Bushmills 1978 SMWS 51.2

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 whiskey was distilled in June 1978 and bottled in May 1989.

The Old Bushmills distillery in Northern Ireland is the world's oldest licensed whiskey producer, granted a license to distil whisky in 1608. The modern iteration of the distillery was built in 1885, following a fire. Old Bushmills was bought by the Irish Distillers group in 1971, giving them a full monopoly on the production of whiskey on the island, lasting until 1987 when Cooley was opened by the Teeling family. Diageo later bought the site in 2005, before trading it 9 years later with Casa Cuervo in exchange for a stake in one of their Tequila brands.