Dewar's () is a brand of

blended Scotch whisky A blend is a mixture of two or more different substances. Blend may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Blend (album), ''Blend'' (album), a 1996 album by BoDeans * The Blend (Sirius XM), a North American satellite radio channel * "Blend", a ...

manufactured by John Dewar & Sons, Ltd., a unit of Bacardi Ltd.

History

The Dewar's whisky brand was created by

John Dewar, Sr. John Dewar (6 January 1805 – 22 January 1880) was a Scottish businessman from Perth, Scotland, Perth who founded the John Dewar & Sons Scotch whisky distillery in 1846. Personal life In 1845, Dewar married Jane Gow, with whom he had the foll ...

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 The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 mill ...

. Tommy became famous as the author of a travel journal, ''

Ramble Round the Globe ''A Ramble Round the Globe'' is an 1894 book by Thomas Dewar detailing his journey around the world publicizing Dewars Scotch Whisky. The book is at least purportedly Dewar's journal, written solely for his friends who "wanted to know 'all about ...

,'' which documented his travels while publicizing the Dewar name. Dewar's eventually expanded their product by constructing the

Aberfeldy Distillery Aberfeldy distillery is a Single malt Scotch, single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Scotland. History Aberfeldy Distillery was founded by the John Dewar & Sons, John Dewar & Sons, Ltd. in 1896, and opened in 1898. The distillery is located ...

in 1896. Dewar's rose to prominence in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 A keg is a small cask used for storing liquids. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. Nowadays a keg is normally constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is ...

of Dewar's Scotch whisky be sent to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until Assassination of James A. Garfield, his death in September that year after being shot two months ea ...

's inauguration. Carnegie also sent the same gift to President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

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 Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

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 Bacardi Limited ( , , ) is the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world. Originally known for its Bacardí brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 by Facund ...

. 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 Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a vess ...

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 With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels ...

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

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

, the

Dewar Shield The Dewar Shield is a rugby union competition in Melbourne. It is the premier amateur rugby competition in Victoria. A total of eight teams from the Victorian Rugby Union compete for the trophy. Clubs must field teams in 3 grades, Dewar Shie ...

, 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 Rugby Victoria, formerly the Victorian Rugby Union, is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, it is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union. Rugby Vict ...

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 Michael Fassbender (; born 2 April 1977) is a German-Irish actor. His accolades include nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number nine on ''The Irish Ti ...

. *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 A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person paid by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the ...

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