The SMWS Membership Welcome Pack

let’s begin

What would you expect from the SMWS Membership Welcome Pack when you are sinking £130 for a year’s membership to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society?

Something traditional?
Something staid?
Something a bit dull?
Something aimed at the classic old man persona of whisky drinkers?

Well, you’re only going to be wrong.

Firstly, you’re going to be greeted with an email with a PDF certificate proudly proclaiming you a member of the society with a note saying “Attached is your temporary Membership Certificate – your SMWS Membership Welcome Pack & Membership Card will be with you shortly” – nice.

The tone of voice only gets better, and better.

Just four days later a very compact box arrived. It was immediately taken to my home office, sat on my desk and gently hacked into in order to see what magic awaited me.

With a silky matte finish, the outer box only serves to build excitement as you eagerly pull apart the hand-tied bow on the right hand side to reveal something rather magical.

You join a unique fellowship of whisky lovers…

Once opened you are immediately greeted with the view of your new ‘journal of discovery’ notebook, a gorgeous pin badge that will be proudly worn during every visit to the Society’s bars and copy so enchanting that you will spend ages following its unexpected directions of travel as it meanders around other pack elements to gradually lead you to the other good stuff contained within.

The main event is hidden a mere three layers beneath the initial open, emphasising and reiterating the reveal that will accompany every interaction with the Society as they aim to educate and emphasise the uniqueness of their single cask whiskies.

A taste of things to come

By lifting the semi-concealed lid you are presented with three incredible bottles of single cask whisky, hand selected from the Society’s vaults including:

35.97 – Boozy Christmas Cake – Aged 10 years
53.193 – To bring a smile to every face – Aged 22 years
59.47 – A dram for Shirley Valentine – Aged 29 years

Now, I’m sure over the course of this blog we will go into a lot more depth as to how the SMWS works, how they choose, number and bottle their whisky but for now I will leave it there.

Moving past the exquisite liquid that I’m looking forward to diving into, I finally succumbed to open the ‘Open Me’ message on the lid to reveal a rather nice welcome message signed off ‘come on in, the whisky’s lovely’ accompanied by my new membership card.

All in all an incredible experience, something that I will tell many about, especially my packaging design buddies who get as excited as I do about these things…

If you’re not already a member, get yourself to smws.co.uk and get involved (and your very own SMWS Membership Welcome Pack). You won’t regret it, I certainly don’t.

Tags: ReviewsSMWSSMWS Membership Welcome PackWhisky

Greg

My name is Greg, and I’m a brand strategy consultant, writer, speaker, host and judge specialising in premium spirits. My mission is to experience, share and inspire with everything great about whisky, whiskey, gin, beer and fine dining through my writing, my brand building and my whisky tastings.