And breathe…

That’s us – into December and hurtling headlong towards Christmas, the new year and the Society’s 40th anniversary celebrations throughout 2023. Everyone here is incredibly excited about marking our ruby anniversary, and we’re going to have some fantastic stories to share with you – including a personal journey by our founder Pip Hills back to the place of his original ‘whisky epiphany’ that led him to set up The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Watch out for that very soon.

December of course is also a time of reflection before the new year gets underway, a chance to take a breath and cast our minds back over everything that’s happened in the past year. And what a year it’s been. I was out and about at the delayed Glasgow Whisky Festival 2021 – which actually took place in February due to the previous year’s postponement. Meeting members there was an early indication of how much it meant to everyone to be back out in the real world after so many missed events and festivals during the past couple of years.

That feelgood energy continued into our trip to Islay for Feis Ile, and a fantastic day at Islay House where members were back in force from around the world, celebrating their passion for whisky, for the island and for the Society. It feels like we’ve finally been back in full swing and busier than ever as we head towards the end of the year. Long may it continue.

I’ll leave it elsewhere in this issue to our managing director and chief member champion David Ridley to reflect on some other aspects of 2022 and what’s in store for 2023. In the meantime, you can dive into our treasured Old & Dignified flavour profile, as Julien Willems wraps up his wonderful year-long dive into the Society’s 12 flavour profiles. Tom Bruce-Gardyne has some useful insights into how to avoid a morning-after sore head at this time of year. And we’re diving into the impact of European oak and sherry-matured whisky with a feature by Connas and a series of Q&As with Euan.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Unfiltered throughout the course of the year, and to all of you for paying attention and for continuing to contribute to the Society. If 2022 has been a relief to be back out and about, 2023 is going to be something else altogether.

Cheers!