Dewar’s 25 Year Old – 40% abv

Info: Dewar’s 25 Year Old is a blend of malt and grain whiskies that are 25yo or older that have then been married and then further aged in freshly emptied Royal Brackla casks. Available in Global Travel Retail (i.e airport duty-free) before eventually being available everywhere.
Colour: Golden and bright. Hints of rust.
Nose: Straight away there’s older oak cask notes that happily fill your nose. However you quickly find there’s lovely fresh tones there, light summery fruits, slightly pulped down into a sweet compote of flavour.
Palate: Surprisingly oily considering the 40% abv. It’s sweet, tasty and really easy-going on your tongue. Bags of flavour backed up by well-integrated old oak notes that aren’t dominated by tannin.
Finish: The finish is slow, long and gentle; it’s nicely warming on your chest, with sweet barley oils sticking around for ages. Yum.
Thoughts: Very very drinkable and tasty blend, really enjoyable. If you ignore blends as a malt snob then stop it and try some of this, it’s stupid to ignore it.
Available: $225 in Global Travel Retail (if you’re lucky to find it).

Thanks to Dewar’s for the sample.