Glen Mhor 1979 SMWS 15 Year Old 57.3

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 in February 1979 and laid to rest before being bottled in August 1992.

Glen Mhor was one of three distilleries based in Inverness along with Millburn and Glen Albyn, all of which closed within two years of each other. Glen Mhor was one of the earlier, in 1983, and it was demolished just three years later. A historically significant malt, this was just a small two still operation, but was bottled both as a single malt in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as making its way into high profile blends such as the one discovered in ice under Ernest Shackleton's hut. The owners for the majority of its history were Charles Mackinlay & Co, who produced several official releases for the emerging Italian single malt market in the late 1960s, but this stopped when DCL took over 1972. They licensed the brand to Gordon & MacPhail until its closure, and Diageo later included it in the Rare Malts Selection series, all of which remain rare and increasingly sought after. Bottlings from independent labels like this are equally so.