Scotch Whisky Review #193: Dewar’s White Label (1980s Bottling)

Distillery: Blend

Region: Blend

Price: $30

ABV: 43.4%

Age: NAS

Color: 0.4, Jounquil/Ripe Corn.

Nose: (according to the wife) There’s a very funky, earthy tone to this. It almost smells like mushrooms or baiju. There’s also a note of bottled water as well.

Palate: You get a healthy dose of slightly sweet malt cereal. It has just the right amount of malt sweetness and just the right amount of the earthy malt flavor. A trace bit of that mushroom/baiju funkiness also pops up giving it a little bit of depth in flavor.

Finish: Medium in length. Malt cereal, a little more baiju funk.

Conclusion: I’ve often read about how older bottlings of blended whiskies are far different than their modern counterparts. To put this to the test, I’ve given this 1980s bottling of Dewar’s White Label a spin. White Label is one of the whiskies with the lowest average scores on Scotchit. I’ve had the modern version a few times and I actively avoid it at this point. This older bottling, however, is rather pleasant. It’s got a lovely balance between sweet and earthy with a little bit of funk to spice things up as well. It’s easy to drink with none of the paint stripper burn that the modern version exhibits. If Dewar’s made this version still, I’d probably buy it to keep around!

Final Score: 75.

Scotch Whisky Review #193, Blended Review #15, Whisky Network Review #267

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.