The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has created The Whisky Equinox, a new annual moment to mark the start of whisky season on the autumn equinox, 23 September. To launch it, the Society has released two half-size 35cl single malts today: Riesling Spritz in the Sun, a 12-year-old Speyside at 57.7% ABV, and Spice It Up After Dark, an 11-year-old Highland at 60.9% ABV. They cost £39 each or £75 for the pair, and, unusually for the SMWS, you do not need to be a member to buy them. A launch event on 23 September and a full autumn release programme follow.
Beer has Oktoberfest. Wine has Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Whisky, the drink most people actually reach for once the nights draw in, has never had a date of its own. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society wants to change that.
Its answer is The Whisky Equinox: a new annual occasion pinned to the autumn equinox on 23 September, the point at which day and night stand equal and the year tips toward its darker, colder, more whisky-friendly half. This year the astronomical moment lands at 01:06am. The Society is asking drinkers everywhere to raise a dram on the evening of 23 September and share it with the hashtag #WhiskyEquinox.
It is, on paper, a marketing occasion invented by an independent bottler heading into its busiest quarter. It is also, if you drink whisky, a perfectly good excuse to open something worth opening on a specific evening. Both things are true, and neither one spoils the other.
The two bottles that launch it
The centrepiece is a pair of half-size 35cl single malts, one for the light and one for the dark of the turning season. The 35cl format is a deliberate choice: smaller outlay, smaller pours, more room to explore two whiskies rather than commit to one.
Cask No. 39.334: Riesling Spritz in the Sun is the light half. A 12-year-old Speyside drawn from a first-fill ex-bourbon hogshead and bottled at cask strength, 57.7% ABV.
Riesling Spritz in the Sun (Cask No. 39.334): tasting notes
Nose: cedar and sandalwood, the zest of blood orange, a fresh aftershave brightness.
Palate: buttered scones, clotted cream, vanilla and orange fondant, with mace lending accent more than heat.
Finish: dry, with lemon verbena lingering.
With water: the nose turns much fruitier, glazed strawberry tarts and baked orange splashed with white port, peach jelly sweets and soft marshmallow; the palate follows, closing on nutmeg and, aptly, a glass of riesling. ABV: 57.7% | Cask:1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead | Age: 12 years | Region: Speyside | Price: £39 (35cl)
Cask No. 28.119: Spice It Up After Dark is the dark half. An 11-year-old Highland at 60.9% ABV. The Society took selected eight-year-old casks from the distillery and re-racked the spirit into other casks to marry and mature it further, and this first-fill Spanish oak ex-PX (Pedro Ximénez sherry) hogshead is one of the results.
Spice It Up After Dark (Cask No. 28.119): tasting notes
Nose: caramel, dark chocolate, cheroot smoke, leather, nutmeg.
Palate: marmalade, manuka honey, currants, raisins, chocolate mousse.
Finish: dry oak, black coffee, cinnamon and ginger. Reduced with water it turns toward black tea, sugared almonds and pastel de nata.
ABV: 60.9% | Cask: 1st fill Spanish oak ex-PX hogshead | Age: 11 years | Region:Highland | Price: £39 (35cl)
The tasting notes above are the Society’s own. We have not tasted these two yet.
| Riesling Spritz in the Sun (39.334) | Spice It Up After Dark (28.119) | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Speyside | Highland |
| Age | 12 years | 11 years |
| Cask | 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead | 1st fill Spanish oak ex-PX hogshead |
| ABV | 57.7% | 60.9% |
| Profile | Fragrant & Floral | Dried Fruits & Spices |
| Character | Bright: citrus, vanilla, orchard fruit | Rich: sherry, chocolate, baking spice |
| Best for | The daytime, before-the-turn dram | The long, dark evening dram |
| Price | £39 (35cl) | £39 (35cl) |
The most interesting thing here is not the liquid, it is the access. SMWS bottlings are normally members-only. These two are on open sale to anyone, at £39 each or £75 for the pair. For first-fill, cask-strength, age-stated single malt, that is a genuinely low bar to entry.
What the SMWS codes actually mean
If you are new to the Society, those numbers need decoding. Every SMWS bottling is labelled by a code rather than a distillery name. The number before the dot identifies the distillery (39 and 28 here), and the number after it is the specific cask. The Society has bottled from around 180 distilleries and keeps each one anonymous by design, so the whisky is judged on what is in the glass rather than the name on the label. Every release also lands in one of twelve flavour-profile categories, Riesling Spritz in “Fragrant & Floral” and Spice It Up in “Dried Fruits & Spices”, and gets one of the Society’s deliberately playful names.
Who the SMWS is
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 and now has around 41,000 members worldwide. Owned by the Artisanal Spirits Company plc, it built its name as an independent bottler of single-cask, cask-strength whisky, drawing casks from roughly 180 distilleries in Scotland and beyond.
Members get access to four Members’ Rooms, two in Edinburgh (The Vaults in Leith and Queen Street), plus one each in Glasgow and London, along with a global network of around 100 partner bars.
There is a members’ pair too
A second pair, full-size 70cl this time, goes to members as the Yin & Yang duo. Panpepato Party Starter is the rich, spiced one, built on cinnamon, ginger, chocolate and dried fruit. Library Cafe in Autumn is the gentler of the two, leaning on strawberry tart, butterscotch, espresso and pistachio. Not a member? You can still buy them by joining the Society.
The launch, the gong, and the season that follows
The Society will mark the first Whisky Equinox with an event on the evening of 23 September at its Members’ Room at 28 Queen Street in Edinburgh, the city where it began in 1983. The evening opens with a meditative gong sound bath from Jo McCoy of Blissness and a short ceremony with a poem for the turning season, before a guided tasting. If a whisky launch with a Calton Hill sound bath sounds like a lot, that is rather the point. The Society is treating the equinox as a ritual, not just a release.
The season keeps going after that. On 15 October, Queen Street hosts ‘Light Side, Dark Side: An Autumn Equinox Whisky Journey’, a six-dram tasting with a Society supper, open to members and non-members at £45 and £50. October also brings a Winter Series built around Hallowe’en, Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night, part of roughly 100 limited-edition bottlings the Society will release before the end of the year, weighted toward the peated and sherried styles that suit the cold. The Society says it plans to grow the date in future years and is exploring tie-ups with distilleries and tourism bodies to give people a reason to visit Scotland as the season turns.
Price and availability
The Whisky Equinox pair went on sale on 10 September 2026. Both bottles are 35cl and cost £39 each or £75 together, available to everyone through the SMWS UK site at smws.com, with a separate EU store at smws.eu for readers in Denmark and across Europe, and international branches beyond that. The full-size 70cl Yin & Yang pair is reserved for members, though joining the Society unlocks it.
Is a made-up date worth marking?
On its own, an invented occasion means very little. But the idea underneath it is sound. Whisky genuinely does come into its own as the light goes, and a shared moment to mark that is no sillier than saving a particular bottle for New Year’s Eve.
What makes this one land is the gesture attached to it. Putting two first-fill, cask-strength, age-stated single malts on open sale at £39, with no membership required, is the most generous on-ramp the SMWS has offered in a while. If you have been curious about the Society but never wanted to commit to a membership first, this is the obvious moment to try what they do. And if you simply want a good dram to raise on 23 September, either of these will do the job. Pick one, dark or light, and welcome the season.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Whisky Equinox? The Whisky Equinox is a new annual occasion created by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society to mark the start of whisky season on the autumn equinox, 23 September. Drinkers are invited to raise a dram that evening and share it using #WhiskyEquinox, supported by special bottlings and events.
What are the two Whisky Equinox bottles? They are a pair of 35cl single malts released on 10 September 2026. Riesling Spritz in the Sun (Cask 39.334) is a 12-year-old Speyside at 57.7% ABV from a first-fill ex-bourbon hogshead. Spice It Up After Dark (Cask 28.119) is an 11-year-old Highland at 60.9% ABV from a first-fill ex-PX sherry hogshead.
How much do the Whisky Equinox bottles cost? Each 35cl bottle costs £39, or £75 for the pair. Unusually for the SMWS, whose bottlings are normally members-only, both are on open sale to non-members through smws.com in the UK and smws.eu in Europe. A separate full-size 70cl members’ pair is also available.
Do you need to be an SMWS member to buy them? No. The 35cl Whisky Equinox pair is available to everyone, which is rare for the Society. The full-size 70cl Yin & Yang pair, Panpepato Party Starter and Library Cafe in Autumn, is reserved for members, but you can buy it by joining the Society.
When is The Whisky Equinox and what is happening? The first Whisky Equinox falls on 23 September 2026, with a launch event at the SMWS Members’ Room on Queen Street, Edinburgh, featuring a gong sound bath, a poem and a guided tasting. A six-dram ‘Light Side, Dark Side’ tasting and supper follows on 15 October at £45 to £50.
What is The Scotch Malt Whisky Society? Founded in Edinburgh in 1983 and owned by the Artisanal Spirits Company plc, the SMWS is a whisky club and independent bottler with around 41,000 members worldwide. It bottles single-cask, cask-strength whisky from roughly 180 distilleries, which it keeps anonymous behind numbered codes.
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