The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has announced the launch of a new limited-edition release to coincide with whisky festival season in May.

SMWS – The Five Regions (50% ABV) is an 11 Year Old blended malt Scotch whisky featuring whiskies from five regions in one bottle: Campbeltown, Speyside, Islay, Lowlands and Highlands. The whisky was matured in a combination of Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximénez Sherry and HTMC (heavy toast, medium char) hogsheads.

May is an important month for whisky, with the Islay Festival of Music and Malt (Fèis Ìle), Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and Campbeltown Malts Festival taking place across Scotland, alongside World Whisky Day on May 16th.

SMWS – The Five Regions is said to deliver notes of fudge doughnuts, glacé cherries and caramelised apple slices, alongside wood varnish, teak oil, nutmeg and star anise.

The Society is also releasing 16 other single cask bottlings from across Scotland’s five whisky regions to celebrate whisky season, including expressions titled Post-bonfire Bath Bomb and Eau d’Archive.

London-based whisky fans will be able to sample some of these bottlings at an event on May 12th at the SMWS’s London venue, 19 Greville Street, where whiskies from the five regions will be tasted and compared, asking the question: “What comes first, flavour or region?”

Members who purchase a festival bottle, as well as new members joining from May 2026, will also be entered into a prize draw to win a cask from Distillery 10. One entry will be made into the draw for each SMWS 2026 festival release bottle purchased or each membership activated.

Founded in Edinburgh in 1983, the SMWS has long championed flavour over tradition, choosing not to reveal distillery names on its bottles and instead creating evocative titles such as Red Wine and Brine in the Old Coal Mine and Lavender Honey and Chimney Lobsters to guide whisky exploration through taste and aroma. The Vaults in Leith remains the spiritual home of the Society.

Commenting on the launch, Julien Willems, said: “May is an important month for whisky, and we wanted to honour 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. 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.”

SMWS – The Five Regions, is now available from the SMWS website, for a RRP of £74.00.