The SMWS Winter Series 2026 is a set of single cask, cask strength whiskies from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, built around four winter moments: Hallowe’en, Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night. It opens with two peated Islay casks. Cask No. 10.304 “Witches’ Bonfire Brew” is a 12-year-old in a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel at 58.5% ABV for £87. Cask No. 53.530 “Monster Mash Malt” is a 13-year-old finished in a first-fill oloroso-seasoned STR barrique at 56.8% ABV for £92. A four-bottle bundle went on sale on 14 October at £335. All bottles are members only and limited to one per member.
It is Hallowe’en, and at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society it smells of bonfire smoke. The SMWS Winter Series 2026 has opened with a pair of peated Islay single casks, the first two chapters of a season the Society plans to stretch all the way to Burns Night in late January.
The idea is simple. Four occasions, four bottles, each named in the Society’s usual playful style and released as the calendar turns. Hallowe’en gets smoke. Christmas gets sherry. Hogmanay and Burns Night get two richly fruited Speysiders.
The labels carry the theme further than usual. Each one is a hand-drawn scene from a single winter parade: skeletons, a red-haired witch and a black cat for Hallowe’en, a Christmas tree being carried home through the snow, fireworks and an accordion for Hogmanay, and a chef parading the haggis past a piper for Burns Night. Line the bottles up and the procession runs from one label to the next. Both Hallowe’en casks share the same artwork, told apart only by name and cask number.
What is the SMWS Winter Series 2026?
The SMWS Winter Series 2026 is a seasonal collection of single cask Scotch whiskies, all bottled at cask strength and sold to Society members. The Society frames the winter as a run of chapters, with whiskies meant to be poured, shared and gifted from the end of October to the end of January.
A limited number of bundles containing four bottles were released on Wednesday 14 October at £335. Individual bottles follow through the season, starting with the two Hallowe’en releases covered below. Each bottle is limited to one per member.
One detail worth getting right before you order: the bundle and the Hallowe’en pair are not the same thing. The bundle contains Monster Mash Malt plus the Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night bottles. Witches’ Bonfire Brew sits outside the bundle and is only available as an individual bottle.
How to read the SMWS codes
The Society does not print distillery names on its labels. Instead, every bottle carries a cask number: the figure before the dot identifies the distillery, the figure after it identifies the individual cask. Our full SMWS codes distillery listcovers every number.
For this series, code 10 is Bunnahabhain and code 53 is Caol Ila, both on the north-east coast of Islay facing the Sound of Islay. Code 19 is Glen Garioch in Aberdeenshire, code 9 is Glen Grant in Rothes and code 18 is Inchgower near Buckie on the Moray coast.
That makes Witches’ Bonfire Brew a peated Bunnahabhain, a style the distillery produces alongside the unpeated spirit it is best known for. Monster Mash Malt comes from Caol Ila, the largest distillery on Islay and one of the most reliable sources of peated single casks in the independent world.
Cask No. 10.304: Witches’ Bonfire Brew
Twelve years in a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel is about as transparent as cask choice gets. A second-fill barrel has already given up much of its vanilla and coconut to a previous whisky, so what remains is lighter oak influence and plenty of room for the distillate to speak. At 58.5% ABV, that means smoke, salt and coastal character up front.
Witches’ Bonfire Brew (SMWS 10.304): Tasting Panel notes
Nose: Chalky beach-bonfire smoke and embers, vanilla, butterscotch, barbecued prawns, toasted pistachio, engine-room oil
Palate: Briny and industrial, roast chicken with rosemary potatoes, parsnips, chestnuts, sea salt
With water:Bacon-wrapped figs, leather tobacco pouch, pine forest floor; then seared scallops, cigar, ginger beer, eucalyptus and thymol
ABV: 58.5% | Age: 12 years | Distilled: 24 October 2013 | Cask type: 2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel | Region:Islay | Price: £87
Tasting notes from the SMWS Tasting Panel, condensed by The Daily Whisky.
Cask No. 53.530: Monster Mash Malt
Monster Mash Malt spent eight years in ex-bourbon wood before moving into a first-fill oloroso-seasoned STR barrique for its final five. STR stands for shaved, toasted and re-charred: the inside of a used wine cask is scraped back, toasted and charred again, opening fresh wood while keeping traces of what it held before. A barrique holds roughly 225 litres, so the spirit has a lot of contact with oak in a relatively short time.
The result, according to the Panel, is Caol Ila’s coastal peat meeting caramel, dark fruit and roasted notes from the sherry-seasoned wood. The Panel summed it up as “grubby, hairy chested and heavenly”, which is about as SMWS as a tasting note gets.
Monster Mash Malt (SMWS 53.530): Tasting Panel notes
Nose: Peat smoke through heather thatch, oat bannocks, almond cookies, strong coffee Palate: Salted caramel, lapsang souchong, tobacco, tar, ash, kelp on a rocky shore
With water: Stewed apples, baked pears with honey, oyster shells; then toffee apples, treacle scones, sugared almonds before tarry smoke and brine return
ABV: 56.8% | Age: 13 years | Distilled: 3 April 2013 | Cask type: 8 years ex-bourbon, then 1st fill STR oloroso-seasoned barrique | Region: Islay | Price: £92
Tasting notes from the SMWS Tasting Panel, condensed by The Daily Whisky.
Witches’ Bonfire Brew or Monster Mash Malt: which Hallowe’en cask?
These two are a neat illustration of how much the cask shapes an Islay single cask. Witches’ Bonfire Brew is the purer peat statement: refill bourbon wood, high strength, smoke and salt carrying the whisky. If you like your Islay malt coastal and direct, this is the one.
Monster Mash Malt adds a second layer. The oloroso-seasoned STR barrique brings salted caramel, toffee apple and treacle to sit alongside the tar and brine, giving a richer, darker dram for long autumn evenings. It is also the only Hallowe’en bottle you can get inside the bundle.
Both are cask strength, so take them neat first and then add water a few drops at a time. The Panel’s notes show both whiskies changing considerably once reduced. Our guide on how to taste whisky walks through the process.
The rest of the season: Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night
Home for a Christmas Sherry (19.116) is a 13-year-old Glen Garioch at 58.7% that spent nine years in an ex-bourbon hogshead before a first-fill American oak oloroso hogshead. The Panel found cigar, cinder toffee and gingerbread, with cinnamon swirls and a Manhattan-like character after water.
Auld Acquaintances (9.318) is the oldest whisky in the series: an 18-year-old Glen Grant at 53.5% from a first-fill ex-bourbon hogshead. White chocolate, butterscotch, flower nectar and juicy fruit salad lead, with old sauternes and floral notes appearing with water.
Naebody Puts Rabbie in the Corner (18.78) is a 15-year-old Inchgower at 57% from a first-fill ex-bourbon hogshead, timed for Burns Night on 25 January. Expect marzipan cake, hot cross buns, shortbread and cinder toffee, turning earthy and perfumed once water is added.
Price and availability
Witches’ Bonfire Brew costs £87 and Monster Mash Malt £92 on the UK SMWS shop, both listed as in stock at the time of writing. The four-bottle bundle costs £335 and is listed as limited stock. Prices for the Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night bottles sold individually have not yet been published.
Every bottle is limited to one per member, and you need an active SMWS membership to buy. Members in the EU buy through the Society’s EU site at smws.eu, and the Society runs partner branches in a number of other countries. International branches set their own release schedules and line-ups, so check your local branch before assuming the same casks and prices apply.
Our take
At £87 and £92 for 12 and 13-year-old cask strength single casks from Islay, the Hallowe’en pair sit squarely in normal SMWS territory, with nothing seasonal about the price. The appeal is the pairing: one bottle showing Islay peat with the oak stepped back, the other showing what an active sherry-seasoned cask does to the same kind of smoke.
The bundle is the better buy if the 18-year-old Glen Grant tempts you, since older first-fill bourbon casks from Speyside rarely stay on the shelf long. If you only want smoke, buy the two Hallowe’en bottles individually and leave the bundle to the Speyside and sherry drinkers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SMWS Winter Series 2026? The SMWS Winter Series 2026 is a seasonal release from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society covering Hallowe’en, Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night. It consists of single cask, cask strength Scotch whiskies sold to members, opening with two peated Islay casks for Hallowe’en and followed by Highland and Speyside bottles through to late January 2027.
What are the SMWS Hallowe’en whiskies for 2026? The two Hallowe’en bottles are Cask No. 10.304 “Witches’ Bonfire Brew”, a 12-year-old peated Islay malt from a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel at 58.5% ABV, and Cask No. 53.530 “Monster Mash Malt”, a 13-year-old Islay malt finished in a first-fill oloroso-seasoned STR barrique at 56.8% ABV.
How much does the SMWS Winter Series 2026 cost? Witches’ Bonfire Brew costs £87 and Monster Mash Malt costs £92 on the UK SMWS shop. The four-bottle bundle, containing Monster Mash Malt plus the Christmas, Hogmanay and Burns Night casks, costs £335. Individual prices for the later bottles had not been published at the end of October 2026.
Which distilleries are in the SMWS Winter Series 2026? Based on SMWS distillery codes, 10.304 is Bunnahabhain and 53.530 is Caol Ila, both on Islay. The Christmas bottle 19.116 is Glen Garioch from the Highlands, while 9.318 is Glen Grant and 18.78 is Inchgower, both from Speyside. The Society labels its bottles by code rather than distillery name.
Is Witches’ Bonfire Brew included in the SMWS Winter Series bundle? No. The £335 bundle contains four bottles: Monster Mash Malt (53.530), Home for a Christmas Sherry (19.116), Auld Acquaintances (9.318) and Naebody Puts Rabbie in the Corner (18.78). Witches’ Bonfire Brew (10.304) is sold only as an individual bottle, limited to one per member.
Can I buy SMWS Winter Series bottles outside the UK? You need SMWS membership to buy. EU members order through smws.eu, and the Society has partner branches in several other countries. International branches run their own release schedules, so availability, casks and prices may differ from the UK. Check your local branch or the Society’s international branches page before ordering.
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