Review: Dewar’s Double Double Magma Stone Toasted 21 Years Old
No, it is impossible not to think of Dr. Evil when hearing the word “magma,” and it is unofficially advised that consuming this new release from Dewar’s is best with a laser beam attached to your head.
What is a “magma stone” and what does it have to do with a blended Scotch? Let’s hand it over to Dewar’s to explain what’s behind this odd new limited edition release.
This cutting-edge release builds upon the award-winning Double Double 21 Year Old expression, introducing a new cask-finishing technique that sets a new benchmark for innovation in whisky maturation.
Crafted by six-time Master Blender of the Year, Stephanie Macleod and her blending team, this limited-edition release follows DEWAR’S signature four-stage aging process, ensuring extraordinary depth, balance, and complexity. This new iteration is finished in virgin French Oak casks that have never been previously filled and stone toasted using Icelandic magma rock—a method rarely, if ever, applied to whisky making.
“Our motivation is to always aspire to make ever greater whisky,” says Stephanie Macleod, Master Blender at DEWAR’S. “Curiosity and experimentation allow us to respond to the present and future desires of whisky lovers, and the Magma Stone Toasted expression embodies this philosophy, as we believe we are the first whisky to use this technique. We are always looking to push the boundaries and find new ways to do things, and this new finishing process has unlocked an entirely new spectrum of flavor for Scotch.”
The technique harnesses controlled, radiant heat from pre-heated Icelandic magma stones, allowing for more precise, even toasting that gently enhances the whisky’s fruit-forward character. Unlike traditional fire toasting, which relies on open flames, this method ensures uniform heat distribution across barrels, eliminating flare-ups that can cause inconsistent toast levels from cask to cask. To achieve this feat, the process employs electricity to heat the Icelandic magma stones, reducing reliance on combustion-based methods and lowering carbon emissions in barrel production, and the stones are placed in a metal cylinder within the cask, gradually emitting heat to gently open the oak’s pores.
So there you have it: Instead of using fire or infrared heat to toast barrels, Dewar’s is giving them a hot stone treatment — which we agree sounds like a first.
Let’s taste.
Dewar’s Double Double Magma Stone Toasted 21 Years Old Review
Soft and malty on the nose, this smells like a classic, well-aged bottle of Dewar’s, heavy with notes of sesame oil and undercut with lemon oil, gently flamed at times. A hint of pepper and coriander add some spice to the mix.
On the palate, the whisky presents as somewhat bigger and bolder than a typical blend, even more so than some older Dewar’s releases we’ve seen. Lightly toasty, almost smoky at times, those sesame oil notes continue to dominate, veering into a soy quality as the whisky develops for a bit. Sweetness emerges later in the game, showing buttery white chocolate notes first, then mixed fruit and sweetened breakfast cereal notes. There’s a slightly beefy edge on the finish — the most savory part of the experience — a typically endemic part of older blends like this, though it’s not at all off-putting.
Hot magma or no, it’s definitely worth a taste, particularly given it’s entirely reasonable price.
92 proof.
A- / $140 / dewars.com
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