SMWS debuts ‘rare’ whisky trio

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has released a “rare” trio of whiskies from the same Sherry cask, called The Jazz Trio.

The Jazz Trio whisky range retails at £1,250

The new expressions have been divided equally across three different types of cask for a finishing process that shows “the influence of the wood and additional maturation on the flavour of society whisky”.

The whiskies have been matured for over 20 years and rested in three separate casks for 18 months.

The range’s name is taken from the wood used to make instruments in a jazz trio – drums, double bass and the piano.

One of only 225 bottles, 24.134 A dark allurement is described as “dense with a hugely syrupy texture full of salted almonds, white truffle, spiced plum wine, pressed marigold flowers and dried herbs”. This whisky was transferred to a first-fill oloroso hogshead.

The second expression, 24.135 An opulent temptation, is limited to 241 bottles and has notes of “raspberry jam, dark chocolate covered prunes, date compote and black pepper.” It was transferred to a first-fill Pedro Ximenez hogshead after 20 years of maturation.

Finally, 24.136 A sweet seduction was transferred to a second-fill Bourbon barrel and bottled at 58.3% abv. The SMWS tasting panel said of the expression: “the arrival in the mouth is thrillingly dense, with a Muscovado sugar sweetness with runny honey and aged herbal liqueurs”.

Spirits manager Euan Campbell said: “This was a really exciting experiment for the society and we are truly delighted with the outcome.

“As we expected, the wood has made a real impact on the individual flavour of each whisky. The Jazz Trio are three of our finest and rarest releases to date, this is a set of whiskies like no other.”

The label of each expression uses a different instrument from the jazz trio.

The Jazz Trio set is available to buy from SMWS for £1,250 (US$1,628) in the UK.