Nose: caramel and hint of smoke Palate: echoes the nose, hints of sweetneas and smoke, in that order, and which disappears quickly amidst the grain alcohol burn. Finish: short and slightly bitter. My first taste of this on its own was not pleasant. It was only when I did an A-B comparison with Teeling Small Batch that I could pick out the smoke and molasses-like sweetness. Not a stand-alone sipping dram for me, but tastes good as a mixer. If this is Dewar's answer to the JW Black, which in my area costs about 3-5 usd less, then I would say that the JW Black KOs the Dewar's 12 by round 2.