Recently, we wrote about the Flavour Behaviour Test, a collaboration between The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) and Dr Adam Moore.

It’s not the only project that the SMWS has been involved with this summer. The Dining Room at The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s 28 Queen Street venue in Edinburgh has had a radical makeover.

The restaurant has been moved from its previous ground floor location to the first floor. It now features Edinburgh’s first Champagne table offering a five course meal matched to five different crus from Charles Heidsieck.

Single cask ethos

The recently expanded Dining Room restaurant has also been upgraded with a luxurious new look.

A large unique piece of artwork representing the Society’s single cask ethos adorns the main wall in the Dining Room. The 1.5m work, which is made from whisky barrels and holds around 220 Society bottles, was designed by Scott Associates.

The £300,000 project to renovate the whole venue was carried out by Surface ID, the Glasgow designers behind renowned venues such as Stravaigan, Left Bank and Grosvenor Café.

The Dining Room offers three menus: an a la carte at £42 for three courses (£31.50 for veggie version); a £21.95 three course menu du jour and a five course Taster Menu which can be paired with wines or whisky at £75.

New bar

In addition to the Dining Room changes, The SMWS has also launched Kaleidoscope Whisky Bar on the ground floor.

More than 200 rare single malt whiskies and other spirits are available at the bar each month, with the selection changing regularly throughout the year.

The bar offers a range of bar food including sharing platters, a grill section and pairings with whisky.

In addition to the new bar, the Society has unveiled a number of other changes including a shop selling over 100 bottles of its whisky, and, on the top floor, two new private lounges exclusively for its members.

The SMWS releases new whiskies each month. Over the course of each year, they bottle around 350 single casks from a range of more than 132 distilleries. The very nature of the single cask means that each bottling offered by the Society is limited.

The Society was established in Edinburgh in 1983 and now has more than 26,000 members around the world with branches in 19 countries.