Benji-Robert
Dewar's Double Double 21 Year
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
May 1, 2020 (edited August 31, 2020)
This one is a minimum 21 years, NCF(!), and underwent a four stage process (including sherry casks) that, for the purpose of space, Ill describe as interesting for its eye towards consistency -and- depth of flavor. I paid ~$65 w/ tax for a 375ml.
Nose:
Golden raisins. Kiwi fruit. The best parts of that first sniff of a great red wine. Luxurious, even the smokiness which you can pick up but is at the end. Hides some honeysuckle dryness over herbaceous mint. Opens when neat in the glass to a light brown sugar with more exotic or vine-ripe fruit--blackcurrant jam and nice green tea. A nice one. It uses the sherry to create an excellent depth without being too fussily-layered or elusively complex. Spiciness turns up a tiny little bit everytime you come back to the bottle.
Palate:
The Dewars signature honey is everywhere but it doesnt ever get in the way of many, many great things going on: apricot, in-shell almonds, delicate oak, tons of lip-smackingly good sherry. Sadly this section was kind of weak overall. It has some great tastes and they are presented amazingly by the nose but it just doesn't do much for me profile-wise that I couldnt get out of the La Santa or something else notably cheaper. It was good tasting, but for the money I'm going Dew12.
Mouth:
Tries to steal the show from the nose and almost gets away with it. Easily the best I've ever had just in this specific section and for blends. 46% and it exhales like you drank air. Intoxicatingly shifts between smoky and sweet as you sip on it in the very back of your throat. The bottle says 'ultimate smoothness' and they werent kidding.
Overall I'm going 3.75* instead of 4* because I truthfully had higher hopes for the tastes here. This isn't exactly ginger beer dram but it doesnt do a whole ton for me outside the easy drinking and amazing nose.
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
Good review. The Double Double series and their master blender getting a lot of attention over the year
Been curious about this one but haven't managed to find it in a bar and not prepared to pay the price for a full bottle. I appreciate the thorough review!
Nice review. For a buck thirty/750ml Im going with SO many single malts even a ton of NAS special stuff over a Dewars. That said I like the 12 and its a great value for what you get