By: Amanda Victoria

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is proud to announce to its members something that perhaps some of you already know. We’ve recently won the award of Best in Show – Whisky at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Along with winning best whisky in the world, according to the judging panel of spirits industry luminaries, the Society has also won an unprecedented seven double-gold medals.

When looking at the timeline of the Society, which officially began in Edinburgh in 1983, there have been handfuls of celebratory moments. From expansion to new chapters around the world, to new distillery partners, the Society keeps an exciting pace in the world of whisky. This milestone, however, will mark a new beginning of the highest regard for The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, recognition that makes our club truly globally known, bringing the Society’s reputation into the homes of even more whisky-lovers around the world.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition just concluded its seventeenth year with over 2,500 spirit submissions from all over the world. Notable judges include spirits experts David Wondrich, Julie Reiner, and Dale Degroff, who were joined by a newer generation of judges including Ivy Mixand Pam Wiznitzer.

The process of elimination to win an award such as Best in Show takes place over the course of three days. Judges are enlisted to chisel down submissions day after day with the task of identifying the very best of the best. At the end of day three, the entire panel of spirits professionals from around the world raised their glasses to declare the Society’s Cask 29.224 We arrived! the best whisky in the world.

What does this mean for our members? As we know, the nature of the Society lends itself to rarity and obscurity amongst our single cask, cask strength spirits. Cask 29.224 We arrived! is no exception – there simply isn’t enough to go around. That said, the Society has decided to utilize a portion of our small inventory of Cask 29.224 We arrived! to feature at events around the country for the remainder of 2018. That means as many of our members as possible will have the chance to share a dram of the world’s best whisky in cities around the country this year.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is a collective of passionate whisky enthusiasts and professionals from distillery partners to members – a true community of whisky lovers. From the barley fields to the stills, casks to bottles, to the ultimate enjoyment in your glasses – this couldn’t have happened any other way. We’re proud to bring this award home for Scotland and foremost, for our members.

We couldn’t have done it without you.