Whisky Review: Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 years

Approximately 40 different whiskies make up this blended Scotch whisky.  Each whisky has a minimum age of at least 12 years.  The proportion of grain and malt whiskies making up this blend is unknown.

There is artificial coloring added too.

The price is sharking up.

But, guess what?  It's still the best 12 year old blended Scotch in the market place.

Nose (undiluted)
Vanilla, gentle peat, ocean air with a salty tang, orange rind and floral notes.

Palate (undiluted)
The taste experience commences with smooth, sweet cinnamon, caramel, toffee, toasted almonds, brown sugar, malt, some spiciness, but not to the point of pepper, which evaporates quickly into clouds of subtle peat and smoke.

Finish (undiluted)
Very restrained peat with a flourish of smoke and grains of sea salt round out this tasting experience.

General Impressions
This is the gold standard of 12 year old blended Scotch category.  Costs a bit more, but is worth it.  Very consistent bottle to bottle.  The master blender and team do an amazing job of maintaining the consistent flavor bottle to bottle, batch to batch.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

An Impressive Johnnie Walker Advertisement: "The Next Step"

(please press play and then double click on video for full screen, and then double click once over in order to return to this post)

This advertisement resonates with me.

The voice-over is much like my own inner voice.  The video montage of one guy's life is startlingly like mine.

Life for many of us starts after getting out of college with that first big city job, working in a slate gray, fabric lined cubicle, stirring your Lipton Cup-a-Soup or instant noodles at lunch time.  From those humble beginnings, you might build a career, have a chance meeting on a busy city street with your future wife, get fired or downsized, get married, get promoted with the accompanying tintinnabulation of crystal whisky tumblers.   The closing scene where our main character, who is a reflection of us, leaves the corporate job and heads down the tarmac to an awaiting plane to pursue his true passion, may have not yet happened for us, but it is at the center of our souls.  The video closes with the narrator's words:

"Your entire life, all of it, leads to the next step: the chance to define yourself by where you are headed, instead of where you stand."

What a universal sentiment that pretty much sums up I and a lot of other working guys.  Are we satisfied with where we are?  Do we want to be defined by maybe the less than meaningful job, the morally challenged pinheads we sometimes encounter, the supervisor who has made a career out of being a tyrant of minutiae, and is totally incapable of seeing the big picture?  Hell no!  This ad is a message of hope for the dispossessed cubicle dwellers, who are capable of so much more.

. . .

Effective advertising should start by capturing your attention, and then establishing an emotional rapport.  In this ad, it is done by telling an all-to-familiar story of venturing into manhood (accompanied all the way by Johnnie Walker of course).   This promotional video avoids the mistakes of so many others by not trying to be all things to all people.  Instead, it targets a niche market (middle aged North American guys) and makes an irresistible pitch that appeals to this particular consumer on a sentimental level.

Well done Diageo!  This is more proof that Diageo are the undisputed geniuses of whisky marketing.  I know I am being pitched to, and I am helplessly charmed by it.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2014. All rights reserved. Any and all use is prohibited without permission except for You Tube video posted publicly on  by JohnnieWalkerUS, controlled by Diageo.  I do not own any rights to the Johnnie Walker advertisement which is posted purely for the purposes of discussion, nostalgia and entertainment.

Famous Grouse Scotch Whisky - You can never go back

When I first started drinking scotch it was blended scotch whisky that was my drink.  The first introduction was Johnnie Walker Black Label (a great blended scotch that I still enjoy!).  While enjoying that I also started sipping The Famous Grouse.  I used to have big ice cubes in a tumbler and pour in enough Famous Grouse to cover about 50% of the height of the ice cubes.  Let it melt for a minute or two and then sip. 

I drank Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker Black and Teacher's Highland Cream fairly steady for about a year.  Every once in a while I would try a single malt and simply fail to understand what was the big deal.  Single malts seemed to be rougher, have more bite and burn whereas the aforementioned blends were always smooth, gentle and pleasingly sweet.

Times . . they are a changin'. 

Eventually, after continuing to try many single malts, there was one that intrigued me, I think it was Dalwhinnie at the time.  Thereafter, my blended scotch whiskies faded off into the distance and were replaced by bottles of single malts on the horizon.  Nevertheless, because of this history, I always have a soft spot for blends.

I pride myself on not being a scotch snob.  If you and I are sitting across from eachother in a bar and you declare that in your heart of hearts a preference for blended scotch whisky, I will not think less of you.  That is your inalienable right as a scotch lover.  The fact that you like blended scotch makes us brothers merely by other mothers.  Too many scotch snobs and well meaning enthusiasts dismiss blended scotch as for lesser beings and alley way lushes.  Not I!

So, I turn to this bottle of Famous Grouse in front of me and see if it still holds the fascination it once did for me all those years ago.

Nose (undiluted)

Malty and sherried.  Peppery too.  Not bad.  Nothing to write home to Mom about though.

Palate (undiluted)

Super smooth like 1970's soul singer Lou Rawls crooning "Lady Love."  Sugary, sweet sherry moving to a maltiness that frankly is on the cheap.  Reminiscent of Whyte & Mackay (not a good thing). 

Finish (undiluted)

Super short flavors of cloves and pepper.

Tasted neat, it's not sparking much passion.  Let's try it the way I did years ago.  That is with ice.

Nose (with ice)

More muted.  Nevertheless, some malt notes do drift out of the glass.  

Palate (with ice)

I gotta say I prefer this blend with ice.  Once it has melted a bit, the cheap sherry flavor is weakened while the sweet maltiness remains.  Refreshing and simple.  

Finish (with ice)

Pepper, cloves and carmelized onions. 

General Impressions

Well, I am disappointed to say that all the fond memories have not been revisited by this tasting.  Kinda reminds me of the saying that "you can never go back."  You can never go back to that great first love, the best time of your life, a favorite vacation, a hole-in-one or whatever it might be. 

I have moved on it seems.  My tastes have evolved.  I no longer love her, the Famous Grouse.  The embers have gone cold and I can't imagine how I liked her in the first place.  I'm a little saddened.

I used to like Ballantines Finest a lot, but now cannot tolerate it at all.  I think as a novice scotch whisky drinker I was pleased by smoothness, sweetness and a cheap maltiness.  If I continued to drink just blended scotch whisky maybe the affair would have continued.  Probably so.  I kinda admire that guy who can stick with one blend all his life, whether it be Teacher's or Bells.  I'm just not that guy.

Drinking Famous Grouse, Ballantines Finest and other bottom shelf blends is kinda like memories of highschool.  The memories are fond, but if you could go back you wouldn't and if you did it would not be the same.

Cheers!

Jason Debly

P.S.  Not all Famous Grouse offerings are as weak as the standard bottling.  Click here for my comments on the very impressive Famous Grouse 18 years, a blend of only single malts.

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2012. All rights reserved.

Johnnie Walker Green Label - A Vatted Malt that Beats Many Single Malts!

On Saturday night, I was at a local hotel bar with some friends.  I surveyed the menu of scotches available and noticed Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 years.  It is a blend of only single malts having a minimum age of 15 years.  Often this type of scotch is referred to as a "vatted malt."  It had been more than a year since I last had it, and a lot of readers had been emailing me my impressions of it.  I was enthusiastic in my email replies urging them to buy this great spirit.  So, I thought it was in order for me to try this scotch again to make sure that nothing had changed.  It lived up to my memory of it, and in fact reminded me that I have to buy a few more bottles.

It's a lovely scotch that for some reason does not have the popularity enjoyed by other blends like it's younger brother Black Label.  Not sure why this is the case.  Here's a theory: 

Johnnie Walker Green Label is priced in the same vicinity as many 10 and 12 year old single malts.  The typical consumer heads into the liquor store and will want to maximize value for money in a purchase.  Operating on the assumption that single malts are always superior to blends, he or she selects the 10 or 12 year old single malt over the vatted malt or pure malt scotch whisky, Johnnie Walker Green.  Accordingly, sales of this vatted malt are weaker than say Black Label that has no such single malt equivalent competition. 

There is some anecdotal support for my theory.  The liquor corporation that owns all liquor stores in my area has chosen to 'delist' (government speak for a halt on future orders) as they too believe customers are opting for the 10 and 12 year old single malts in the same price range.  Accordingly, I have started hoarding the remaining bottles available in my area . . .

 











So, who buys Johnnie Walker Green?  People who have stumbled upon it by accident or those who wondered what the other Johnnie Walker bottlings taste like.  That's how I discovered it.  Of course, there is also the category of customers who know Johnnie Walker Green to be better than many of the single malts at the same price point.  I think the company, Diageo, should consider increasing marketing of this wonderful product and maybe tackle head-on the assumption that 10 and 12 year old single malts are better.  Such a premise is often not true.  As you know, just because a scotch is a single malt does not necessarily mean it is better than a blended scotch, particularly this vatted malt.

Glenfiddich 12 years, Glenkinchie 12 years, Glenlivet 12 years, Auchentoshan 12 years and Glendronach  12 years are clear examples of single malts that pale in comparison to Johnnie Walker Green Label.  Green Label offers a nicer nose, and a greater complexity of flavors.  Just add a little water (ie. one teaspoon) to a shot to bring out the complexity of flavors.

Frankly, I think Green Label is better than Blue Label.

Diageo, if you are out there and reading this post, take note, this is one consumer that wants to see this brand marketed more heavily to ensure its continued existence.  My great fear is that one day Diageo may stop making this great vatted malt.  A marketing campaign with a logo like "Green Label - A Vatted Malt that Beats Single Malts!" or something to that affect would be great and effective in increasing sales and thereby enabling me to continue to enjoy this wonderful spirit.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2012. All rights reserved.

P.S.  Diageo totally ignored my suggestion in this post and instead have discontinued this diamond of a malt.  I discuss this terrible development here.

Basil Hayden's 8 yr old Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Great discoveries are often made by accident. Jeff Dufour wrote, in a 2006 article entitled, The History of Bourbon, a happy accident, (click here) that in the late 1780’s, Elijah Craig, a distiller of Bourbon County, Kentucky, took old fish barrels and used them for whisky that was to be shipped to New Orleans. In order to clean out the inside of the fish barrel, he observed the cheapest and most efficient way to do so involved burning the inside with an open flame. The charred interior of the barrel cured any smell or remnants of fish. Thereafter, Mr. Craig would send the barrels of Kentucky whisky by boat to New Orleans, a trip in those days that could take a couple of months. The whisky that arrived in New Orleans tasted better than when it left Kentucky. Suddenly, charring the insides of barrels became a must for Kentucky whisky distillers. The charred wood imparted flavors of vanilla, oak and smoothed out the roughness of the whisky.

What the above story has to do with Basil Hayden’s 8 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, I do not know, but just felt compelled to impart that interesting anecdote to you. “Eric,” a reader of this blog, kindly provided me with a link to Mr. Dufour’s article that enabled me to learn this interesting tidbit in the history of American whisky. Thanks Eric!

In any event, moving right along, lately, I have been sampling Basil Hayden’s bourbon. I first tasted it at a whisky festival in November 2009. I was impressed and decided I needed a bottle for further study and eventual posting of a tasting note. Unlike a lot of reviewers on the web, I try to only post tasting notes based on my sampling of a bottle. I do not think an adequate opinion of a whisky can be formulated from a tiny 200ml bottle or at a whisky tasting. I need a bottle that I can return to several times over different evenings before coming to a conclusion as to a whisky’s merits and defects.

Nose (undiluted)
Floral, vanilla, corn husk.

Palate (undiluted)
Light bodied, gentle corn and rye tang, distinctive of bourbon, graces your taste buds like a tiny dancer. Summer easy sweet charcoal, like a wheeping willow tree graced by a light breeze. Caramel flavors hang in the background throughout the tasting.

Finish (undiluted)
Sweet corn, a little rye warmth, and the flotsam jetsam charcoal/vanilla flavors culminating in some of the mildest spice I have ever experienced in bourbon.

General Impressions
My immediate impression of this bourbon is that it is very light bodied and consequently easy drinking. Very easy! This is not spicy. Yes, there is some spice, but it is so mild that the word “spice” hardly seems appropriate. It would be the perfect ingredient in mixed drinks calling for bourbon, except it is too expensive to be used as mix. It is a mere 80 proof and tastes like less. This bourbon is so mild that if you have never had bourbon or always added ice or water, well if there was ever a time to try it straight, it would be now.

As a general statement, it is fair to say that when bourbon is sweet, it is due to the corn grain used. Rye provides spice. Without checking Basil Hayden’s website (click here) I was sure there was less rye (meaning more corn) in this bourbon recipe than typically found in other bourbons. Well, guess what? I was dead wrong. There are exceptions to every rule and Basil Hayden is one.

A visit to the website indicates that Basil Hayden’s 8 yr old bourbon is based on a recipe of twice as much rye as corn when compared to the recipes of the remainder of the Small Batch collection marketed by Beam Global Spirits and Wine Inc., namely: Knob Creek, Booker’s and Baker’s. Trouble is: Knob Creek and the others are a helluva lot more spicy, robust and challenging than Basil Hayden’s, but I guess it is not due to the rye content.

Anyway, back to my impressions of this bourbon. I am a bit underwhelmed (is that a word?) given the premium price for a whisky marketed as an ultra-premium bourbon. Why? This bourbon just lacks pizzazz. It’s too smooth, no burn going down, so gentle that you can never mind all that advice about taking little sips I make in other reviews. It lacks any challenge or intrigue. It's belongs in the featherweight bourbon division (there is no such division, I just made that up!).

Something can be simple yet interesting or memorable. We see this all the time in music. Take the catchy guitar riff in Daytripper by the Beatles or Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. The music is simple but its gotta 'hook' that brings you back for more. Whisky may be understood the same way. Jim Beam Black, Johnnie Walker Black are not overly complex, but have that “hook” that brings you back again and again for another sip. Basil Hayden’s lacks that hook in terms of flavor. For that reason, I would not buy it again, not because it is bad but rather because it is not "great."

So, who should buy this? If you are trying bourbon for the first time, this would be worth getting to know before you try much more robust and superior bourbons of the heavyweight division like Wild Turkey 101 and Knob Creek. Trust me, the latter whiskies will knock you out with a punch you won't see coming!

Cheers!

Jason

© Jason Debly, 2010. All rights reserved.