Glen Moray 32 Year Old 1991 SMWS Single 2nd Fill PX Cask 35.388 Snug & Toasty Creator's Collection Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2025) 70cl
1 of 182 bottles produced from a single 2nd Fill PX Cask
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!
The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.
The Creators Collection brings liquid storytelling to life with rare, aged whiskies curated to create the ultimate whisky flights. Homecoming: the essence of heritage is the second release from this series. It pairs the liquid art of whisky making with the illustrations of Leith-based artist, Shona Hardie, the artist behind Endless Discoveries, Infinite Adventures in The Vaults. The Homecoming collection is a tribute to the Society’s heritage, celebrating our spiritual home at The Vaults and its place within the history of Leith.
TASTING NOTES
The bountiful nose brimmed with sticky toffee pudding, forest fruits, red berries sautéed in old armagnac, black pepper and playful things including jammy dodgers, polished oak, vanilla shortbread and cassis. Water invited in aromas of apple blossom, fig rolls, golden raisins, granola and bitter cocoa, with some firmer hints of allspice and chai tea. The palate was initially dominated by resinous exotic hardwoods, sticky dark treacle, pears baked in hoisin sauce and fig chutney. This was proving decadent and outrageously quaffable, we agreed. Reduction brought lighter notes of elderflower wine, strawberry jam on brown toast and battenberg cake, plus raspberry ripple ice cream studded with dried banana chips. This whisky was matured for 27 years in a bourbon hogshead before being transferred to a second fill PX sherry hogshead.
About Glen Moray
Soft and fruity are the key words when talking of Glen Moray which makes it a very amenable partner with American oak. That is unless you single cask a sleeping beast.
It is believed that the closeness of the river and the high water table produces a slightly warmer and more humid microclimate which assists maturation. Since the La Martiniquaise takeover [see below] a higher percentage of first-fill American oak is used, adding more buttery notes to the mix. It was one of the first whiskies to be ‘finished’ in wine casks – Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay specifically – as well as Port. After a few quiet years, new releases are beginning to appear. Some peated malt is now being run as well.
Although now in the midst of housing, Glen Moray originally sat outwith Elgin’s boundaries (it was where the burgh’s gallows once stood) and started life as a brewery, taking its water and power from the fast-flowing River Lossie alongside. The downside of this watery proximity is the act that the distillery regularly floods.
Its function changed in 1897 as one of the many new distilleries built (or in this case converted) at a time when the whisky boom seemed never-ending. Like many [Imperial, Benriach] it fell victim to the slump which took place at the start of the 20th century and closed in 1910, being snapped up in 1923 by Macdonald & Muir (owner of Glenmorangie).
A large Saladin maltings was installed in 1958 when the number of stills doubled to four. The maltings ran until 1978.
In the latter part of its ownership by Glenmorangie, Glen Moray became the firm’s ‘budget’ malt with a price often the same as standard blends. While sales rose, there was little profit made and the distillery’s image was badly damaged.
In 2008, it was sold to French distilling firm La Martiniquaise, predominantly for fillings for its Label Five and Glen Turner brands. Capacity has since been increased by 40% with new washbacks and another pair of stills being installed.
53.9% ABV
70cl
