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
Scotch Whisky Act 1988 illegal to sell whisky as "Scotch whisky" if it does not conform to the definitions laid out in the Act, or sell whisky with an alcoholic strength of more than 94.8%. The Act was repealed in its entirety by the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 which came into effect on 23 November 2009. Scotch Whisky Act 1988 The Scotch Whisky Act 1988 was an Act to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II on 28 June 1988, with the long title "An Act to make provision as to the definition of Scotch whisky and