It’s been ages since I bought a bottle from SMWS. I tried some over the years but, and I think I’ve stated this before, it feels a bit silly to pay for a membership to a club to be allowed to buy bottles when there’s so much whisky around.
This one came from a share, and in the near future I have a lot of SMWS samples lined up thanks to JvG, formerly of Whisky Oss. There’s a sizeable box of those sitting right next to me while I’m writing this.
Sniff:
Waxy lemon and shortbread biscuits. Slightly creamy too, quite different from what I expected. There’s some white oak as well.
Sip:
The palate is slightly less sweet and has quite some intensity. Straight forward straw and barley, a bit of oak and heather. Some vanilla and honey, but not a lot.
Swallow:
The finish is quite intense and loses all the creamy and sweet notes. It’s mostly dry, heathery and has notes of straw and oak.
Especially on the nose this is a Clynelish, but the typical SMWS sharpness takes over on the palate. I often find their modern bottlings to be quite fiery up to a level that it seems they ought to be selecting slightly more gentle casks.
Anyway, it’s a nice dram but I find it far from spectacular, although most others seem to be really thrilled with this one. Maybe it gets better with a drop of water, but with this coming from a sample that’s always a bit of a guess. Some whiskies don’t swim well, and it’s always a risk to try…
85/100
Malt Fascination 
There are a few Australian whisky clubs which have urged me to join from time to time. Their main selling point is that they will send me, every month, a new whisky with which I will probably be unfamiliar. But it will be good! Marvellous!!
I must have more than a hundred whiskies I want to try in various ‘wish lists’ across the internet. Whiskies I’ve earmarked after multiple favorable reviews from people like your good self. Why I’d want to let perfect strangers choose my next whisky adventure for me is a mystery.
In the case of the SMWS you can pick your bottles yourself, but still it’s a membership system to have access to the bottles.
I still wonder why that still works since there’s thousands of whiskies being releases without having to pay membership fees.