Scotch Whisky Review #171: Dewar’s 21 Year Double Double Aged for Ultimate Smoothness

Distillery: Blend

Bottler: Dewar’s

Aging Process: Aged 4 times. First as a single malt and a single grain, then as a blended malt and blended grain, then as a blended whisky, finally finished in sherry casks.

Price: $55 for 375 mL

ABV: 46%

Age: 21 Year

Color: 1.2, Chestnut/Oloroso Sherry. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered

Nose: It’s almost like walking into a bakery. You get a warm raisin challah bread that’s fresh out of the oven along with a sweeter Asian milk bread. There’s a very zingy note of orange essential oils which is followed by a bit of ethanol.

Palate: Medium mouthfeel. The basic malted barley notes come through heavily along with some of the grains and the tinge of sweetness that comes from both. A bit of sherry also pops through right before it gets overtaken by lots and lots of orange zest. Right before it goes down, you can feel the alcohol burn a bit.

Finish: Short. Bit of sherry and spice. It’s got a bit of heat like a fairly youthful whisky as well.

Conclusion: I usually don’t have Dewar’s very often but I’ve been seeing these fancy white boxes pop up here and there and I got a bit interested. What does something that has been aged four times taste like? Does it really come out with any strong flavors from the different maturations and what is this the “ultimate smoothness”? Turns out, it’s just an okay whisky. The nose is actually pretty great, those two breads that show up got me pretty excited. The palate is fairly generic, though that bit of sherry and orange zest are fantastic. The finish is nothing to write home about and it is far from “silky smooth”. Still, I’m kinda of impressed that a giant as big as Dewar’s put out something that’s non-chill filtered and natural color. It’s an interesting concept and one I hope they continue to pursue in search for that “ultimate smoothness”. Would I buy another bottle? Probably not.

Final Score: 78.

Scotch Whisky Review #171, Blended Whisky Review #14, Whisky Network Review #234

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.