The Society Goes Blended
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has released its first blended Scotch. The Blender's Notebook, an 18-year-old, is Batch 44 in the Society's Heresy range, which has long served as the Whisky Team's space for experiments. It is bottled at 50% ABV, limited to 1,092 bottles and priced at £80 RRP. It is available now from the SMWS website. Reports from the U.S. market put the price at about $100.
For an organization built on bottling single casks of single malt, adding grain whisky to the lineup is a real departure, and the way it was done says a lot about how the Society thinks of itself.
Why It Counts as a First
The distinction matters. In 2017 the Society released Exotic Cargo, a 10-year-old blended malt of single malts from more than one distillery, limited to 1,937 bottles. A blended malt contains only malt whisky. A blended Scotch also contains grain whisky, and that is what separates this release. Exotic Cargo later won a double gold in the Best Blended Malt Scotch Whisky category at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, so the Society has some history of blending success.
Kai Ivalo, the outgoing Whisky Director who came up with the idea, said: "If you're going to create a Society blended Scotch, you'd better go big, or go home!" Julien Willems, Whisky Quality and Sensory Panel Manager, described the philosophy behind Heresy: "Heresy has always been the Whisky Team's playground."
The Heresy Range
Heresy launched in 2017 as a small-batch label that lets the SMWS Whisky Team experiment with blends, cask combinations and spirits from outside Scotland. It is the place where the Society breaks its own rules, and the label is numbered by batch. Batch 44 means there have been dozens of experiments before it, and this one pushes in a direction the Society had avoided.
How It Was Built
The blend centers on a 20-year-old single sherry butt, married with 27-year-old grain whisky and malt whiskies aged around 18 years. The casks come from three families: bourbon casks, American oak Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, and Spanish oak Oloroso sherry barrels and hogsheads. One trade report puts the finished blend at roughly 70% malt, split 60/40 in favor of sherry casks, though the Society's own listing does not give percentage splits.
The Role of Grain
Older grain whisky is often underrated. After 27 years in wood it contributes a soft, creamy sweetness that lets sherried malts show their fruit without turning heavy. That is the logic behind pairing a heavy sherry butt with long-aged grain: the grain smooths, the malt provides depth. In a typical commercial blend the grain component is large; here, with a high-malt proportion, the grain plays a supporting role.
The Sherry Butt
Sources differ on how to describe the central component. One describes a butt holding the base of a long-discontinued blend that matured at batch strength for about 20 years, while another calls it a single 20-year-old sherry butt. Both agree on the overall age and composition.
Tasting Notes
Reviewers describe linseed oil, apricot jam tarts and greengage plums on the nose. The palate brings honeyed melon, Madeira cake and candied pecans. Madeira cake and candied nuts are typical of sherried whisky in the high teens, and the melon and apricot suggest the grain component is doing its work.
What It Means for Collectors
At £80 and 1,092 bottles, The Blender's Notebook is priced well below many 18-year-old single malts. That reflects the grain content, and it makes the release one of the more accessible ways to taste whisky from the Society's blending team. Heresy releases have a history of selling out, so interested drinkers should not wait.
The batch is also a signal about the Society's direction. Ivalo's idea came before he retired, which makes this partly a legacy project. If the reception is good, more blended releases could follow, and the Society's membership, which has long favored single casks, will have a chance to show whether it is open to blends.
How to Approach It
Drinkers used to single cask strength malts may find this one smoother and more integrated, which is the purpose of blending. At 50% ABV there is room to add a few drops of water to open the aromas. It is also a good bottle for a side-by-side tasting with a single malt of similar age, to hear what the grain whisky adds.
