Dewar's () is a brand of blended Scotch whisky manufactured by John Dewar & Sons, Ltd., a unit of Bacardi Ltd.

History

The Dewar's whisky brand was created by John Dewar, Sr. in 1846. Under the control of his two sons, John A. Dewar Jr. and Thomas "Tommy" Dewar, the brand expanded to become a global market leader by 1896 and began to win several awards, including a gold medal in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Tommy became famous as the author of a travel journal, '' Ramble Round the Globe,'' which documented his travels while publicizing the Dewar name. Dewar's eventually expanded their product by constructing the Aberfeldy Distillery in 1896. Dewar's rose to prominence in the

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when

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

requested a small keg of Dewar's Scotch whisky be sent to the

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for President

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's inauguration. Carnegie also sent the same gift to President Benjamin Harrison on his

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

eight years later. In 1987, numerous cases of still perfect Dewar's Scotch were recovered by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence from the shipwreck of the SS ''Regina'', which sank in Lake Huron in 1913. In 1998,

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

sold John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. to Bacardi. In June 2023, the brand received a major honour at the International Whisky Competition, with the "Master Blender of the Year" award being given to Stephanie Macleod.

Notable processes

Dewar's pioneered the process of "marrying" the whisky in oak casks to allow the blend to age as one within the casks. After the blend is created, the whisky is returned to an oak cask and aged even further to obtain a smooth, robust finish.

Dewar's products

*Dewar's White Label – Created in 1899 by John Dewar & Son's first Master Blender, A.J. Cameron. It has become the company's top-selling variation. *Dewar's 12 – 12 years old. The blend was created by Dewar's sixth master blender, Tom Aitken. This offering has received some awards at international Spirit ratings competitions. From the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, it has received several double gold, gold and silver medals. *Dewar's 15 – 15 years old. The blend was created by the current, and first female, Dewar's Master Blender Stephanie Macleod. *Dewar's 18 – 18 years old. First released in 2003 and created by Master Blender Tom Aitken. *Dewar's 19 – 19 years old Champion Edition created by Master Blender Stephanie Macleod; released and retired in the same year, 2021. *Dewar's Signature – First created in 2003 by Master Blender Tom Aitken. *Dewar's Scratched Cask – Released in 2015, Dewar's Scratched Cask used the process of charring and scratching ex-bourbon barrels to release a smoother, American-inspired richness to Dewar's White Label Blended Scotch Whisky. Retired circa 2020. *Dewar's Caribbean Smooth Rum Cask Finish 8 Year - Released in 2019. *Dewar's Illegal Smooth Mezcal Cask Finish 8 Year - Released in 2020. *Dewar's Portuguese Smooth Port Cask Finish 8 Year - Released in 2021. *Dewar's Japanese Smooth Mizunara Oak Cask Finish 8 Year - Released in 2021. *Dewar's French Smooth Apple Spirit (Calvados) Cask Finish 8 Year - Released in 2021.

Advertising

*The premier

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competition in

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, the Dewar Shield, is named after the company. The Shield, which is the oldest continuous rugby competition in Australia, was donated by the company to the Victorian Rugby Union upon its inauguration in 1909. *Dewar's has run

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

s featuring Irish actor Michael Fassbender. *Dewar's created the first motion picture advertisement, "It's Scotch!", in 1898. *Dewar's was the first Scotch whisky company to use

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

video for a product launch for Dewar's Scratched Cask. The VR video, titled "Dewar's Scratched 360", features brand ambassador Gabriel Cardarella touring the various locations in Scotland that are crucial to the process of creating Dewar's Scratched Cask.

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewar's John Dewar & Sons John Dewar & Sons brands Bacardi brands Blended Scotch whisky Whisky brands Products introduced in 1846 Food and drink companies established in 1846 1846 establishments in Scotland Clan Dewar