Johnnie Walker Blue Label with a Comparison to Two Other Scotch Whiskys

Johnnie Walker Blue Review

Blended Scotch Whisky

Johnnie Walker and Sons

Kilmarnock, Scotland

Johnniewalker.com

40% abv

$200.00

Appearance: Amber – it looks just like the Gold Label – I held them side by side.  Some nice legs on the glass.

Nose: wet oak, hint of oak spice, grain, honey – the bouquet his is light overall

Flavors: nutty, grains, a sweet honeycomb and oak, (sounding like a breakfast cereal), every once in a while I get a mild ginger spice. 

On a clean palate – on another day – the flavors were pretty similar but the mild ginger like spice was more consistent with each sip and it lingered on the palate for a short while.  I like it better today than the other week when I first opened the bottle.   

Mouthfeel: I get a hint of warmth on the finish when I exhale, other than that it is one super smooth Scotch.  Blue might be to smooth for its-own good.  To me this leaves a void – did I really experience anything here.  

To the Point: put this Scotch in a non-descript bottle and serve it up and I wonder what they would say about it then?  I’ll bet the rating points would drop 15 points on a 100 point scale.  The flavors were nice but, very hard to detect.  The flavors were faint and the main focus was the mouthfeel – SMOOTH.

I have sampled JW Blue and Gold along with Macallan 10 on separate days and today I am going to do a side by side comparison.

Personally, the Gold was better (on this day) in the side by side comparison that I did here.  Flavor wise The MACALLAN 10 year old held up to these two.  Now, the MACALLAN was not silky smooth or buttery smooth and the MACALLAN had some warmth to the mouthfeel that the other two did not really have.  So, I say the bang for the bucks would be MACALLAN 10. 

I expect greater complexity and well defined flavors from Johnny Blue at $200 a bottle.  The Blues nose was sooo light that it just takes away from the experience. 

What I thought about this bottle was that it is over hyped and over rated.  But, to me I will put this bottle on my all-time list of products that did not live up to the hype and the price tag.  

For $200.00 a bottle all I can say is that you will be in for a silky smooth experience and a super light bodied Scotch. 

The Cigar Pairing

Casa Magna Domus Magnus Cigar

After sampling the three Scotches it was time to light up a fine cigar.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label

A few puffs of the cigar and a sip of the Scotch: the Scotch is over powered by this medium bodied cigar.  One puff of the cigar and the Scotch flavor is wiped out. 

Johnnie Walker Gold Label

A few puffs of the cigar and a sip of the Scotch: a hint of honey, the vanilla-oak stood out, and I think the cigar added a little body to this Scotch.  On the next puff of the cigar I had a little Scotch still on the aftertaste (Little). 

The MACALLAN 10 Years Old

A few puffs of the cigar and a sip of the Scotch: a little bit of the sweet sherry comes through.  On the next puff of the cigar there was a slight mingling of the notes.