Dewar’s Japanese Smooth 8yo
Mizunara Oak Finish | 40% ABV
It’s fine to dismiss blends these days… until it’s not
As exciting as today’s malt whisky landscape may be, so dull and uninspired is the world of blends. Most of them anyway.
At the risk of coming across as an utter snob, I’ll just state the obvious about 75% (if not more) of what today’s blends are. They’re just not aimed at people who visit corners of the internet, browsing through websites like Dramface. But consider this: if you asked a random person in the street to name a brand of whisky, what are the chances of them saying Ledaig or Springbank rather than something like J&B, Johnnie Walker, Teacher’s or Bell’s?
Supermarkets and bars the world over are packed with bottles of Jameson, Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker Red and Jack Daniel’s, especially at this time of year. It’s what people know, it’s what people buy. Throw in a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black or Chivas Regal 12 if they feel like getting fancy. For the big companies, these whiskies pay the bills and because they bank on the recognisability and tradition of these brands, they’ve quite a lot of leeway when it comes to the quality of what goes in them. Heck, most of these whiskies end up in mixers, cocktails or hot beverages in any case, so anything too much of a distinctive character or flavour might be a liability rather than an asset.
This wasn’t always the case, though. Before the concept of single malt whisky really took off in the second half of the previous century, blends, many of them tended to be recognisable beyond the look of the label and the bottle. There was character, flavour and depth to be found, much in the way so many of our beloved single malts today have a distinct character and personality. If you attend whisky festivals, I suggest you try those yesteryear’s blends if they’re available. You’ll be pleasantly surprised what a 1960’s Bell’s or a 1970’s Ballantine’s has to offer. But as time went by, the paradigm, the concept (and the flavour) changed. In many ways, a lot of blends were downgraded to what they are today, making way for single malts as the new premium product. Obviously I’m generalising to a certain extent as there have always been premium blends out there, some even sitting alongside or even above some of the more premium single malts, but you get the idea.
So you’d be forgiven for not getting overly excited by the latest release of (insert popular blend brand name here). Probably there are exceptions. Take a company such as Compass Box, for example, who try and shake things up by coming up with new concepts including blended grains or quality blends. But again, ask any random person who or what Compass Box is, and I suggest you don’t hold your breath for the word ‘whisky’ to come up.
Review
Dewar’s Japanese Smooth 8yo, Cask Series, 40% ABV
£23-30 widely available
Occasionally, big blending companies try to tap into new markets, and one way to do so is to take their well-known, often run-of-the-mill product, and do something fancy with it, like releasing it with an age statement or giving it an extra finish. This is where it might start to become interesting again for many of us. Diageo have done it with a series of 12 year old blended regional malts. Dewar’s has done something similar with a series of 8 year old blends, first released in 2020. Since they don’t own 25-plus distilleries spread across Scotland, they put the focus on cask finishes rather than regions. Smart move.
I was recently gifted one of these bottles for my birthday and as this is one of those whiskies I would otherwise likely ignore, I was genuinely pleased to get it and excited to try it. Bearing in mind this is meant to be luring in occasional customers or supermarket shoppers into taking the next step into whisky, I’m not expecting this to be an earth-shattering, eye-opening release. However, I’m intrigued to find out if an 8 year old blend finished in mizunara oak has anything of interest to offer to someone who’s well and truly a long way down the whisky rabbit hole.
Nose
A funky start. A mixture of herbal tea with young, slightly sweet resin notes and then a strong rye-like element rolls in, bringing in sensations of grain and sourdough. Something gently sour/acidic such as lemongrass and citrus countered by a hint of honey and then some wet cardboard and paper. Intriguing and interesting and definitely not your average contemporary blend. Perhaps even a bit unconventional.
Palate
Back on familiar ground now. Inclined to add ‘alas’ here. Fairly neutral grain spirit mixed with a young, sappy wood note. Quite easy overall and a bit flat. Grainy and bread-like, with some gentle generic sweetness. A peppery note too, sitting on cardboard which makes for a dry mouthfeel before going into a short-lived, woody/peppery and dry finish.
The Dregs
I wished the nose translated on to the palate, but it wasn’t meant to be. Such a promising, interesting start but unfortunately it also ended there. There’s nothing wrong or off-putting about the palate, but it’s just not interesting: Generic grain spirit, banking on the wood influence to do the heavy lifting. The word ‘smooth’ appearing three times on the label might have triggered alarm bells, but wouldn’t it have been a breath of fresh air to see a big whisky company such as Dewar’s/Bacardi releasing a budget-friendly blend that punched well above its weight? Something we as a whisky community could embrace and shout about? Something that would send a message from the big boys, saying: “We hear you, and we haven’t forgotten about you.”
I’m sure that even with just 3% extra ABV and slightly less cynical chill filtering, this could‘ve been a significantly more interesting experience. And if that means you’d have to sell it for an extra £5 so be it. Opportunity gone begging? Close, but no cigar in any case. Which puts me in a bit of a conundrum. Based on the nose and the price, I’m leaning towards a solid 6/10, but the palate is just too much of a ‘meh’ experience to even remotely justify that. So, let’s get diplomatic on this one and cut things nicely down the middle.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA