Rockley Still 1986 SMWS Shareholders Bottling

A Barbados rum which has been distilled in 1986 and bottled in 2001 after being matured in Oloroso sherry cask #3.

It was bottled for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society shareholders in May 2001.

The Rockley Still is a near-mythical piece of machinery. The tiny copper pot still was once used on the Rockley sugar plantation to make rum, and was moved to the West India Rum Distillery on Barbados in the early 20th century. It has however, been inactive for over half a century, with the distillery merely producing Rockley Still "style" rums. This is one of them, and no less of a rarity in its own right.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.