Dewar’s Ilegal Smooth Mezcal Cask Finish is an 8-year-old, double-aged, blended Scotch whisky. It’s finished in Ilegal Mezcal casks from the Ilegal distillery in Oaxaca, Mexico. The whisky has notes of sliced green pepper, herbs, butterscotch, and subtle smoke.
Dewar’s Ilegal Smooth is the second in the brand’s cask finishing series, following Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth in fall 2019. Cask finishing is a common process in Scotland. The idea is to give lightly-flavored whisky more power by letting it sit in a barrel previously used in another aging process.
Some say the whisky has a pleasant and unexpectedly sweet, smooth blend with a wisp of smoke. Others say the finish is fairly short and that water dulls all but the pepper.
