Tag: Bacardi Limited

Bacardi Limited is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Brands include:
Gin: Bombay.
Rum: Bacardi.
Tequila: Cazadores.
Vodka: Grey Goose, Eristoff.
Whisk(e)y: Dewar’s, William Lawson‘s, Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Royal Brackla and Craigellachie

Dewar’s 15 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 03/05/2018

In Blended whisky

Towards the end of last year, I wrote about a great whisky I tasted at The Only Whisky Show. The Dewar’s 12 year old blended whisky made quite an impression on me. I went straight out to buy a bottle. Delicious and affordable, this excellent blend quickly made it onto my Top 5 Blends for 2017 list.

Fast forward a couple of months. A week or two before the Whisky and Spirit Show in Sandton in November, a very curious package arrived. A small box with an egg inside. Inside the egg was a message I could only get to if I break the eggshell. The message was an invitation to join Dewar’s at their Whisky Live stand to taste more Dewar’s whisky paired with some Scotch Eggs.

The first dram I tasted that evening at the Scotch Egg evening at Whisky Live was the Dewar’s 15 year old blended Scotch whisky. I tried it with Scotch Eggs (it nice), nuts (tasty) and dark chocolate (delicious). I walked straight to the Norman Goodfellows shop at Whisky Live and bought a bottle. It was that good.

Dewar’s 15 year old whisky was created by Dewar’s master blender Stephanie Macleod and introduced in 2010. Initially targeted at the Asian market and travel retail, the Dewar’s 15 yo is now more widely available. The Dewar’s 15 year old is known as “The Monarch”. The inspiration for the blend came from a famous Sir Edwin Landseer oil painting known as “The Monarch of the Glen”.

This famous painting was purchased by John Dewar & Sons in 1919 and is currently owned by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It is a beautiful Royal Stag, and you can see the painting here.

The Monarch is one of only a few blended whiskies to carry a 15 year age statement. It is created from selected single malts and single grains, across both sherry and bourbon barrel ageing. The blend is then married in select oak casks for an additional period. The Dewar’s brand is part of the Bacardi stable.

Also Read: Dimple Pinch 15 yo Whisky

Dewar’s 15 year old Whisky Review

The Dewar’s 15 year old Scotch whisky has a raised relief design on the glass. The simplistic black and gold labelling add to the premium feel of this dram.

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Bright gold

NOSE: Sherry, fresh fruit salad with apples, melons and pears, honey, fresh flowers, hints of spices and fresh meadow flowers. Rich and quite complex with hints of vanilla and butterscotch grape jam mixed with oak.

PALATE: Rich, sweet nicely balanced with oak spices, orange peel, wood, and vanilla. Enough pepper notes to give a bit of a bite, but well balanced enough not to overwhelm the sweeter notes. Fresh fruit, hot pancake with cinnamon sugar.

You don’t even have to add water. Hints of lemon sorbet and freshly cut wood. Water softens the dram slightly and makes it very easy drinking.

FINISH: A bit short and dry, but pleasant. The Dewar’s 15 year old ends in notes of pepper and fruity sweetness.

RATING: EXCELLENT

This 15 year old reminds me a bit of the Glenfiddich 15 year old whisky . It has that same sweet richness that the Glenfiddich has. However, looking at the price point of this blend, it is real value for money! For a 15 year old whisky! It is so easy drinking and enjoyable. It also has a rich complexity underlying the well-balanced fruit and spicy notes.

I paired this blended whisky with some Swiss Appenzeller cheese over HERE. You can see what I thought about the pairing by following the link. The Dewar’s 15 year old whisky retails for only R 450 in South Africa. It will definitely make it onto my Top 5 blend list for 2018.

Also Read: Singleton 15 yo Whisky

Dewar’s 12 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 09/18/2017

In Blended whisky

I am always looking for exciting whisky at a reasonable price. Call it the frugal Dutch side of me, but I don’t think expensive necessarily equals good. These last couple of years, I have managed to find great blends and single malt whiskies at affordable prices. Whiskies that you can buy 2 or 3 bottles of and not survive on dry bread for the rest of the month.

I publish my top 5 affordable single malt and blends list yearly. This year, however, has been a challenge. I am over the halfway mark, and I have not found too many delicious “new” affordable drams. My top 5 list for 2017 was looking a bit bare.

That was until I tasted something at the Wade Bales whisky show. I tasted the Dewar’s 12 year old blended Scotch whisky, and immediately my Top 5 list started looking better.

Also Read: The Black Grouse Whisky

It is not a very well known brand in SA, so I went to investigate. The Dewar’s brand was established in 1846 by a wine and spirit merchant, John Dewar in Perth Scotland. John blended his own whisky and bottled it under his name. John’s two sons joined the business and in 1884 expansion started on the London market, and soon after, America beckoned.

Even President Benjamin Harrison was a fan. The Dewar brothers expanded their portfolio by building the Aberfeldy Distillery in 1896, and the brand went from strength to strength. Today the John Dewar’s & Sons company owns four other distilleries. The distilleries include Aultmore, Craigellachie, Macduff and Royal Bracka.

Bacardi owns John Dewar’s & Sons and other releases in the Dewar’s stable include the Dewar’s White Label and a Dewar’s 18 year old. The Dewar’s 12 year old is double aged as the whisky is married in oak casks after the initial maturation and blending.

Dewar’s 12 year old Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Golden sun-kissed wheat

NOSE: Delicate and sweet with tropical and sweet oak spices. Bananas and pineapple balanced with malts and honey. There are hints of cut flowers and bits of cinnamon.

PALATE: The Dewar’s 12 year old Scotch is light and fruity. Honey sweetness mixed with ripe summer fruits, oak and malt. It is smooth and easy drinking with a medium body. You barely need to add any water; just a few drops to release more sweetness and complexity.

FINISH: Ends on notes of honey, malt and black pepper.

RATING: EXCELLENT

What a beautiful blend! Light and floral, this Dewar‘s 12 year old blended whisky is perfect for someone who wants to try whisky for the first time. It is a delicious summer dram to enjoy during the hot summer.

This bottle will not last long, and at the price point, replacing the bottle is not a problem. This blend retails for around R300 in SA. It is cheaper than the Johnnie Walker Black.

This Dewar’s 12 year old whisky is worthy of a taste. I managed to get my hands on the Dewar’s 15 yo and loved it just as much.

Also Read: Chivas Regal 12 yo whisky

William Lawson’s Blended Scotch Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 04/25/2016

In Blended whisky

At the end of last year, a few articles on the top-selling whisky brands caught my eye. The one that I was most intrigued with was the ‘Top 10 Blended Whisky’ brands. I mainly collect single malts but have diversified my collection to include quite a few interesting blends and blended malts.

On the -Top 10′ list were a few names that I have noticed in our local bottle store, but never gave a thought. One of these was William Lawson’s blended Scotch whisky.

The bottle is not very premium looking, the branding is stark black and white, and it is in the VERY affordable class.

But it is one of the biggest selling blends in Russia and with over 3,1 million cases sold across the world, I was wondering: am I missing something? William Lawson’s is a blended Scotch whisky owned by the Bicardi Group. I love the Dewar’s whisky, so how bad can this be?

Detail about this whisky is a bit sketchy. William Lawson was born in 1853 or thereabouts. He was an Exports Manager at a spirits company in Dublin. While there, he convinced his employers to name their blended Scotch whisky after him.

He moved between Ireland, Scotland and England. William Lawson’s blended Scotch whisky is produced with a high malt content, similar to the blend was first produced by William Lawson in 1849.

The blend named after him. The bottle mentions that the blend’s heart is the Macduff and Glen Deveron single malt blended with some Highland malts and grains. This affordable blend is part of the Bacardi stable.

Related Article: Black Bottle Old Release Whisky

William Lawson’s Blended Scotch Whisky Review

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Very light golden wheat

NOSE: Initial sweetness of grape jelly and preserved grapes. It is followed by toffee and burnt caramel. There is almost a slight cognac note in the background. It’s a not very complex nose. The addition of water seems to bring out some floral notes.

PALATE: After the sweet nose, the spiciness of the palate comes as a surprise. The initial spice is followed up with layers of wood and oak before drifting away into pectin and dried citrus peel. William Lawson’s whisky is a bit rough and unfinished. It is as if the flavour notes haven’t come together properly.

The addition of water transforms the whisky, making it smoother and a bit easier drinking. Gone are most of the spice, but it does bring forward some of the oak and a little bit of a leather flavour.

FINISH: Long and lingering, but not in a good way. It retains an element of raw almost turpentine floating about.

RATING: GOOD

In South Africa, the retail price for the William Lawson blended Scotch is around R180. For R30 more, you can get better drams. If you are looking for a decent whisky – this is a bargain bin drop out.

Instead try something else. However, if you are looking for a bang for your buck, that will not interfere with your mixer’s taste, this will be your whisky.

Also Read: Bell’s Special Reserve whisky

Aberfeldy 12 year old Single Malt Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 10/27/2014

In Single Malt whisky

Today I chat about the Aberfeldy 12 year old single malt Scotch whisky. Aberfeldy is a distillery dating back to 1898. This Highland distillery was founded by John Dewar & Sons, nearby the town of the same name.

It was established to ensure a steady supply of quality single malt for the Dewar’s White Label blend. The distillery sits on the River Tay’s south bank and takes its water from the Pitilie Burn.

Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, mentioned the town of Aberfeldy in one of his poems. He wrote the Birks of Aberfeldy in 1787. Burns was inspired to write it by the Falls of Moness and the birch trees of Aberfeldy during a tour of the Scottish Highlands.

The main output of the distillery is used in the Dewar’s blended whiskies. The company only launched the Aberfeldy 12 year old single malt whisky during 1999.

Today, the distillery produces two official single malt bottlings – a 12 year old and an Aberfeldy 21 year old whisky. The label features a squirrel in the background, a reference to a nearby woodland that plays host to a colony of rare red squirrels.

It seems that John Dewar & Sons, a company that has always focused heavily on blended Scotch, is starting to focus more on the single malt market through their “Last Great Malts” Collection releases.

It will allow them to showcase all the interesting malt distilleries that sit behind the famous Dewar blend. These distilleries include Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie and Royal Brackla. The company plans to launch a 16 year old sherry finish and a 30 year old in 2015.

The Aberfeldy 12 year old single malt is matured in a combination of sherry and bourbon.

Related Article: Tamdhu Batch 001 Whisky

Aberfeldy 12 year old Single Malt Whisky Review

REGION: Highland

ABV: 40%.

COLOUR: Warm gold, and it is a beautiful shade in the glass. It is a thick oily whisky with slowly forming fingers on the sides of the glass.

NOSE: Sherry and oak abundantly when opening the bottle. The nose brings spiciness and vanilla sweetness. The nose is very subtle with fresh-cut florals. There are notes of oak and barley in the background with hints of toffee.

PALATE: You can feel the oiliness of the whisky coat your mouth. The palate is peppery, with wood and cereal coming through immediately. There are notes of honeyed sweetness and malt with hints of sherried fruit. It is a reasonably smooth whisky. A medium-bodied whisky.

FINISH: The finish is medium length and ends in notes of leather and spice. There are remnants of oak and cereals in the finish.

RATING: GOOD

I found the Aberfeldy 12 year old whisky rather bland. There is nothing that stands out for me to remember it by. Looking at the releases coming out of the Dewar’s “Last Great Malts” collection, perhaps I should put the 30 year old on my wish list for 2015.

Also Read: Tullibardine 1993 Whisky