Blended
Scotland
Originally released to the travel retail market, Double Black combines the rich, malty flavour of Black Label with slightly peatier whisky and casks that were more heavily charred. The result is a toasty, smoky whisky with Johnnie Walker's usual rich, malty core.
Slightly smoky and almost medicinal on the nose, it offers up hints of vanilla, a little tar, a touch of barbecue sauce, citrus and malt.
Good body and very creamy with a sublimely malty core. It offers up a surprising level of peat smoke which works really well. Creamy sweetness, hints of soft wood smoke, salty butter, custard and cereal grains.
Good length with notes of malt, boiled sweets, black pepper and cool smoke.
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My personal favorite of the Johnnie walker family. Love the smokiness. Good is a mixer, also neat with a little ice. Solid
Firstly this is more refined. JW Black is far harsher and more "alcoholic". Double Black feels like it should be more expensive. Nose: Peat Smoke (not too much) honey, vanilla, slightly leafy. Taste: Sweetness first, then hints of charred oak. Malt and then smoothness of butter Swallow: Warmth and good whisky. Log smoke lingers like a coal bbq with friends. 8/10. Great daily drinker.
I first had this about 18 months ago and thought it pleasantly out of the ordinary, with its sooty smoky taste and smooth viscous texture. However, I have recently had another bottle and found it to be quite different and a lot less pleasant. This one was a lot less smoky and much thinner in texture. It is aggressively raw on the tongue and more akin to JW Red than JW Black. I shan’t buy another. I made two attempts to contact the company, but nobody got back to me.
I'm a relative noob to Scotch, but so far in my short journey it looks like JWDB is going to be my "go to". It's a little more than I'd like to spend for a bottle of whiskey, but it's obvious that you need to go another $20 to find something better. I really like JWB, so I figured, "OK, if I like that, I'll probably like JWDB"! And, no great surprise, I was right. It's like JWB, but "more". Some smoke, a "chewier" mouthfeel, some nice sweetness without being a "sherry bomb". So, now that I know that I like a bit of "peat", I figured it was time to "level up". I found something called "Aerstone Land Cask 10yr" for about the same price as JWDB, and it promised to be "Smoky". Game on. Game "over". That stuff tasted like a campfire with recapped tires thrown on it. Awful. Now, I don't know if that is similar to other "peated" Islay Scotch tastes, but if it is, no thank you. I came running back to JWDB, I think that's going to be home base.
Forty years ago I was introduced to Islay single malts and have metaphorically stayed on the island almost exclusively, aside from the odd sailing round the other islands and an occasional day trip to coastal towns on the mainland. Laphroaig and the now expensive Lagavulin are my preference (smoke, peat, iodine, TCP, seaweed, tar, the Full Monty) and I never, ever drank blends. And then.... a very generous friend bought me a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label. I sipped it suspiciously and discovered it to be a whisky put together with great skill although missing the smokey, peaty, medicinal elements I love. Then I stumbled across JW Double Black on this website, with its promise of Islay, and bought a bottle when it was on special offer. It is a very good and very drinkable weekday whisky. I'm not going to pretend that it tastes like the medicine cabinet on a deep sea trawler during a heavy storm in the Malin seas but it tastes of Islay, albeit in a less 'challenging' form, and has great balance. It has become a firm favourite of mine.
