Strathclyde 1977 SMWS 39 Year Old G10.14

'Flattering and seductive'

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.

This is a Strathclyde single grain Scotch whisky, distilled on the 23rd of November 1977 and matured in a second fill ex-Bourbon barrel for 39 years. One of only 102 bottles.

Strathclyde distillery is located in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, and was built in 1927 by London-based distillers, Seager-Evans, in order to supply grain neutral spirit for its gin. The company bought into the whisky business 9 years later, acquiring the Long John brand, the popularity of which saw a small malt distillery hidden within the large grain plant between 1957 and 1975, known as Kinclaith. The distillery was expanded in the 1970s under the watch of American giants, Schenley, and passed through the hands of Whitbread to Allied Distillers. Nowadays it is part of the Pernod-Ricard group, and since the closure of Port Dundas, is the last grain distillery in Glasgow.