Reach for the cheapest Dewar's and you walk past the best-value one. Only the 12-year-old is priced under its flavour-crowd, and it has real age behind it too.
Dewar's is budget-friendly blended Scotch, and every bottle here is affordable in plain dollar terms. That is not the same as being well priced. Set each one against its crowd, the ten whiskies the model rates nearest it on flavour, and the picture sorts itself out differently from the shelf tags. The age-statement 12 slips under its crowd. The no-age White Label, in both its sizes, sits over the cheaper company it keeps, the litre most of all. The brand's middle price this week is a modest $69, so none of this is about big money. It is about which cheap bottle is actually the bargain.
The house style is light, approachable blended Scotch, built around Aberfeldy's honeyed Highland malt and softened by grain whisky. It is the kind of thing you pour long, with ice or a mixer, more often than you nose it neat. Keep that use in mind, because it changes what "value" means here: you are buying an everyday pour, and the question is which one gives you the most honest whisky for the money.
1/Fancy the Dewar’s 18 but wondering what tastes most like it for less to pour? That bottle is Chivas Regal XV 15. It gives a Dewar’s 18 drinker about 89% of what the Dewar’s 18 itself does, and it manages all of that for 68% of the price.
2/In the glass the Dewar’s 18 is sweet and creamy, toasted barley and buttered toast with toffee and roasted almonds. The Chivas Regal XV 15 runs luxurious and dark-fruited, marmalade and cinnamon buns over toffee. Both reviews share toffee, almonds and spices.
3/This week the Dewar’s 18 is $131 at Dan Murphy's while the Chivas Regal XV 15 is $89, so the saving sits right there beside the flavour. A yes for each: stay with the Dewar’s 18 if it's your bottle, and reach for the Chivas Regal XV 15 when you fancy the change.
I kept coming back to the cinnamon buns on the nose, marmalade and almond just behind, before the palate turned to dark fruit and toffee, velvety smooth, cognac cask woven through. Chivas Regal XV 15, $89, it's in this week's piece. A dram for frosty nights — would it tempt you?
Drink Chivas Regal XV 15? The Chivas Regal 12, at $60, gives you about 95% of what it does for 67% of the price. Vanilla sponge, cut flowers, a little marzipan, an everyday pour. Save the XV 15 for a frosty night. More on it in this week's piece.
Hand a Dewar's 18 drinker the Chivas Regal XV 15 and they'd pay 83% of what their own bottle costs, mostly for it not being from the Highlands. That suits the Dewar's drinker after a softer, fruitier dram for frosty nights. More on the Chivas Regal XV 15 in this week's piece.
Chivas Regal XV 15 is $89. About 22 standard drinks in the bottle. That works out at $4.03 a pour at home. A pint at the pub runs about $6.28 a standard drink. More on the Chivas Regal XV 15 in this week's piece.
Chivas Regal XV 15: marmalade and cinnamon buns on the nose, dark fruit and toffee on a velvety palate, wood spice on the finish. It's $89 this week, about where it usually sells, and we've seen it from $86 to $89. More on it in this week's piece.
Marmalade, almond and cinnamon buns, then dark fruits and toffee rolling in velvety, with a little wood spice to close. The cognac cask sits politely beside the scotch, and I'd keep this one for frosty nights. Chivas Regal XV 15 is $89, and that's where this week's piece starts.
Love the Chivas Regal XV 15? The Chivas Regal 12 pours vanilla sponge, cut flowers and marzipan, and for $60 it gives a Chivas Regal XV 15 drinker about 95% of what that bottle does at 67% of its price. Pour one this winter and see — more in this week's piece.
Hand a Dewar's 18 drinker a glass of Chivas Regal XV 15 — marmalade, almond, those cinnamon buns on a frosty night — and they'd put it at 84% of what their own bottle sets them back, docking it mostly for not hailing from the Highlands. The rest is in this week's piece.
Chivas Regal XV 15 comes to $4.03 a pour at home, about 22 standard drinks in the $89 bottle. A pint at the pub sits nearer $6.28 a standard drink. If a quiet dram sounds like your evening, pour one and see. More in this week's piece on Chivas Regal XV 15.
Marmalade, almond and cinnamon buns, then dark fruits and toffee over a velvety palate: Chivas Regal XV 15 is $89 at Dan Murphy's this week, about where it usually sells, sitting between $86 and $89 whenever we've seen it. More on it in this week's piece.
Here is a pairing the engine almost couldn't split. Dimple 12 and Dewar's 12: both Scottish blends, both twelve years old, both 700mL, and this week both are sitting at their own cheapest. Dimple is $54, Dewar's is $63.
If Chivas Regal XV 15 is your bottle and you'd like the same evening for a little less, the closest answer comes from the same house: Chivas Regal 12, at $60, gives a Chivas Regal XV 15 drinker about 95% of what their own bottle does. That's the whole story in a line, and I'll spend the rest of this walking you around it.
If you drink Chivas Regal XV 15, the question is a fair one: is there something close for less money? There is, and it comes from the same house. Chivas Regal 12, at $60, gives a Chivas Regal XV 15 drinker about 95% of what their own bottle does. Same family, same signature, a good deal of the way there.
Dewar's is a budget blend. Nobody buys it to be seen with it, and the shelf midpoint sits around $69. So you would expect it to come in under its company on price. On this week's shelf, it does the opposite.
Add the Dewar's range up and the median bottle is $69. That one number tells you most of what matters: this is a cheap brand to drink, and whatever markup it carries waits near the top of the ladder rather than the bottom.
Dewar's is a blending house, not a single malt distillery, and it prices like one that expects to be poured often rather than set on a shelf and admired. Most of its range this week is fair, a couple of rungs are genuinely keen, and only at the very top does it start charging what you would honestly call a premium.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dewar's 12 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky | Highlands | $62.90 | observed | $64.99 | $62.52 | 3.8% | #2 of 38 | $2.85 | #4 of 36 | 1 |
| Dewar's 15 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky | Multi-Regional Blend | $79.99 | observed | $79.99 | $65.13 | 18.6% | #25 of 27 | $3.62 | #18 of 26 | 0 |
| Dewar's White Label Blended Scotch Whisky 1L | Highlands | $68.99 | observed | $48.29 | $44.27 | 8.3% | #12 of 38 | $2.19 | #1 of 36 | 0 |
| Dewar's White Label Blended Scotch Whisky 700mL | Highlands | $54.99 | observed | $56.99 | $47.91 | 15.9% | #24 of 38 | $2.49 | #3 of 36 | 0 |
| Dewar’s 18 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky | Highlands | $130.99 | observed | $122.26 | $105.76 | 13.5% | #17 of 38 | $5.53 | #20 of 36 | 13 |