Long before I began drinking whiskey, I knew the Dewar’s Scotch Whisky brand. It was always a family favorite and therefore was on most of the bar carts and in most of the liquor cabinets that I saw. Now, having been reintroduced to the brand with their new blended series, I was curious to know more about the people behind the iconic spirit.
Enter Dewar’s Master Distiller Stephanie MacLeod. The first female named Master Blender of the Year by the 2019 International Whisky Competition, she created and launched two new blended scotch series, Dewar’s Double-Double and Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth Rum Cask Finish. The latter is the first in a line of annual cask series since the Scotch Whisky Association’s historic decision this year to allow a wider variety of casks for use in aging.
I chatted with MacLeod about how she got into whisky, given her science background, inspiration and her role as a woman in whisky.
The Whiskey Lifestyle: Given your STEM background, what drew you to Dewar’s?
Stephanie MacLeod: Yes indeed my background is science, and my career in the whisky industry began in research, specifically Scotch whisky research. The research group I was part of at the University of Strathclyde were trying to unlock the secrets of maturation, and therefore, why whisky tastes the way it does. I found it a fascinating subject, and it was then that I knew that whisky was where I wanted to continue my career. The Scotch whisky industry offers careers in all the STEM subjects, and we encourage graduates, and those from other industries to consider Dewar’s and Bacardi.
TWL: Once at the distillery, what led you to blending and distilling?
SM: At the University of Strathclyde much of the work that we carried out used Sensory Analyses techniques, and so when I joined Dewar’s I was drawn to the technical side of spirit production, and in particular the sensory analyses of the whisky. The Blending together of single malts and single grains to form the Blended Scotch whisky seems like a simple process, however, when we factor in the individual spirit characters of each make, the wood type in which they are matured and the length of time spent in the cask – the number of variables that have to be considered when blending is incredible. It’s my job to harness these variables because no matter what the inventory situation is, the unique character of our blends must be maintained to ensure that our Dewar’s drinkers receive the flavour that they love.
TWL: Now that you’re at the helm of creating the liquid, what is your vision for how Dewar’s moves forward?
SM: Scotch whisky is made to be enjoyed and shared, I want people to come together when enjoying Dewar’s, talk about it, try it with food, and then explore more in the range. The Dewar’s house style is approachable but also complex, and we want to highlight and experiment with all the facets of the character of Dewar’s.
TWL: You recently launched two separate blended scotch series, Dewar’s Double Double Series and Dewar’s Cask Finish Series. What were the inspirations for each?
SM: The Double Double is a set of three Blended Scotch whiskies – 21, 27 and 32 Years Old. I wanted each age expression to showcase a different aspect of the Dewar’s house style, so the 21 reveals the elegant fruity and vanilla notes of Dewar’s, the 27 exposes the citrus and honey notes, while the 32 explores the mysterious smoky character of Dewar’s. We wanted to create the smoothest Blend yet, we already ‘Double Age’ which means that after we blend our malts and grains together to form the Blended Scotch whisky, we take the blend and fill it back into casks with no maturation potential for an additional period of maturation, in order that the disparate flavour profiles of the individual spirits interact with one another to create a greater perception of smoothness. So this is what we do for all the marks, so for the double double range, I tapped into the archives – A.J. Cameron, our first Master Blender, would take the malts by their region, blend them and then double age them, or ‘marry’ them as it’s traditionally known, and then blend them together. So, we took that concept, and for each variant, we blended the malts together and then blended the grains together and then double each blend for 1 month, we then blended the malts and grains together and double aged the blended scotch whiskies for 1 month, and finally the 4th step, we took each blended scotch whisky and filled each age into a different type of sherry casks – so the 21 was finished in Oloroso Sherry, the 27 was finished in Palo Cortado, and the 32 was finished in Pedro Ximenez casks. The Dewar’s Cask Finish Series is exploring the versatility of our blends through different cask finishes, so although the climates of Scotland and the Caribbean couldn’t be more different, the combination of Dewar’s 8 year old with the subtle notes of Caribbean rum, threading through is a glorious combination – there are more expressions to come, so watch this space.
TWL: Blending and distilling are still very male-dominated professions. How has that influenced how you do what you do? Does being a woman give you a different perspective? Similarly, people often equate scotch as being something that older white men make. How do you see your work and Dewar’s as changing that perception?Â
SM: More and more women are joining the whisky industry, in the technical side of the business, but I do understand that there is still that perception of male domination in the whisky. However, at Dewar’s and Bacardi we are doing all that we can to encourage women outside and inside our business to consider the blending, distilling and engineering side of our business, and it’s not just the agenda of gender that we are moving to the fore, but diversity in our industry is also key to the success of our whisky brands.
TWL: What’s the biggest misconception that people have about Dewar’s?
SM: I can’t really comment on the misconceptions, but the things that we focus on are: that the range of Dewar’s Blended Scotch whiskies, starting with Dewar’s White Label are all Double Aged (the explanation of this process is described in my response to Q4) – this is a costly process in terms of casks, warehouse space and people, but we truly believe that it makes our blends smoother. We are committed to age statements for our older variants (8 years onwards). Dewar’s is proudly a Blended Scotch whisky, which means that we blend different malt whiskies and different grain whiskies that have been matured in variety of cask types: Casks that have previously held Scotch whisky, Bourbon casks and Sherry casks, and all of our distilling, maturation and blending is carried out in Scotland.
TWL: What’s your favorite city to drink in?
SM: In the US, I love NYC, also Boston, and I adore Portland, Oregon.
TWL: If you could drink whiskey with one person, dead or alive, who would it be? And why?
SM: I’ve often wondered what our founders John Dewar Senior and his two sons John and Tommy would make of our business today, and also our first Blender A.J. Cameron. So I would love to share a dram of new whiskies with them.
