Scotch Malt Whisky Society Scotch Malt Whisky Society The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), founded in Edinburgh in 1983, is a membership organisation which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 125 malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and throughout the world, bottles them and retails directly to its members. It also runs three private members' rooms in the UK and in several international locations. The origins of the Society lie in Phillip "Pip" Hills' travels around the Scottish Highlands in the late 1970s, during which he sampled several whiskies drawn straight from the cask. Hills was
Black Dog Scotch Whisky prior to import. (Import duties may be as high as 150% for liquor bottled prior to import, but only about 30% when bottled in India.) The brand's main competitors outside the Diageo family are Ballantine’s Finest Blended Scotch, 100 Pipers Blended Scotch, both owned by Pernod Ricard and two expressions from the Teachers' family, Teacher’s 50, a premium 12 year old Scotch whisky, blended and matured in Scotland but bottled in India starting August 1997 to celebrate India’s 50 years of independence and Teacher's Highland Cream, both owned by Beam Suntory. The Black Dog brand of Scotch Whisky was first