Blended
Scotland
Johnnie Walker Black Label has a long history. It dates back to the late 19th century when John Walker & Sons of Kilmarnock had three blends in ascending order of age and price: Old Highland, Special Old Highland, and Extra Special Old Highland. These had white, red, and black labels respectively, and were known by their colour. Then in 1906, the three blends were relaunched as White Label, a five year old, Red Label, a nine year old, and Black Label, a 12 year old.
While Red Label would lose its age statement and White Label disappear altogether, Black Label is still a 12 year old blend – though it did go through a phase without an age statement. Its prestige status was trumped with the launch of the super swanky Blue Label in the late 1980s, but Black Label has never lost its cache. Across the world today, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label is a recognised currency and symbol of excellence.
The classic 12 Year Old Black Label is a blend majoring on Diageo’s Four Corners of Scotland distilleries Clynelish in the Highlands, Cardhu on Speyside, malt from Glenknichie and grain from Cameronbridge with a little smoke from Caol Ila.
Winter spice and treacle, hints of white pepper and a little citrus.
Rich and full with notes of wood smoke and dry spice, hints of barley and cereal with creamy toffee and a distinct herbal note.
Quite fruity and long with a note of sultanas and mixed peels.
Tonight I am sippin neat in between bites from a granny smith apple. Try it if it sounds good. It is. I love this whisky.
Its an excellent blend, one of the best out there. Very complex but its hard to pick out certain things because all the flavours is so evenly distributed. The only downfall i have to say for this whisky is that it doesn't have a lot of body or richness often found with highland whiskies, this is the only negative thing i have to say about it. Compared to other things in this price range ($40), it beats many entry level single malts such as glenlivet or glenfiddich
I love my Islay single malts and have over 50 in my collection. I decided to finally try JW Black because no restaurants serve any good Scotches around here. I was very surprised how good the black was. I also tried the Blue and felt the black was better for the price. I agree with the review below...JW Black tastes like what you would think a scotch would taste like. Now we just need to get restaurants to not charge $7 a shot when the bottle runs $32.. :)
Too many scotches try to taste like something else (sherry, fruit, candy.cognac). This one tastes like scotch whiskey. Like old leather and pipe tobacco. The finish lasts forever.
I recently was given by my wife a bottle of johnnie walker double black(normally I take and prefer Johnnie Walker Black Label)but I'm sorry to say that it was not up to the mark, and, I felt not only cheated but also this was a waste of money.
