Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Don’t rock up here expecting to get stuck straight into the city’s best collection of unusual cask-strength malts. It’s members only (£122 joining fee, plus annual subscription from £59), though joining is worthwhile for serious whisky devotees (and those who want to become one): benefits include tasting events, a quarterly magazine and, of course, a private members’ bar to brag about. Your fellow dram drinkers will be an adventurous set who want to celebrate the marriage of peat, water, malt and magic. And people who just love whisky. The whiskies are single-cask, unfiltered malts, all created especially for the society. That means it’s about as far from a bottle of cheap cornershop Invershoogle as you’ll get. Example: ‘Cask No 2.84, “Katharine Hepburn in a Vintage Jaguar”.’ Put that image in your mind and you might be able to imagine how rich and sultry it tastes. To give you an idea of the sort of conversations you might end up embroiled in, Joe McGirr, the venue manager, recommends this one: ‘For a real medicinal treat it’s got to be 53.200, a smoky 18-year-old named “Hand-Rolled Cuban Cigars”. Settle into a peaty dream with a relaxing salty sea breeze washing over you. Switch off and let the world go by with this one.'