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🥃 Review #39: Dewar's White Label Scotch Whisky

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Dewar's White Label Scotch 1.75Lbottle next to a glencairn on a table with lamp and blue chair

Created in 1899 by A.J. Cameron, Dewar's White Label is a staple of cocktails the world over. The brand was popularized in the US when Andrew Carnegie sent a small keg of Dewar's Scotch to the White House for President James Garfield's inauguration, later congratulating President Benjamin Harrison in the same manner. John Dewar & Sons, now owned by Bacardi, is known for their double aging process by which component whiskies are aged, blended, and then returned to oak casks to "marry". White Label is the top-selling Dewar's iteration and joins a lineup of 12, 15,18,19 and super aged releases. There are also finished variations such as the Caribbean Smooth Rum cask edition, but the main claim to fame is that "it never varies." Dewar's is such a master of blending, that they are able to reliably create the exact same flavor profile year over year, batch to batch, for more than a century. The younger Dewar's expressions, including White Label, are very commonly served as cocktails, with highballs being of particular note. Dewar's claims that White Label is the #1 highball mixer by volume in Japan where the cocktail has become an artisan specialty. 

The oldest bottle of Dewar's White Label in their archive
The Oldest White Label Bottle in Dewar's Archive

🛒Sourced: $29.99 - Costco, GA  1.75L - $12.86 for 750ml equivalent - Got $7 back from Dewar's Rebate center to bring my baseline cost to $9.85 per 750ml. They pretty much always have active promotions and you may be able to stack them with Ibotta. Just buy the right product and get money sent to your Venmo/PayPal after you submit a receipt. Most also apply to the age stated blends. Notably, blended scotch is excluded from the 25% tariff that will go back in place in June of 2026 unless an exception is granted.

🧪Proof: 80 proof, 40% ABV - Tax incentives, price point, and statutory minimums make it no surprise we see 80 proof on the dot. This makes it possible to switch out Dewar's with most common rum and vodka based cocktails without having to change the proportions. 

🎨Color: Y5 - A yellow-brown tea color, like honey off the comb. This spirit does have caramel color added, as is common with many mass market blended scotches, so I don't think this tells us much. 

🥔Mash Bill: No age statement - A mixture of single malts (100% malted barley) and grain whiskey (can be any unmalted grain including wheat, corn, rye, or barley). Typically, grain whiskey will make up 60-80% of a blended scotch with the remainder being multiple single malts. Traditionally, this was an 8-year age stated expression but it went to no-age statement in the late 1980s along with many other flagship products. The main malt base spirit is sourced from John Dewar & Sons' historic Aberfeldy distillery, with many more components from multiple distilleries being blended into the final product. In total, up to 40 distinct spirits may be present in Dewar's White Label.

👃Nose: Honeysuckle, flora, and the slightest hint of peat. Mild on the nostril and clean smelling 

😜Palate: Thin without being watery, super smooth. Mid palate has orange peel and honey. There is a very delicate vanilla note in the transition, somewhat like cream soda. In total, this whisky is certainly more on the sweet side.

💦Finish: Short and mild, like a baby. One last flash of of honeycomb and the smallest puff of smoke fades to nothing within seconds.

🏆 Overall:  5.0/10 - Drinkable/Crushable - This is my favorite bottle of cheap Scotch. My first time having it was on a Lufthansa flight back from Amsterdam and I had it neat then. Ended up sneaking back to the galley a few times for refills. Got to love those Germans just leaving the bottle out. I won't tell you that this is the most complex pour, but it is so much smoother than other low-end scotches. The person just getting into whiskey will find it inoffensive, while the connoisseur can take joy in how light it is on the wallet. The only real alternative is the Kirkland Blended Scotch for around $20, but I personally always reach for the Dewar's first. Factoring in the rebate potential, it is really only a couple bucks more for to remove any burn and off notes. For under a tenner per standard bottle equivalent, you really won't do better. If you don't drink whiskey at all, this on ice or in decreasing  portions of soda highballs is a great entry point. Don't sleep on Dewar's older age blends as well; the 12 year is solid and the 15 year is actually great. 

💵Would buy again? Multiple times a buyer already, will do so in the future. As my wallet expands, I may step up to one of the age stated iterations, but I'm not in any hurry.

Dewar's Lime Highball Recipe on a bar in Tokyo

🍸Bonus: Dewar's Lime Highball Recipe

  • Large Ice Cubes - big melts more slowly
  • 2oz Dewar's White Label
  • Fill Remainder with Soda Water
  • Dash of Lemon or Lime Juice
Lightly stir ingredients, garnish with lemon peel. For a sweeter version, start with ginger beer. A highball is typically 8-12oz so whatever glass you have in that range is likely fine if you don't have a highball glass specifically. They range in liquid volume considerably, so tinker until you get it how you like it. I would alter the amount of soda water rather than the scotch portion (really hold one of the volumes constant) as the soda has way less flavor and liquid volume will always vary somewhat with the ice. My personal opinion is that when you have a light bodied scotch like Dewar's White Label, you'll be happiest with around 50/50 scotch to soda ratio.

⚖️Rating Scale: 

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out 
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice. 
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | Struggle to get through the bottle
4 | Serviceable | Mixing or ice recommended.
5 | Good | Drinkable Neat | An agreeable dram indeed.
6 | Very Good | Any flaws offset by interesting flavors | A cut above.
7 | Great | You find yourself reaching for this one often | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Serve to Impress Guests | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | You guard this bottle jealously.
10 | Perfect | You didn't think anything could be this good | A clear champion. 
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