Kind of a hot, artificial, mess
Notes: Breaking some new ground in the Scotch whisky world, Dewars has decided to extend its portfolio of blended Scotch whisky by making a blend of their white label blended Scotch with the addition of Highland Honey from local hives to smoothen and sweeten the original base whiskey. While it could be argued (successfully ) that Drambuie, Isle of Skye, and other products may have been first ( by a few hundred years in some cases) these are generally referred to as liqueurs due to their higher sugar content – not to mention their complexity. In any case this whisky seems to follow the emerging North American trend of flavoring whiskies in various ways.
dewars white label in and of itself is a blend of up to 41 different single malt whiskies and neutral grain whiskies ( read grain alcohol) to deliver a low cost and constant blended scotch for mixing.In the is case with the addition of the honey they have also added some “natural flavors” – the exact ones they are a bit vague about. It is also filtered through oak cask wood, but not much information on that either, wood chips? barrel char? sawdust? It would be interesting to know but we will press on with our review of how it actually tastes regardless. As Dewars Honey does have these additions the resulting spirits cannot be referred to as a blended Scotch by Scottish Law but is instead labeled as a “spirit drink”.
Appearance: Light Honey color (Caramel strongly suspected), not a lot of edge line when you swirl it.
First Impression: Caramel, citrus,honey, malted barley some peat and a lot of oak char. Fairly light bouquet for a Scotch, was expecting a bit more peat.
Taste: Sweet entry that coats the tongue but then a fairly nasty so of artificial chemical taste and oak burn sets in at mid point followed by a cloying chemical coating of your tongue. It has a decided artificial peach, lemon, barley, peat and oak char taste but the “natural flavors” give it a strange kiddie candy drink taste profile with oak aging that is overbalanced, there is a lot more char than peat.
Drinks: Nt really sure where to go with it. Don’t care for sipping it and the sweetness mixed with the char makes for a somewhat confusing mix of tastes so cocktail making could be a challenge.
Bottle: Basic standard Dewars with a swish impressed into the glass which also bisects the label design making for a distinctive package. Nicely blends the traditional and modern at the same time.
Cigar: Something flavored like a Swisher Sweet probably.
Final Thoughts: Nice concept but poor execution. The idea of a honey addition to a Scotch may sound good but whatever they added besides the honey gives it a decided chemical tang, that coupled with the extra oak has a bad symbiotic effect that reminds one of a chemical plant fire in New Jersey rather than the scents of the Highlands. While certain expressions of Dewars can good and quite drinkable, I would leave this one for the kiddie crowd – it kind of reminds me of the scene in the Simpsons where Bart is standing next to Hugh Hefner and they are both wearing smoking jackets and holding pipes – but Barts is a bubble pipe – good for kids trying to mimic adults taste and sophistication, but not something an adult with experience would drink.
