North British 1987 SMWS 31 Year Old G1.17 / Low Out-turn

"Pure pleasure"

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 whisky was distilled on 2nd November 1987 and laid to rest in a 2nd fill ex-Bourbon cask for 31 years.

Prior to 1885, Scottish blenders were only able to acquire grain whisky from DCL. This changed when the firms of John Crabbie, Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John Watson collaborated to open the North British distillery in Edinburgh. Production began two years later on a single coffey still, and the distillery continued to grow, flourishing in the post-war period. In 1993 it was taken over by Lothian Distillers, a partnership between IDV and Robertson & Baxter, the modern iterations of which, Diageo and Edrington, retain a controlling stake in today. Occasional distillery bottlings have appeared over the years, but the majority of examples of its single grain come from independent labels like this.

One of 78 bottles.