Review #334 - SMWS 100.40 'Well Red' - Strathmill 10 Year

Written By Me, My Wife & Whisky

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society provides access to a lot of distillery single malts that would otherwise be hard to find and taste - here's one, a Strathmill, from the Speyside region. According to the 2024 Malt Whisky Yearbook, the distillery is actually not producing much malt in the past few years - it has traditionally been a part of some Diageo blends. Instead, they're currently focusing on gin production. Generally, it's almost impossible to find Strathmill in OB form.

After maturing for 7 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, probably of the refill variety, this was transferred to a first fill d'Arenberg Australian Shiraz barrique for another 3 years. Shiraz, also known as Syrah, is a medium- to full-bodied wine that can offer notes of dark fruit and spice - we'll see how that affects this unpeated spirit, which likely had some soft maturation in the ex-bourbon cask.

SMWS 100.40 'Well Red' - Strathmill 10 Year

Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt

Price: USD 120 (2023)

Age Statement: 10 Years

Strength: 61.3% ABV

Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon hogshead, finished in a first fill Shiraz barrique

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled June 22, 2012; 282 bottles

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 50% (blind tasting) fill level at time of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Strong wine influence - lots of red fruit like strawberry and tart cherry, maybe some cranberries. It's a little bit nutty, and we get some mild sweetness from caramel; later, orange fruit arrives.

Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick - tart, fizzy, quite strong. That blast of wine is still prevalent, bringing oranges and red fruit, even cherry juice; with time, the cherry note turns slightly more medicinal.

Finish: Tart, borderline sour cranberries, a total fruit bomb. Strawberries add to the red fruit, and it's still quite bright in the finish, also showing some spirity youth. This finish is medium-long.

Final Note: This one split our opinions a bit - quite unique, and all about the finishing cask. The wine influence really covered up the spirit character, but we did enjoy the mix of red fruits, especially since it wasn't overly sweet - it leaned tart and spirity, very interesting.

This is a bit expensive for a 10 year old cask strength single malt, even taking the exotic wine cask into consideration - therefore, value is a bit below average.

Our Average Rating: 6.0 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 4.87

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.

Me, My Wife & Whisky
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