Original subtitles

"Hi, I'm Ami Sekon and this is Whisky Conversations,"

a podcast created by Dufry.

Today we're going to be talking about Dewar's.

Joining me is

Matthew Cordiner, a global ambassador for John Dewar's and Sons.

"Matthew, how are you? I'm very well, thanks. How are you?"

I'm good, thank you.

"As a global brand ambassador, you travel a lot."

"Dufry a travel retailer have created this podcast."

"Can you tell us about some of the differences?"

"You’ve seen country to country when it comes to whisky?"

Yeah, of course. Great question.

"I mean, I'm very lucky I get to travel quite a lot and it has blown my mind"

"how different whiskys are thought of in different countries."

"probably one of the best examples is the whisky"

"that we're going to come on to talk about today."

"So some countries are well associated with producing whisky,"

whereas others are emerging.

Can you tell us about some of those?

Yeah, of course.

"I mean, you know, Scots, I wouldn't say we're worried yet,"

"but there are a lot of other countries are starting to make whisky now."

"I think we still have it pretty safe, you know, with our Scotch whisky production."

"But in all honesty, I think it's great for us all."

"You know, I think it's showing that"

"the trend for whisky is booming no matter where it comes from."

"And I still like to think scotch is held right at the top in the highest regard"

"I don’t think no one is going to knock you off your perch"

So, no, not at all in there.

"You know, I think talking about different countries"

"spelling is something we should maybe address here as well."

"Although we can say, you know, whisky with an E or with without an E, you know,"

we can see the back and forth. So.

"Scotch whisky. We all say it without the E, okay?"

Just the Y

"And an Irish whiskey in the other hand, they always have the E, so E Y is that"

"as a general rule there and you can tell really"

"where these other countries that are now starting to make whisky have learned from"

"is a route with the spellings of, for example, the Americans."

They learn from the Irish,

"so they adopt the spelling. Japanese they learn from the Scots."

"A man called Masataka Taketsuru came over to Scotland to learn"

"how to make whisky and went back to Japan and built the first distillery."

So it's a great way of kind of tracking,

"you know, how people around the world have learned how to make whisky."

Fascinating.

"So the brand we're looking at today is Dewar's."

Tell us a little bit about it, the history.

It is and, you know,

I think Dewar's is a great example of depending on which country

and how much, you know, you heard much about Dewar's before.

Heard of it, but I've never tried it.

And that's it.

"You know, in the UK it's not a huge name, I will say that."

"Now, if you go across the United States, we are still the number"

"one selling Scotch whisky in the United States."

"So a very different kind of sort of backgrounds in the knowledge here."

But for those who maybe aren't

so familiar with Dewar's as a brand, we go back to 1846.

It's really when we say we opened up our shop John Dewar's and Sons in Perth

"and our founder was from quite close to Perth."

"I think it must have one of the funniest village names in Scotland."

"He literally was from a place called Dull D U L L."

"So we all say the least dull thing to come from."

Dull was our founder, John Dewar.

He left in his twenties, went to join

"an aunt and uncle and a wine and spirits shop in Perthshire"

"after he was with them, sort of learned the trade for 20 odd years."

"He then set up his own shop, as I say, in 1846"

"and he was one of these really sort of pioneers taking this lovely"

"kind of full flavored malt whisky and blending it together"

"with this kind of much more mellow but kind of softer grain whisky and kind of"

"getting the best from both a much more rounded flavour profile and palate."

And I always ask the question, you know,

"about the difference between blends in malts,"

"is that one of your favorite kind of of the two?"

"Again, it's one of those things where I feel it can be a bit purist."

"People can say, oh, you know, single malt is the only the only way"

I can appreciate both.

The best answer.

"Right. You know, and I think it's not one is better than the other."

"I think there's very different flavour profiles from the two."

"You know, for me, single malt is almost vertical right."

This lovely, clearly defined

"flavour profile coming from just one individual distillery."

"Turn that on its side. Right. And you have a blend."

You know,

"you have a huge complexity of different whiskys, you know, malt whisky"

and grain whiskys coming together.

"By definition, that is what a blended whisky is in Scotland."

"Any amount malt mixed with any amount of grain, that is a blend,"

you know, in something like Dewar's.

"And we have over 40 different distilleries around Scotland coming together,"

"a combination of malts and grains to create this really sort of complex"

array of flavors as well.

"So for me, it's hard to get that same complexity"

"within a single malt, a very different beasts altogether."

Yeah.

"So the tagline for Dewar's is Stay Curious."

Where's that come from?

Well, I think

"we have to serve alongside John Dewar himself."

"It was his two sons kind of took over the business."

And one of them is probably one of

"the most curious characters, I think, in the history of Scotch Whisky."

And you have John Alexander Dewar

"who was kind of the older son and then his kind of younger,"

"more sort of a raconteur, a bon vivant, this great storyteller,"

"a real sort of forward thinking marketeer called Thomas Tommy Dewar."

So all his friends knew him as Tommy,

"but he was always kind of pushing the boundaries,"

"you know, staying curious, coming up with these kind of revolutionary ideas."

"I think within whisky, you know, I'm a global ambassador today."

"You can think of Tommy Dewar as the first global ambassador."

"You know, he took two years back in the early 1890s"

"to travel around the world, he visited 26 different countries"

and appointed to kind of 32 sales agents.

To start spreading the name of Dewar's. Exactly.

You know,

Its passion

"and probably one of the one of the best things I think we ever did"

and talking about

"why we're so big in the United States, it all stems back to his relationship"

"with a man called Andrew Carnegie, maybe famous for the Carnegie Hall today."

"But he was actually a steel magnate from Scotland and the two were friends."

And Andrew Carnegie said,

is there any chance you can send some Dewar's whisky over to?

"One of my friends, Tommy and his brother said, no bother at all."

What's the address?

"And Andrew Carnegie wrote them back and said, it's the White House."

"So it was Benjamin Harrison wanted some whisky."

"So Tommy, being the curious character he is"

and wanting to get the name out there

"rather than sending it quietly through the back gates of the White House."

He alerted the papers, got a big Dewar's van and sent in the front gate.

"So suddenly, all across the papers that we're seeing that"

"the president of United States was drinking scotch whisky,"

but not just Scotch whisky, Dewar's Scotch whisky.

So the demand for Dewar's

just boomed

Amazing marketing.

we've been the number one

selling there ever since.

But I think that curiosity today

"extends to what we do with kind of our blending process as well,"

"and our first ever master blender, a man called AJ Cameron back in the 1890s,"

he was a real pioneer

"in looking at how you mix different whiskys and kind of age them."

And so, for example, most blends today,

"you will age a whisky, you will blend it and you'll put it into a bottle."

With Dewar's, we like to say we age, we blend and we age again.

"So we always take this kind of extra stage with our whiskys and get into"

"that sort of second sort of aging process, if you like."

"It allows all of the whisky to get to know each other"

"a little bit better before you put it in the bottle."

You get more developed flavours?

100% more developed flavors.

"And this kind of extra smoothness, I think you'll find"

"we're going to be lucky enough to taste something very shortly."

So hopefully you'll see that there.

"And but yeah, this really sort of curious character,"

I think always pushing the boundaries,

"which I think is something we still do today,"

especially with our master blender for Dewar's Stephanie Macleod

"and she is today one of the most award winning whisky makers in the world"

"and the first female ever to win Master Blender of the year twice"

"the only person ever to win it three and four times as well."

She won again last year.

"So yeah really pushing the boundaries in what she does with casks."

I can't wait to try it

"so we've got some lovely bottles here in front of us today."

Tell me about the Dewar's range.

"Yeah, of course, Dewar's is a vastly expanding range."

I know we talk about staying curious.

"We have a lot of innovation because of that as well."

"What I really want to talk about today is our lovely double double range."

"So with Dewars, what we normally do is we age, we blend, we age again."

"That's already quite different from others."

"Well, with a double, double we've added in an extra stage again."

"So we age, we blend, we age again and we add some finishing into that as well."

"And so this goes right back to our first master blender."

"AJ Cameron Wood started pioneering I suppose in the 1890s"

"where he's going to rest his malts together for a little period"

"and rest his grains kind of together separately, then bring them together."

"And this really again adds to sort of extra smoothness"

and with your blend them.

"So in fact, our double double 32 year old is a previous winner"

of Best Blend at the World Whisky Awards

"and again, at One World's Best Whisky, another major awarding body as well."

"So lots of big accolades behind this range already."

"And we also have a newly released double double 36 years old."

"And we're we're looking at finishing in Madeira Casks."

"It's the first time we've seen this in the double double range."

"And we also now have a duty free exclusive range of double"

"doubles, which is a 20 year old a 26 year old"

"and a 30 year old as well, finishing kind of in different sherry casks."

"And you can really think of that range as an exploration in Sherry Casks."

"The 20 year old being finished in Oloroso, the 26 year old being finished"

in Palo Cortado and the 30 year old has been finished in PX casks as well.

So it's a huge range.

Do you have a favorite?

"I'm sure that's like asking someone to pick their favorite child, right?"

"No, you're never meant to have one, but you totally do. Right?"

So if I have to pick at a push, it's going to be the Dewars.

Double, double, 26.

"And I love this one because of the finishing casks,"

they've been used again for it.

So really think of the double,

"double range as an exploration in Sherry Cask finishing, as I say,"

"and probably the most interesting Sherry Cask you're going to find at the moment."

"And one of the rarest as well is a cask called Palo Cortado."

"And that again translates, I believe, as a stick that has been cut."

"And again, that's because when they're they're producing the sherry"

and it starts off aging,

"we have the original mark from the sherry, as is a line,"

"and then something goes wrong with it almost."

"It said kind of loses this layer of yeast that kind of dies away during the aging"

and that gives it some really earthy kind of groundy, funky flavors

"and some quite kind of zesty notes as well."

"So it is known as the Winemaker's choice in Jerez, I think it's known"

"as the Whisky maker's choice for us in Scotland."

"Very unusual one to find, but gives you some really interesting notes."

What's your thought in the nose there?

It's quite light

And again,

"when people think Sherry, I think when you think of the Oloroso or you think PX,"

"those are kind of these are big rich dessert like"

"sour flavors, you know, typical flavour note you get from sherry"

"cask is like it's like Christmas cake in a glass, right?"

So that's that kind of thing.

"You think dried sort of rich fruits, Palo Cortado"

It was not that at all.

"As much lighter, again, you can see with this being all natural colour,"

"again, bottled at 46% as well and again, non chill filtered for us here."

"You get a much lighter color coming through."

"Again, that's because of the Sherry Casks that we've used here."

"And it's a wonderfully rich around your nose, we have a little taste."

Yeah,

" You can see a little bit of that spice coming through,"

"but not that same kind of big rich cinnamon spice you find in all the Oloroso."

"That's a little bit more of a kind of mellow spice. Yeah."

I think with this now,

"you know, for anyone watching, thinking how do I drink"

"my whisky, you don't have to do it in these glasses."

"But this is a great way if you're doing a nosing and tasting"

"like we're doing now, kind of getting those flavours into the nose."

And I always say, drink whisky.

How you like it. There's no right or wrong.

"But if you're trying to get the most from flavour, have a little taste neat."

We say first without adding any water

"and then just adding a couple of drops of water."

And again, you know,

"anyone who's adding water to the whisky, if you just watch that glass,"

I'll let you, a little water there.

"You see all those lines appearing, all those fatty acids and those oils"

"kind of breaking up in the glass and again, go back in with the nose."

Now, do you see a bit of a difference?

It opens it up much more.

It really opens it up in the nose.

"And I think it's you're you're really delving into those flavors."

"Those are citrus notes I talked about that you find in the Palo Cortado with Sherry,"

"you can start to see some of that citrus coming through as well."

"Again, some of these are earthy, kind of grounded notes in there, too."

"A really complex whisky, I think you'll agree,"

"and definitely a favorite for me at the moment in the range."

But you know, very hard to pick

"if you're lucky enough to get to work your way through that range, do it right."

"It's a it's an absolute treat. Thank you, Matthew."

Thank you.

Dewars have a massive range which I would highly recommend trying.

"Join us on the next Whisky Conversations with Dufry podcasts."

Cheers, cheers.

Slainte