Here is the short version, and it stays true all the way down: the bottle nearest to Dewar's 15 for less money is its own younger sibling. Dewar's 12 is $69, and to a Dewar's 15 drinker it does about 97% of what the 15 does. Same house, same double ageing, a few dollars saved. If you came for a headline, that is it.
What you're pouring
Dewar's 15 is a blended Scotch, fifteen years old, double aged. The nose leads with vanilla and soft fruit: melon, banana, apple, a twist of orange. There's a slightly woody edge underneath it all, the kind that keeps the sweetness honest. It's an easy, rounded dram rather than a loud one.
What to pay
It's $80 at Dan Murphy's this week, and from what we've seen that's about where it usually sits. So no surprises on the price tag. Worked out per pour, that's around $3.62 a standard drink, with roughly 22 standard drinks in the bottle. A pint at the pub runs about $6.28 a standard drink, so a glass at home is comfortably under half a pint.
What the neighbours' drinkers would pay
Here's the bit that makes you tilt your head. Ask the drinkers of the bottles closest to Dewar's 15 what they'd pay for it, each starting from what they happily pay for their own, and the answers come in under the asking price.
A Dewar's 12 drinker would hand over about $60 for the 15, which is 87% of what their own bottle costs them. They mark it down for not being from the Highlands and for being older than theirs. Turn it around and a Dewar's 15 drinker rates the 12 at about 97% of their own bottle, docking it only for being the younger pour. Both sides, side by side, land close.
Across the bottles nearest Dewar's 15, those answers run from $52 to $66. This week's $80 sits above all of them, so the 15 is priced for the people who already love it rather than for the neighbours peering over the fence.
Three that stand in
| Bottle | This week | Usually | Does for a Dewar's 15 drinker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dewar's 12 | $69 | ~$63 | ~97% |
| Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 | $68 | ~$62 | ~97% |
| Dimple 12 | $54 | ~$54 | ~97% |
Dewar's 12 usually sells around $63, and we've seen it between $63 and $69. Caramel and oak on the nose with a surprising lick of sherry sweetness, then a short, bitter grapefruit finish. To a Dewar's 15 drinker it gives about 97% of the 15 for 86% of the price. The family likeness is exactly the point.
Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 usually sits around $62, and we've seen it from $62 to $68. It's fresh and bright: soft smoke, banana, apple and barley sugar, a little toffee and burnt toast on the palate. To a Dewar's 15 drinker it does about 97% of the job for 85% of the price.
Dimple 12 usually holds at $54, and we've seen it from $54 to $58. Toffee and spice with a citrus edge, rough for a beat before it settles into warm caramel, smoke and oak. To a Dewar's 15 drinker it manages about 97% at 67% of the price, which is the cheapest pour here at roughly $2.44 a standard drink.
Who it's for
If Dewar's 15 is your bottle, nothing above asks you to move. It's $80, it's steady, and the vanilla-and-fruit profile is yours to keep.
If you're a Dewar's 12 drinker, you already know the family voice; the 15 is the same conversation, a touch more polished, and you can decide whether the extra dollars sing. If you lean Label 5, you'll find familiar brightness in the whole group, with the 12 the closest cousin. And if Dimple is your regular, you're pouring the gentlest spend of the lot while sitting a whisker off the same 97% mark. Everyone here gets a yes; the only question is how many dollars you feel like pouring.
None recorded.
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