Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth Scotch Review

By Andrew Graham

Grade: B

Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth Blended Whisky
(Credit: Dewar’s)

Last fall, Dewar’s brought to market Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth, the first in a series of what the company is calling double-aged cask finished expressions.

That description itself is worth examining. Some readers will know that Dewar’s popularized the process of double-aging blended Scotch: they’d come up with a blend, let it marry in oak for an amount of time, then put it in another oak cask for longer. The Caribbean Smooth is advertised to contain “up to 40 single malts which aged for at least 8 years,” so what we have here, I believe, is a regular Dewar’s 8 Year expression finished in rum casks for an additional six months.

In April, Dewar’s released another cask-finished expression, this one finished in casks that held mezcal.

It used to be that I’d only order Dewar’s if there wasn’t a single malt Scotch around to order instead, but more recently I’ve been going back to the blend instead of the many single malts that do have a more-defining characteristic but are just as ubiquitous. So take that as a lukewarm endorsement of blended Scotch. A part of me hopes they make a comeback.

The Scotch
The Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth pairs the consistency associated with blended Scotch with enough new flavor notes to make it interesting.

This deep copper-hued Scotch has a nose of caramel and candied almonds, with a bit of pear behind them. The Scotch tastes like regular blended whisky at first before turning toward dominant tropical notes, like a buttermilk biscuit with fresh bananas and orange juice reduction on top. That reduction turns to plain old OJ on the finish, which is rather brief.

At 40% ABV, one should not expect a roller-coaster of flavor nuance, but there was more going on with this expression than I thought there would be, and more than one could reasonably expect from a Scotch at this price point. My wife remarked that the Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth is “the perfect breakfast Scotch,” and, as usual, she’s exactly right. I can imagine drinking a dram of this at nine in the morning on a lazy, sunny Saturday, alongside bacon and pancakes with maple syrup, switching to coffee, and then having another dram when the food’s gone.

I got these positive tasting notes when drinking it neat. I also put it on rocks, and that didn’t do the whisky any favors.

On ice, this expression was close to what I’d expect if I mixed a couple ounces of regular Dewar’s White Label with a few dashes of 99 Bananas and simple syrup. That cocktail might not be all that bad, but drink this expression neat if you want to pick up what it’s trying to lay down.

The Price
A 750ml bottle of Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth retails for around $23.