The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has released “The Five Regions,” an 11-year-old blended malt Scotch whisky combining malts from five of Scotland’s whisky-producing regions. The £74 bottling arrives in May to coincide with Islay Festival, Spirit of Speyside, Campbeltown Malts Festival, and World Whisky Day on May 16.
The expression brings together malts from Campbeltown, Speyside, Islay, the Lowlands and the Highlands in a single bottle. It is a re-casking of the Society’s 2025 “Wandering Alchemy” release, meaning one portion of the original whisky was used for that bottling while another was returned to some of the original casks to marry for one additional year.
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The whisky was matured in bourbon, oloroso, Pedro Ximénez and HTMC (specially charred oak) hogsheads. Official tasting notes from the brand describe fudge doughnuts, glacé cherries and caramelized apple slices alongside wood varnish, teak oil, nutmeg and star anise.
Whisky Quality Manager Julien Willems said: “May is an important month for whisky, and we wanted to honor the season by showcasing the incredible breadth of whisky produced across Scotland.”
“This bottling is all about bringing the five regions together to create something unique,” Willems added. “Anyone who bought a bottle of last year’s ‘Wandering Alchemy’ will have the chance to compare the two expressions, which together reveal the huge difference re-casking can make!”
The Society is also releasing 16 additional single cask bottlings from across Scotland’s five regions to celebrate the season, including “Post-bonfire bath bomb” at £199 and “Eau d’archive” at £72.
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London-based whisky fans can sample several of these bottlings at an event on May 12 at the SMWS’s London venue, 19 Greville Street, where whiskies from all five regions will be tasted and compared.
Members who purchase a festival bottle and new members joining from May 2026 will be entered into a prize draw to win a cask from Distillery 10. A winner will be selected at random and announced on June 5, 2026.
Founded in Edinburgh in 1983, the SMWS has long championed flavor over tradition. The Society does not reveal distillery names on bottles, instead creating evocative titles such as “Red wine and brine in the old coal mine” and “Lavender honey and chimney lobsters” to guide drinkers through tasting.
