Dewar's Portuguese Smooth

Ignore the low score for this smooth drink. Is it a Scotch? It's Dewar's. On the nose, you would think this is a Sherry variant. It's smooth with no burn. Bottom line, I call it a Scotch-Sherry hybrid that is too good to pass up. Especially for how cheap it is....an incredible value.

Bottle states 8yr old, dewars double aged, port wine cask finished. Their tasting notes claim "apricot, honeydew melon, red cherries, heathered honey with vanilla notes" Apricot, honey, and port influence I'll give them, the rest is definitely a stretch Nose is weak. Palate has assertive port cask tones but they arent brash. Strawberry jam, raspberry ice cream, plain dry grain. Absence of floral usually associated with this territory. Silky dewars honey holds the backbone together STURDY like the frame of a 1980 Fleetwood caddy. Im a big dewars fan and I've skipped all the 'illegal smooth' line stuff till this one. The mezcal got bad reviews, and I can pretty much guess with certainty glenlivet caribbean would trounce dewars rum finish... I think this could be a good change of pace!! This is cheap scotch but it's actually a decent representation of a fancier scotch style. No heat, no off-notes, just a complete lack of any fancier depth/body/complexity/class. I'm going to very much enjoy playing with it, it's basically strawberry jam on toast. If you've read this far I'll give you a nice tip: I just read today the next one is "Japanese smooth" with a MIZUNARA(!!!) finish. Yowzer!!! If it's similar VFM as this it could be a crazy bargain. Chivas mizu is too damn expensive @50+ now. Bump it to 4/5 if you get it under $25 and enjoy a well-thrown curveball, or for how respectably the port is handled for the price point.