Blended
Scotland
Johnnie Walker Red Label Whisky was created 1909 and is a classic blended whisky, a great mixer and back bar favourite.
A surprisingly rich, aromatic nose with heather honey, mixed peels, soft smoke and rum spice.
Cedar wood, oak and butterscotch, aniseed, Christmas cake and malt.
Long, spiced nose with smoke on the tail.
Only someone who doesn't know jack $hit about scotch would give Johnnie Red a bad review. And fyi the "smoke" is very faint, nobody normal would consider this "really smokey". Best scotch for the price, hands down. Bushmills??!!?? Jameson??!!?!?!? Famous grouse??!?!?!?! Just stop.
I get the relatively high score given by Jim Murray and totally agree. This has improved enourmously. The nose felt like almost black label level of quality; the taste and after taste ditto, only younger, more "immature" but also very dynamic, robust and entertaining. I am quite stunned...what happened?..Talisker malt and Caol Isla maltwere evident, the grains much better behaved,(I suspect the overall wood policy has been improved for red label),some speyside elegance was there and some very nice earthy and windswept saltyness (that would be the inclusion of the isla, islands and coastal malts)and finally som nice sweetness (my theory:that element comes from the Cardhu malt). Wow. Lots going on.
My interest in scotch is just starting to grow, so I try anything to culture my palate; doesn't matter if it has good or bad reviews. Didn't quite appreciate my money's worth when I tried this alone, but it's amazing with root-beer or cream soda (amazing as in, I'd make it a point to keep a bottle of this in my room, if just to mix.) -M.G. (MNL, Philippines)
At the end of the day..... Isn't it nice to have the full set?
If you've never had any other whisky, you might be able to take JW Red with a cold coke and somewhat enjoy it. But the moment you taste anything else, you will gag when attempting to drink this. Potentially, it can be mixed with some other ingredients in order to extract some of its flavours. But be warned about trying to drink this one straight. Also, when consuming this, try tasting it before other stuff because I noticed that how hard I snap my head back depends on when I drink it. If its first I'm more tolerant. If I taste it after another better whiskey (say Teachers, Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Wild Turkey etc..) I tend to be more critical. Acrid & bitter, with a ghastly finish that leaves a bad taste in your mouth like the neighbourhood whisky bully. And you don't even want to know what morning-after a bottle of this feels like.
