Cardhu 1970 SMWS 26 Year Old 106.15

Cardhu is the Speyside home of Johnnie Walker, and the distillery contributes much of its production to the world famous blend. So much so in fact that the distillery bottling was changed to a vatted "pure malt" for a brief period in 2002 to ease pressure on its stock, but quickly reverted back to a single malt in 2004 following widespread criticism. The incident saw the rewriting of the rulebook for single malt whisky, and the birth of the term "blended malt," adding some infamy to the Cardhu history books in the process.

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.