Dewar's White Label

Whisky number 4 of the current batch of blends I'm rating. Nose: A firm grain whisky aroma with malt, cereal and some light oaky notes. Also some vanilla. There is a certain fullness to the nose that rounds off the grain aspect very nicely. Palate: The arrival is spicy-sweet and has a nice mouthfeel. The development brings out almost tingly lemon peel and ginger spice flavours, mixed with honey and some soft fruits (pears? Nashi fruit?, apples?). The interplay between these characteristics is interesting - they compete so the spice notes become almost hot and bitter but then relax at the last moment to give way to the soft honey and fruit. Finish: Not particularly long, but longer than I expected - the spicy character lengthens it. I didn't notice any particularly intrusive bitter or metallic notes. A drop of water opens it up a little, but where this really shines is in combination with cola. It's a mixer and proud of it. Put a good size ice cube in an old-fashioned tumbler and add enough White Label to just float the ice, then fill with your preferred cola soft drink, and enjoy. Refreshing, soft, relaxing, flavourful and hard to fault in that context. This is definitely one of the better bottom/middle shelf blends. "Average" : 78/100 (2.75 stars)