Another interesting pour from Dewar's. After my experience with Ilegal (good for the price and an easy, undemanding sipper) I wanted to explore a bit more of the series. As I understand it the Japanese Smooth might have the least positive reputation of the group, Ilegal the best and this is in between. We shall see... Tasted neat and on a single large ice sphere. The color is a reddish copper as befitting the Port finish. The nose is classic Dewars with a bit too much grain alcohol, a whiff of peat smoke, a fair dollop of malt and a bit of fruit from the wine. This is a better casual sipper on ice than it presents as a neat pour. I'm not dinging it too much as I don't expect a $25 bottle of scotch to be a complex quaff. On ice that ethanol, grain alcohol note is diminished and the sweetness allowed to take the stage. I think maybe that's where this goes wrong. The finish makes this tastes cheap. It's okay, but not impressive in any way. There's the Dewar's functional whisky profile (disclaimer - I like Dewar's for what it is and I've been drinking White Label since about '84). White Label is certainly nothing special, but its attraction lies in the fact that its mistakes and misses are generally of omission and not of commission. There's nothing inherently good about it, but there's also nothing horrible or corrupting. That's the regular Dewar's. (12yr Ancestor is another thing, and much better) This expression has, on top of the Dewar's blended scotch profile, a tacked on sweetness from the finish. To my taste buds this doesn't work as well as the Ilegal. That lovely mezcal finish of the Ilegal went a long way to buying my happiness. But this... This bottle has nothing about it to recommend; it's just pedestrian and without a real saving grace. The port finish here tastes a lot like a Taylor jug and that's a shame. The finish actually detracts from the core Dewar's profile. It's more or less port-flavored box wine and, while adding fruit and sweetness, isn't well integrated. I think Dewar should have opted for a better finishing selection. I rate on a simple scale. 1 is just bad - I try to avoid drinking anything I think might be at this level as life as just too short to mess around with crap. 2 to 3 is average and a bell curve will predict most liquor will end up in this range. That's not a bad thing. 3 to 4 is very good, and 4+ is simply superb. Portuguese Smooth isn't a liquor that's heading to the top of my scale. I'll finish the bottle and enjoy it, but I won't get another. This is mediocre. Go for the Ilegal Smooth, it's a good guilty pleasure. This expression is just guilty.