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 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 as to the production and sale of whisky; and for connected purposes.". The act first set out a definition for Scotch whisky - "whisky (distilled and matured in Scotland) as conforms to a definition of Scotch whisky contained in an order made under this subsection by the Ministers". It also made it