Another change – one that has evolved gradually, rather than a sudden switch – has simply been the size and scale of our branch and our operations. Needless to say, there are more members in 2022 than the base of zero that we started with in 2002, and we’re bringing in more bottles these days to quench our members’ thirst. The first shipment I was responsible for as Cellarmaster was at the end of 2005, and it had 120 bottles onboard. In contrast, our first shipment to leave Scotland this year had 3,107 bottles onboard!
If you think to your own workplace environment and work colleagues, my guess is that you’ve seen a significant number of changes in personnel as
“It’ll rip your lungs out Jim”
ZEVON
"The first shipment I was responsible for as Cellarmaster was at the end of 2005, and it had 120 bottles onboard. In contrast, our first shipment to leave Scotland this year had 3,107 bottles onboard!"
staff come and go – particularly over a timespan of 20 years. In fact, you yourself may well have changed jobs numerous times since 2002? We have not been immune to changes in personnel over two decades, but I’m particularly proud of the longevity of our State Managers and the years we’ve collectively put in. NSW has had just two State Managers in all this time; as has South Australia, Queensland, the ACT, and Wollongong! And the terms of the current incumbents in those five regions ranges between eight and seventeen years! And special mention must be made of Suzy Tawse, who has headed up our office for just shy of 17 years and kept this engine running with a devotion, efficiency, and aptitude that is unparalleled. Suzy became our first fulltime employee in January, 2006. Today, we have three full-time employees and two part-time employees. Whilst our State Managers are all essentially “brand ambassadors”, it’s worth also recalling that our branch did not have a dedicated, full-time brand ambassador until 2015! And whilst the first incarnation of that role was short-lived, Matt Bailey joined the Society’s staff in that capacity in 2016, giving our branch the full-time drive that myself and Andre Tammes could not fully push as we juggled fulltime work in other industries.
Changes in social media’s features and behaviour, vlogging, livestreams, and virtual tastings have also shaped and evolved how our branch now operates and what we can offer. Our branch was truly innovative and pioneering in how we ran tasting events and what
ABOVE: The cover for our 15th anniversary Outturn back in 2017.
we offered in the early 2000’s; I would modestly suggest that innovative spirit has stayed with us in recent times – our branch was doing livestreams and virtual tastings long before COVID brought “Zoom” into the current vernacular.
Of course, for some, all the above is merely nostalgia or perhaps a selfindulgent account of history. For many readers and newer members, one might justifiably react with, “So what? Times have changed”. Despite our industry’s many claims and statements about “tradition” or “centuries-old methods”, whisky has certainly not stayed still. It is a continuously evolving force. We, the Society, are simply one small part of that force, and we have evolved in kind. Further evolution and change is inevitable. But in order
to appreciate where you’re going, you need to appreciate where you’ve been. Personally, I like where we’ve been. It’s been a bloody tasty journey!
Cheers.
Andrew Derbidge ~ Chairman and NSW State Manager (since 2005!)
SEPTEMBER 2017Malt of the Month for October starts its journey along the Douro river through Portugal where our spirits team have sourced seriously incredible quality Ruby Port casks from the highest designation of control within the region. This single malt ‘Heresy’ release at 50% ABV oozes elegance in a glass and is a window into the expertly-created experimentations from the tasting panel for this cruise down the Douro region. Jump in, pop it open, and share with friends. The ideal dinner companion dram, shared around the table with friends, mixed or neat, with a Springtime roast & toast.
Limit of 2 bottles per Member
CASK TYPE 1st fill Port pipes & 2nd fill bourbon barrels
AGE 10 years
DATE DISTILLED 10 February 2011
OUTTURN 1,900 bottles
ABV 50.0%
AUS ALLOCATION 120 bottles
This wonderfully ruby red small batch is a celebration of sweet complexity. We’ve drawn together selected casks of Speyside single malt, some matured full term in bourbon barrels and some additionally matured in ex-Ruby Port pipes for no less than two years. The result is rich, fruity and evocative of trips to sunnier climes. We imagined walking through a wine cellar of one of the lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia located close to the Douro river. The air was filled with sweet wood char, dark toffee and dried strawberries. On the palate neat the tart juicy cherries and orange peel bitterness was wonderfully balanced by the sweet flavour of wild cranberries. After the addition of water, the scent of sweet tobacco and tropical fruits appeared at first but soon the strawberries were back, this time fresh and dipped in chocolate and topped with toasted coconut. The taste reminded us of a long barrel aged Colheita Port, which in essence is a Tawny from one single harvest/vintage – you should try it!
SMALL BATCH SINGLE MALT
Specially selected by the Australian team of the SMWS for this month’s celebration, this is a dram just bursting with bright pink wafers, waxy fruit skins, and bubbly lemon spiders on a hot day from your childhood corner store. Delicious!
The bulk of Cask 26.185 will be available on Outturn Week 1, Friday 7 Oct, with a small allocation reserved for a second chance ballot to be drawn on Wednesday 12th Oct at midday AEDT.
REGION
CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE 8 years
DATE DISTILLED 23 October 2012
OUTTURN 245 bottles
ABV 61.1%
of
AUS ALLOCATION 244 bottles
The nose transports us to after-school sparkling lemon spiders and citrus lollies from the local corner store. Iced Vovo biscuits, vanilla and toffee chews. The palate is oddly dry and chalky, yet vibrant and zesty; heather honey, Kirk’s creaming soda and green apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice (preparing an apple pie); the finish warms with light spice, oak, lemon peel and leather. The reduced nose goes from green to yellow – sandalwood, passion fruit sorbet, lime juice over mango and beeswax candles in a cardboard box. The palate becomes juicier – lush grass, Starburst sweets (in wax paper), pineapple fritters with syrup and jasmine rice wrapped in banana leaf.
MISS OUT ON THE MAIN RELEASE FOR CASK 26.185? Scan the QR code to enter our second chance ballot. Drawn Wed 12 Oct at midday AEDT.
Specially selected to round out our trio this month, this heavily peated spirit run from the Islay powerhouse distillery 10 is a like a full serve of servo surf ’n’ turf down by that beachside petrol station you loved. Oily and viscous and full of life.
The bulk of Cask 10.225 will be available on Outturn Week 2, Friday 14 Oct, with a small allocation reserved for second chance ballot to be drawn on Wednesday 19th Oct at midday.
CASK TYPE Recharred hogshead
AGE 7 years
DATE DISTILLED 17 October 2013
OUTTURN 215 bottles
ABV 59.5%
AUS ALLOCATION 215 bottles
A dense and powerfully peaty nose that just screamed ‘ISLAY!’ to us straight away. A Bondi beach Surf ’N’ Turf with Moreton Bay Bugs & BBQ steak with sand between your toes. All manner of sooty fabrics, oily mechanical rags, sheep wool doused in petrol and pure, dense, foggy peat smoke. Water brought unexpected subtleties such as fragrant sandalwood, smoked pink sea salt, creosote, and marinated mussels with parsley and white wine. Wee touches of tarragon and rubber fishing wellies too. The neat palate was pure and unequivocally direct on lemon juice, tar, medicines, gauze, shucked oysters and motor oil. A fresh forecourt at your local servo with a smoky bacon sandwich. Water gave us smoked meats, salt baked cod, puffer fumes, soy sauce and thrilling vivid coastal freshness. A blinder!
MISS OUT ON THE MAIN RELEASE FOR CASK 10.225? Scan the QR code to enter our second chance ballot. Drawn Wed 19 Oct at midday AEDT.
The cricket theme is back, from our Anzac biscuits in 2017 to our 20 years in 2022. We're hitting a 20 not out! Years in the making, Cask 11.42 is a 20-year-old single cask to celebrate our 20 years as a branch in Australia, continually shaping the landscape of whisky appreciation. Tropical fruits, old delicate books, butterscotch, chalky bodega sand and sunny day breeze. This is a “we’ve made it” pour.
The bulk of Cask 11.42 will be available on Outturn Week 3, Friday 21 Oct, with a small allocation reserved for a second chance ballot to be drawn on Wednesday 26th Oct at midday AEDT.
CASK TYPE 1st fill Pedro Ximenez hogshead
AGE 20 years
DATE DISTILLED 9 October 2000
OUTTURN 152 bottles
ABV 53.5%
AUS ALLOCATION 152 bottles
The aroma neat oozed composure and confidence, like a dashing stroke cricket player who had just hit a ball for ‘six’ to reach his double century. The whole dressing room was on the balcony clapping before getting back to eating butterscotch bananas and macadamia baklava. Diluted we felt like walking through a bodega in Jerez, chalky sand on the floor and the open windows covered by straw mats to keep out the sun but to allow in the breeze. Sweet was the victory and the celebration started by drinking Shiraz out of Spanish style leather wine sacks called Bota and churros with a warm chocolate dipping sauce. After eighteen years in an ex-bourbon barrel, we transferred this whisky into a 1st fill PX Sherry hogshead.
MISS OUT ON THE MAIN RELEASE FOR CASK 11.42? Scan the QR code to enter our second chance ballot. Drawn Wed 26 Oct at midday AEDT.
Come join us around the country for a whole range of incredible 20th anniversary of the Australian Branch experiences.
20TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER
6:30pm 30th September
The Brisbane Club, 241 Adelaide St, Brisbane.
20TH ANNIVERSARY EXPERIENCE & GATHERING
6:30pm 30th September
Seven Stars Hotel, 187 Angas St, Adelaide.
6pm for 6.30pm 8th October
New Sydney Hotel Partner Bar, 87 Bathurst St, Hobart.
7pm 1st October
Old Melbourne Gaol, 377 Russell St, Melbourne.
20TH ANNIVERSARY AFTERNOON
4pm 16th October Terrarium Partner Bar, 99 St Georges Tce, Perth.
20TH ANNIVERSARY DECADES CASKS LUNCH
12:30pm 22nd October Chancery Lane, 430 Little Collins St, Melbourne
6:30pm 28th October Quayside Room MCA, 140 George Street, Sydney.
“M-CLASS SHERRY SWILL”
6:30pm 13th October
Melbourne Whisky Room, 270 Russell St, Melbourne.
For our latest event listings and to book online visit SMWS.COM.AU/EVENTS
To commemorate our 20 years of the Society in Australia, we’ve custom-created a stunning one-off triple bottle box for the three casks on offer celebrating this 20th milestone. Each box is unique, just like our casks, and has been custom-built in Tasmania out of genuine Huon pine with engraving and sliding lid housing all three casks. Handmade and months in production, this one-off set is unique both to the 20th anniversary, and to the shape and contour of each set. No two boxes are the same.
Take home your rare triple bottle set in oiled Huon box this Outturn. Available exclusively to members of the SMWS, we’ve handmade only 30 of these for the world. This is the only way to guarantee scoring all three anniversary bottlings. Available for $1,499. Limit of one per Member.
20 years is quite a milestone, so we’re celebrating with a massive giveaway for new members and referrers this month.
All new members who join the club in October, and all existing members who refer a friend will automatically go into the draw to win this once-in-a-lifetime triple bottle boxed set celebrating our 20th anniversary valued at $1,499.
Each triple bottle set contains each of our 20th anniversary selected casks, an engraved sliding lid, custom joinery, unique wooden wave lip and leather saddle for the bottles to rest in. The perfect showpiece for your whisky collection.
Join the SMWS between the 1st and 31st of October 2022, or refer a friend (your friend needs to write your name in the online referrer box when joining). Entries open on Saturday 1st October and close 31st October at 11:59pm AEDT.
It’s anniversary month! Our virtual tasting this month takes a journey through the years of the Society in Australia. Complete with our triple cask offering among other casks, we’ll kick off with distillery number one from where it all began, then into where we’re up to, and then delve into the specially selected anniversary casks.
Join us for this special livestream tasting with special guests celebrating 20 years of the SMWS in Australia. Packs strictly limited.
To celebrate all three milestone anniversaries in Australia, we’ve worked with a custom woodworker in Tasmania to produce this one-off, one of one, triple bottle set handcrafted in myrtle wood with a bottle of each anniversary cask included. 10-year anniversary celebrated with a 10yo whisky, Cask 33.119 A gumtree bonfire barbecue on the beach. 15-year anniversary celebrated with a 15yo whisky, Cask 73.83 Anzac Biscuits and Cricket Bats, and our 20-year anniversary will celebrate with a 20yo whisky, Cask 11.42 20(0) not out!
This set has been specially created to celebrate our 10th, 15th and 20th anniversary in one unique set and will be offered up via a silent auction in October. This one-off, only one-in-existence set, will feature all three bottlings
from decades long gone. Presented in a bespoke hardwood triple set with leather saddle and lid, this triple set will go to one lucky member’s collection to be savoured and enjoyed with friends.
The auction will close at 11:59pm on Friday 21st October. The lucky winner will then be informed on Monday 24th October at midday AEDT.
To bid on this silent auction for this one-of-a-kind rare piece of whisky history, please scan the QR code or go to smws.com.au/silentauction →
Distillery 26 almost needs no introduction. A waxy powerhouse distillery with oodles of history, character, and casks that we regularly see in the 10-ish year range. When younger, the distillate from 26 is often bright fruits, waxy jackets, and peach drops. However when a LOT older like this month's Cask 26.189 Ambrosia, the waxiness and fruits stay, but we are now also faced with old waxed jackets, snuffed candle wax, French polished oak, shortbread, and mesmerising deep spices unlike anything else. Do not miss this absolutely insane example of older 26 available for members of the SMWS.
One could write an epic nosing neat, chocolate chip cookies, golden syrup, millionaire’s shortbread, marzipan, French polished oak, wax jacket and a mesmerizing scent of jasmine, lily, bergamot, sandalwood, amber and musk. Epic texture, dark sugary sweetness, spun sugar decoration on a Belgian chocolate cupcake, Sriracha popcorn and honey glazed roasted pears. A drop of water and we made toast with smooth pâté and caramelised oranges, an appetizer for Greek gods as we also drank a glass of very old Greek brandy, elegant and refined, voluptuous and intense. Then flavours of wild bee’s honey, rose petal, and subtle notes of old oak with a mix of sweet spices in the finish.
DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS
CASK NO. 18.39
$190
Limit of 1 bottle per Member
SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW
CASK NO. 88.24
$170
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE Refill bourbon hogshead
AGE 12 years
DATE DISTILLED 4 February 2009
OUTTURN 182 bottles
ABV 52.9%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
Rich toffee and milk chocolate fused with buttery icing sugar on vanilla sponge cake while fruity aromas suggested tangerines, cherries and rhubarb and apple crumble. The first sip excited the fruit receptors to indicate peaches, apricots and oranges coated with sticky treacle and a sprinkling of charred oak. Adding water released tinned fruit salad with cherries and chunks of pineapple and mango. Buttery textures suggested croissants and baked banana bread, becoming more nutty and creamy on the palate. Meanwhile combination of herbs and juniper berries brought a lovely complexity that joined balsa, sweet biscuits and nutmeg on the finish.
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE 1st fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead
AGE 13 years
DATE DISTILLED 18 September 2007
OUTTURN 245 bottles
ABV 57.0%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles
We imagined sitting on the Playa de Sanlucar de Barrameda barbequing on a warm evening the famous king prawns caught off the coast of Cadiz. As we waited for them to be ready, we toasted each other with a Manzanilla Pasada. A well-aged Sherry with those characteristic notes on the palate of almonds, orange peel, a hint of wood and a subtle salinity in the finish. After reduction, an ‘old-style’ scent of hay essential oil with distinct sweet hay, barnyard and dry wood nuances next to candied rose petals and salted caramels as we shared sour cream and chive pretzels. After eleven years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a 1st fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead.
SPICY & SWEET
CASK NO. 82.33
$170
CASK TYPE 2nd fill bourbon barrel
AGE 9 years
DATE DISTILLED 16 March 2011
OUTTURN 249 bottles
ABV 62.8%
AUS ALLOCATION 30 bottles
A frolicking, fruity, fun aroma at the bakery greeted the Panelapple turnover, pineapple upside-down cake, strawberry fondant chocolate cupcakes and raspberry croissants. On the palate neat, a green apple zingy-ness combined with a blast of cinnamon and ginger at first, before sweet raspberry and vanilla coulis was drizzled over a peach cobbler or meringue. After the addition of water, the freshness of apple-mint salad with a lime vinaigrette emerged while to taste, still a fun dram with plenty of spice but now beautifully balanced by the additional flavours of spearmint, coconut macaroons, orange sherbet and a milky vanilla chai tea.
PEATED
CASK NO. 66.204
$185
CASK TYPE Refill bourbon barrel
AGE 12 years
DATE DISTILLED 21 November 2008
OUTTURN 156 bottles
ABV 58.6%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles
The initial nose suggested fir wood, damp sheep wool, tarred hessian and engine oils. Hints of cured meats, lardons frazzling on a cast iron skillet and pickled ginger were also noted by the Panel. Reduction gave us more obvious medical aspects like mercurochrome and gauze, but also pickled onion juices, pasta water and coal embers. The palate was initially robust and smoky. Lots of farmyard heft, boiler smoke tinged with dry herbs, coal scuttles and hot wasabi. With water we found it got more tarry with TCP, dirty peat smoke, martini dregs and black olives in brine. Some greasy phenolics in the aftertaste.
LIGHTLY PEATED
CASK NO. 39.229
$175
Limit of 1 bottle per Member
CASK TYPE Refill ex-peaty bourbon barrel
AGE 10 years
DATE DISTILLED 10 February 2011
OUTTURN 197 bottles
ABV 61.2%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles
After eight years in regular ex-bourbon wood we transferred this into an ex-peaty bourbon barrel. The nose combines limestone and chalk, hay barns and dusty shoe boxes; lime marmalade, satsumas and hibiscus tea; bacon and pancakes with maple syrup. Whispers of smoke appear on the palate – lemon bonbons in coal dust, liquorice laces, Tangfastics and apple crumble, oak tannins and plum sauce on crispy duck. The reduced nose – key lime pie, redcurrant jelly, peaches and rosewater; oaked chardonnay and iodine. The reduced palate remains a tongue twerker – fruit and peat in a merry dance – mojitos, crystallised orange, balsa wood, pickled ginger, wasabi and lime.
BOURBON
CASK NO. B3.10
$190
REGION Arkansas
CASK TYPE New oak new charred barrel
AGE 5 years
DATE DISTILLED 2 July 2015
OUTTURN 193 bottles
ABV 59.5%
AUS ALLOCATION 60 bottles
The nose gave us ‘cola cubes and in a painted room’ and ‘smouldering coals in a sweat lodge hung with eucalyptus’. Time brought out sandalwood and nutmeg. The palate had amarena cherry, red cola and molasses, plus pleasant tannic tingles of polished oak, liquorice and black tea, with abundant cinnamon and clove. The reduced nose evoked a vintage automobile shop for one panellist – others reported fresh apple pie, red onion chutney, smoky bacon, rum punch and orange oil. The palate was now wonderfully tasty – fruity jam and cherry brandy, apple cider, dark chocolate, camp coffee syrup and overcooked banana from the campfire. The mashbill was 82% Arkansas corn, 9% Arkansas wheat & 9% malted barley.
JUICY, OAK & VANILLA
CASK NO. 46.119
CASK TYPE 2nd fill bourbon hogshead
AGE 14 years
DATE DISTILLED 14 March 2007
OUTTURN 286 bottles
ABV 58.9%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
The nose wafts butterscotch, caramel wafers, cinder toffee, chocolate Angel Delight and maple syrup; coffee grounds and shaved hardwoods stand shyly behind. The palate is also sweet – caramel log, Victoria cream sponge, chocolate-coated Turkish delight and cherry frangipane tart; then toasted coconut, citric zest, chilli and clove to finish. The reduced nose finds fruit scones, buttered crumpets and meringues on a mahogany table; also freshly steamed oak staves and white pepper. The palate remains predominantly sweet – vanilla custard slice, honey, juicy fruit chewing gum and apricot jam on toast, before candied almonds, pistachios, carob and tree bark whisper harmoniously in the after-taste.
Our SMWS journey started in December 1985 in the UK when Phil was posted to the Australian High Commission in London as the Assistant Naval Advisor. Whilst staying in our hotel next to Tower Bridge, Phil saw an advertisement for the SMWS in the Sunday Times which he bought to do the cryptic crosswords. Intrigued, he checked out the Society which was then officially only two years old and immediately joined.
W e then went to live in East Croydon with our family. Every month we would order a bottle of the SMWS malt of the month which would then arrive through the post, enclosed in a wonderful piece of cardboard engineering. Only once did we get a very messy, wet and awful looking delivery from our postie, which he held up in great disdain saying “Sir, this is not very nice!” We laughed, put it in the bin and Phil phoned Edinburgh straight away. A replacement was immediately sent and we were very impressed.
When we got back to Australia in early 1989, Phil asked the Society if we could get delivery here and the answer was no because the whisky could not be legally exported. Drat! A change
in the law sometime later meant that the whisky could be sent to Australia, but only in a box of 12 bottles. Drat again! This wasn’t the time for a second mortgage. Phil declined but decided to remain a member of SMWS, having to remain content with their occasional emails and tasting notes, while hoping for a further change in the export laws.
Just when Phil was thinking of leaving the Society because nothing seemed to be changing, we got a call from John Rourke asking if we would be interested in helping to launch the SMWS in Australia. We jumped at the chance and started our monthly trips up and down to Sydney. We held our meetings at John’s house, together with Andre Tammes and Bill McAndrew. John, who was a fabulous cook, spoiled us with amazing food which matched the whiskies we were tasting. We have wonderful memories of lunches inside his house, or outside if the weather was nice.
ABOVE: The SMWS has been leading the flavour charge in Australia for 20 years now.
ABOVE: Members at our experiences.
In November 2002, the first Australian Branch started with a tasting at the Royal Automobile Club in Sydney using whiskies remaining from an earlier promotional tour by Edinburgh staff in 1996. It was a HUGE success. On the 18th of February 2003 Phil hosted the first Canberra tasting at the Burns Club with some 70 attendees and it was very well received. The first regular tastings started in May that year. We participated in the first National Whisky Convention on 3 – 5 October 2003 in conjunction with the MWSOA at the Rydges Hotel in Forrest. John Rourke, Andrew Derbidge, Jim Murray (prolific whisky writer), Dr Bill Lumsden (Glenmorangie Distillery), Phil, myself and many other people who were interested in single malt whisky attended. Over the three days there were talks, workshops, tastings and a magnificent dinner to end the Convention. The Canberra branch certainly got many new members from the Convention. Over the next few years, we really enjoyed our local tastings and talks. We are both very much into the Islay malts, especially Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Lagavulin. We probably sold more peaty whiskies than other whiskies and we are generally known as ‘peat tragics’. To us this is a badge of honour! Under Drew’s guidance this might still be the case. We always looked forward to our tastings and enjoyed the contribution and loyalty of our members very much. When our time was up Drew took over the tastings and he and Shane (his son) have done a wonderful job promoting the SMWS in Canberra, and especially that we now have member bars, he has a very loyal support group.
A huge THANKS from us goes to some people we would particularly like to mention. First of all, to Andrew Derbidge who without doubt has done so very, very much for the Society in Australia. Secondly to Suzy Tawse because when
she joined the Society it went from strength to strength. There is not one person who has a bad word to say about her and we certainly thank her for all she has done to support us over these past years. Andre Tammes has quietly guided the development of the Australian branch to the successful position that it enjoys today, and lastly all the State Managers who do a great job all the time.
We must also thank Matt, our SMWS Ambassador. We enjoy all your articles in Outturn and we hope there will be many more to come.
Congratulations to SMWS Australia on a wonderful job well done over the past 20 years. May there be many, many more in the years to come.
I feel enormously proud of what we achieved here in Canberra. The Canberra mob have a distinctive vibe; inclusive, diverse, fun-loving, community and experience focused. The new young crowd joining our ranks appreciate that spirit.
Thanks so very much.
Phil and Marjanneke McGuire ~ Canberra, ACT"Congratulations to SMWS Australia on a wonderful job well done over the past 20 years. May there be many, many more in the years to come."ABOVE: Chocolate, ales, crisps: pairings like no other. BELOW: A room full of joyous celebration with John McCheyne.
I just finished reading through the words I wrote in 2019 to record the Society’s establishment in Australia in 2002. These follow, unabridged, and remain as valid today as they were at that time. However, some things have inevitably changed….
Strewth – that feels like a long time ago! So long that I struggle to remember my first contact with the Society. I know that it preceded the 1983 widening of the initial inner circle which our founder, Pip
Hills, had gathered to appreciate the early casks he had brought from the Highlands to Edinburgh in his Lagonda. This circle was very small indeed compared to today’s Society membership and the amount of whisky circulating was comparably small.
However, at some stage, I was fortunate enough to dine with a member of the group who shared a post-prandial Glenfarclas (the first distillery bottled by the Society). That dram remains my malt epiphany – although I had lived most of my adult life in Edinburgh, and therefore experienced a wide range of malts, this lifted my realisation to a higher realm and laid out what was to become a long-term educational agenda – one which I now realise will never be complete (oh joy.. !!)
The first employee of the Society was another friend, Anne Dana, whose responsibilities were carried out in an impossibly small office in the newly acquired Vaults building in Leith, which had just been acquired as the headquarters for the formally launched Society as it opened its foundational private membership to all comers in 1983. Anne did it all – administering membership, organising bottle sales, arranging tastings and promoting the young Society in every conceivable
ABOVE: L-R: Chris Barnes, Andre Tammes, Andrew Derbidge at The Vaults, Edinburgh, 2009.way. By this time, having tasted several Society whiskies, I was a ready convert to paid up membership and duly became the 126th member (the earlier numbers were allocated to those who had been members of the very early ‘inner circle’).
So... a big jump forward, spanning so many years of immensely enjoyable and convivial times, both at the Vaults (some of those Burns Suppers live forever in my riotous memories file, never to be repeated... !) and at home over numerous bottles of the best whiskies on the planet – to 1995 when I was asked to join the Board of the Society. These were troubled times because the business was confronting the classic problems associated with the rapid development of a truly wonderful idea, underpinned by great enthusiasm and subject knowledge but insufficient business acumen.
By the time I resigned in late 1997, in order to relocate to Sydney, things had started to stabilise. Having arrived in Sydney in early 1998, I remained very preoccupied with my daytime job, establishing the Australian end of an architectural lighting consultancy group that I had formed in the UK in 1984. However, the Society, having run a successful tasting tour to the Australian state capitals in 1996, made the wise
decision that Aussies did not deserve to be deprived of access to what were, and remain, some of the best malt whiskies to have ever been produced.
The then managing director, Richard Gordon, introduced me to a longstanding UK member, John Rourke, who was returning to his native Australia and wanted to keep the flame burning. As they say – the rest is history. I’ve since retired from the Society upon its re-amalgamation with the mother ship in the UK, but I’ve enjoyed every bit of the journey and will continue to raise a dram to the best whisky club on earth.
Andre Tammes ~ Co-Founder of SMWS Australia.
BELOW: Members on our Whisky Train 2021.
"...I’ve enjoyed every bit of the journey and will continue to raise a dram to the best whisky club on earth."
