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
Cask strength on storage conditions. Scotch whisky is typically aged in used barrels, and due to the relatively cool climate in Scotland, the proof level typically stays the same or goes down during maturation. In contrast, American bourbon whisky is produced using new barrels, and storage conditions in Kentucky and Tennessee where nearly all of it is produced allow the proof levels to rise during aging. The vast majority of whisky bottled has been watered down to about 40–46% ABV, although some whiskies marketed for whisky enthusiasts are bottled at proof levels all the way up to cask strength. In the United