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
The Whisky Barrel whiskies aimed at investors. The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009, intended to provide Scotch whisky producers and retailers protection from foreign imitations, came into force on 23 November 2009 and apply to all home nations of the United Kingdom. The regulations apply to production, labelling, advertising and packaging of Scotch whisky. As a direct result The Whisky Barrel company cannot transfer or bottle oak casks of maturing Scotch whisky outside Scotland from 22 November 2012; all single malt Scotch whisky can only leave the country for retail purposes if it is contained within a bottle clearly stating its contents and source.