THEDAILYWHISKY

Every bottle from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) is labelled with a code such as 29.273 instead of a distillery name. The first number is the distillery: 29 is Laphroaig. The number after the dot is the cask: the 273rd single cask the Society has bottled from that distillery. SMWS hides the name on purpose, so you judge the whisky on flavour rather than reputation. This guide explains how to read the code, what the colour-coded flavour profiles mean, and lists every SMWS distillery code from 1 to 165.

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What the SMWS code actually means: distillery dot cask

Every SMWS bottling carries a code in the format X.Y. Two numbers, one dot, and each half tells you something different.

The number before the dot is the distillery code. It is permanent. Once a distillery is assigned a number, every cask the Society ever bottles from that distillery carries it. So 29 is always Laphroaig, 3 is always Bowmore, 24 is always Macallan.

The number after the dot is the cask number. It counts how many single casks the Society has bottled from that distillery, in order. So 29.273 is the 273rd cask SMWS has released from Laphroaig.

That second number is quietly useful. A high cask number means the Society has long-standing access to that distillery’s spirit. A low one means the bottling is rare, sometimes from a distillery that has since closed or stopped supplying casks.

How to read an SMWS label, using 29.273 as the example

Take the code 29.273 and split it at the dot.

29 is the distillery. Cross-reference it against the table below and you land on Laphroaig, the Islay distillery known for its medicinal, iodine-heavy peat.

273 is the cask. It is the 273rd single cask SMWS has bottled from Laphroaig, not a vintage, not an age, and not a bottle count.

The age and strength sit elsewhere on the label. SMWS bottles are single cask and almost always cask strength, so expect an ABV in the high 50s or 60s rather than the standard 40 to 46 percent. Each bottle also carries a cask-yield figure, usually somewhere between 200 and 600 bottles, because a single cask only holds so much.

And then there is the name. Instead of “Laphroaig 12,” an SMWS bottle gets a phrase invented by the Society’s tasting panel, like “Lavender honey and chimney lobsters.” It sounds absurd until you nose the glass and the description starts to make sense.

Why SMWS hides the distillery name

There are two reasons the name is missing, and both come down to the nature of single cask whisky.

The first is philosophical. A single cask is not representative of a distillery’s house style. An official Macallan is blended from hundreds of casks to hit a consistent profile. One Macallan cask, bottled on its own at full strength, can taste nothing like the bottle you know. SMWS wants you to taste what is in the glass, not what you expect from the label.

The second is contractual. Some distilleries will not sell casks to independent bottlers unless the buyer agrees never to print the distillery name on the bottle. The numbering system is how SMWS keeps those distilleries on the roster while honouring the agreement.

The Society has worked this way since it was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Pip Hills. It is now the largest whisky club and one of the best-known independent bottlers in the world, with branches across the UK, Europe, the US, Japan, and Australia.

The second SMWS code: colour-coded flavour profiles

The distillery number is not the only code on the bottle. Since the distillery name is hidden, SMWS needs another way to tell you what a whisky tastes like, so every release is assigned a colour-coded flavour profile.

In 2025 the Society’s tasting panel reworked the system, moving from the twelve profiles used since 2012 down to eight. The old age-led categories like “Young & Spritely” and “Old & Dignified” are being retired in favour of pure flavour descriptors, aligned to the Scotch Whisky Research Institute Flavour Wheel.

The eight current profiles, from lightest to heaviest:

Flavour profile	What to expect
Fragrant & Floral	Delicate aromas, light and elegant with a playful streak
Sweet & Zesty	Sherbet, candied citrus, tart and refreshing
Ripe Fruits & Honey	Mango, plum, apple strudel, indulgent but fresh
Dried Fruits & Spices	Spiced fruit cake, treacle toffee, clove, nutmeg
Toasted Oak & Vanilla	Oak-driven sweetness, vanilla, baking spice
Coastal & Maritime	Salt, brine, sea air, a lighter coastal character
Smoky & Fruity	Lighter peat that lets fruit through
Bold & Peaty	Smoked mackerel, farmyard, tar, medicinal peat

You will still see the twelve legacy profiles on older stock for a while, so both systems are in circulation as the Society works through its back catalogue.

Beyond malt: the letter-prefix codes (G, B, R and more)

The Society no longer bottles only single malt. As it expanded into grain whisky and other spirits, it added letter prefixes to keep the categories separate from the malt numbering.

So a code starting with G is single grain Scotch, B is bourbon, R is rum, RW is rye, and there are further prefixes for armagnac, cognac, and gin. A code like B6 or R14 follows the same logic as the malt codes: a letter and number for the producer, then a cask number after the dot.

If you only drink single malt you can ignore these. But if you see a Society bottle with a letter in the code, that is why.

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What SMWS codes actually mean: distillery dot cask

This is the publicly compiled list of SMWS malt distillery codes. The Society does not officially confirm distillery identities, so these are established through bottling records, tasting notes, and member knowledge over the years. Closed and demolished distilleries are noted, which is part of the appeal: some of these codes point to whisky you genuinely cannot get anywhere else.

SMWS Code	Distillery / Producer	Region / Country
1	Glenfarclas	Speyside
2	Glenlivet	Speyside
3	Bowmore	Islay
4	Highland Park	Islands
5	Auchentoshan	Lowlands
6	Macduff (Glen Deveron)	Highland
7	Longmorn	Speyside
8	Tamdhu	Speyside
9	Glen Grant	Speyside
10	Bunnahabhain	Islay
11	Tomatin	Highland
12	BenRiach	Speyside
13	Dalmore	Highland
14	Talisker	Islands
15	Glenfiddich	Speyside
16	Glenturret	Highland
17	Scapa	Islands
18	Inchgower	Speyside
19	Glen Garioch	Highland
20	Inverleven ((Demolished))	Lowlands
21	Glenglassaugh	Highland
22	Glenkinchie	Lowlands
23	Bruichladdich	Islay
24	Macallan	Speyside
25	Rosebank	Lowlands
26	Clynelish	Highland
27	Springbank	Campbeltown
28	Tullibardine	Highland
29	Laphroaig	Islay
30	Glenrothes	Speyside
31	Isle of Jura	Islands
32	Edradour	Highland
33	Ardbeg	Islay
34	Tamnavulin	Speyside
35	Glen Moray	Speyside
36	Benrinnes	Speyside
37	Cragganmore	Speyside
38	Caperdonich (Demolished)	Speyside
39	Linkwood	Speyside
40	Balvenie	Speyside
41	Dailuaine	Speyside
42	Tobermory / Ledaig	Islands
43	Port Ellen	Islay
44	Craigellachie	Speyside
45	Dallas Dhu (closed)	Speyside
46	Glenlossie	Speyside
47	Benromach	Speyside
48	Balmenach	Speyside
49	St. Magdalene (closed)	Lowlands
50	Bladnoch	Lowlands
51	Bushmills	Northern Ireland
52	Old Pulteney	Highland
53	Caol Ila	Islay
54	Aberlour	Speyside
55	Royal Brackla	Highland
56	Coleburn (Closed)	Speyside
57	Glen Mhor (Closed)	Highland
58	Strathisla	Speyside
59	Teaninich	Highland
60	Aberfeldy	Highland
61	Brora	Highland
62	Glenlochy (Closed)	Highland
63	Glentauchers	Speyside
64	Mannochmore	Speyside
65	Imperial (Demolished)	Speyside
66	Ardmore	Highland
67	Banff (Demolished)	Speyside
68	Blair Athol	Highland
69	Glen Albyn (Demolished)	Highland
70	Balblair	Highland
71	Glenburgie	Speyside
72	Miltonduff	Speyside
73	Aultmore	Speyside
74	North Port (Closed)	Highland
75	Glenury Royal (Closed)	Highland
76	Mortlach	Speyside
77	Glen Ord	Highland
78	Ben Nevis	Highland
79	Deanston	Highland
80	Glen Spey	Speyside
81	Glen Keith	Speyside
82	Glencadam	Highland
83	Convalmore (Closed)	Speyside
84	Glendullan	Speyside
85	Glen Elgin	Speyside
86	Glenesk (Closed)	Highland
87	Millburn (Closed)	Highland
88	Speyburn	Speyside
89	Tomintoul	Speyside
90	Pittyvaich (Closed)	Speyside
91	Dufftown	Speyside
92	Lochside (Demolished)	Highland
93	Glen Scotia	Campbeltown
94	Fettercairn	Highland
95	Auchroisk (Singleton)	Speyside
96	GlenDronach	Highland
97	Littlemill (Closed)	Lowlands
98	Inverleven (Closed)	Lowlands
99	Glenugie (Closed)	Highland
100	Strathmill	Speyside
101	Knockando	Speyside
102	Dalwhinnie	Highland
103	Royal Lochnagar	Highland
104	Glencraig (Glenburgie)	Speyside
105	Tormore	Speyside
106	Cardhu	Speyside
107	Glenallachie	Speyside
108	Allt-a-Bhainne	Speyside
109	Mosstowie (Miltonduff)	Speyside
110	Oban	Highland
111	Lagavulin	Islay
112	Loch Lomond (Inchmurrin)	Highland
113	Braeval (Braes of Glenlivet)	Speyside
114	Springbank (Longrow)	Campbeltown
115	Knockdhu (AnCnoc)	Speyside
116	Yoichi	Japan
117	Cooley (Unpeated)	Ireland
118	Cooley / Connemara (Peated)	Ireland
119	Yamazaki	Japan
120	Hakushu	Japan
121	Isle of Arran	Islands
122	Loch Lomond (Croftengea)	Highland
123	Glengoyne	Highland
124	Miyagikyo	Japan
125	Glenmorangie	Highland
126	Springbank (Hazelburn)	Campbeltown
127	Bruichladdich (Port Charlotte)	Islay
128	Penderyn	Wales
129	Kilchoman	Islay
130	Chichibu	Japan
131	Hanyu (Demolished)	Japan
132	Karuizawa (Demolished)	Japan
133	Westland	Washington, USA
134	Paul John	India
135	Loch Lomond	Highland
136	Eden Mill	Lowland
137	St. George’s (The English Whisky Co.)	England
138	Nantou	Taiwan
139	Kavalan	Taiwan
140	Balcones	Texas, USA
141	Fary Lochan	Denmark
142	Breuckelen Distilling	New York, USA
143	Copperworks Distilling Co.	Washington, USA
144	High Coast Distillery	Sweden (Previous called box)
145	Smögen Whisky	Sweden
146	Cotswolds	England
147	Archie Rose	Australia
148	Starward	Australia
149	Ardnamurchan	Highland
150	West Cork Distillers	Ireland
151	Mackmyra	Sweden
152	Shelter Point	Canada
153	Thy Whisky	Denmark
154	Mosgaard	Denmark
155	Milk & Honey Distillery	Isreal
156	Glasgow Distillery	Lowland
157	Distillerie de Warenghem	France – Armorik
158	Yuza Distillery	Japan
159	Mars Shinshu	Japan
160	Mars Tsunuki	Japan
161	Nc’nean Distillery	Scotland
162	Isle of Raasay	Scotland
163	Isle of Harris Distillery	Scotland
164	Penderyn (double distilled)	Wales
165	Wolfburn (peated)	Scotland

What the table makes obvious is how international the Society has become. The first dozen codes are almost all Speyside and Islay. By the time you reach the 130s and 140s you are in Texas, Taiwan, India, Sweden, and Denmark, with three Danish distilleries on the list in Fary Lochan, Thy, and Mosgaard.

How to actually buy an SMWS bottle

You need to be a member. SMWS bottles are sold to members through the Society, not on general retail shelves, and membership fees vary by country and by joining offer. Once you are in, new bottlings drop in the monthly Outturn, released on the first Friday of every month.

Beyond the bottles, membership gets you into the Society’s members’ rooms in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London, and into branch venues internationally. Edinburgh’s Kaleidoscope Bar is open to non-members if you want to try the format before committing.

For international readers, the Society ships within its branch regions, so members in the UK, Europe, the US, Japan, and Australia can all order, though availability of any single cask is limited by how many bottles that cask yields.

Frequently asked questions

What do the numbers on an SMWS bottle mean? An SMWS code is written as distillery.cask. The number before the dot is a permanent distillery code, so 29 is always Laphroaig. The number after the dot is the cask number, counting how many single casks the Society has bottled from that distillery. So 29.273 is the 273rd Laphroaig cask SMWS has released.

Why doesn’t SMWS put the distillery name on the bottle? Two reasons. The Society wants you to judge the whisky on flavour, not on the reputation of the name, because a single cask rarely tastes like a distillery’s official house style. On top of that, some distilleries only sell casks to independent bottlers on the condition that the name is never printed on the label.

What does SMWS distillery code 29 mean? Code 29 is Laphroaig, the Islay distillery known for its heavily peated, medicinal, iodine-driven character. Any SMWS bottle starting with 29 is a single cask of Laphroaig, with the number after the dot telling you which cask in the Society’s bottling sequence it is.

What do the SMWS colours mean? The colours are flavour profiles. Since the distillery name is hidden, SMWS uses a colour-coded system to signal taste. In 2025 it moved from twelve profiles to eight, running from Fragrant & Floral at the light end to Bold & Peaty at the smoky end, aligned to the Scotch Whisky Research Institute Flavour Wheel.

Do you need to be a member to buy SMWS whisky? Yes. SMWS bottlings are sold to members through the Society rather than on the open market. Membership costs vary by country and by current joining offer. New releases appear in the monthly Outturn on the first Friday of each month, and members can also use the Society’s bars and events.

How many distilleries does SMWS bottle from? The Society has assigned codes to more than 165 malt distilleries, plus separate letter-prefixed codes for grain, bourbon, rum, rye and other spirits. The list spans over 30 countries, from Scotland and Ireland to Japan, India, Taiwan, the US, Australia, Sweden and Denmark.