The way in which the SMWS labels their whisky is something which a lot of people find confusing. To help you on your merry way when wandering about the SMWS Vaults in Edinburgh (Leith or Queen Street) or another branch outside of the whisky mother country we’ve provided a quick guide to help you on your way.

SMWS Codes - The System in practice

All SMWS bottles are coded using a two part system : DD:BB (which DD being the distillery and BB being the number relevant to a particular cask). So the first whisky they ever released was labelled as a SWMS bottle of 1.1 (first distillery : first bottling). 25.24 is duly the 24th cask bottled by the SMWS from the 25th distillery.

Each whisky is given a name to reflect what the SMWS tasting panel used to describe it’s aroma and taste. For example bottles of SMWS 3.159 was titled as being “Tic-tacs and tar-mac”. I’m never 100% convinced by these - and find them to be a bit hit or miss.

Dead easy. All you need to know