What's The Best Johnnie Walker Whisky?

Hey, welcome to Super Social Club, I'm Jeremy. Today I have the entire Johnny Walker Core range, from the red to the blue. I'll let you know what one I think is best, and which one I think is the best value, when I nose them, taste them, and give them a mark. Just a few things about this whiskey before I get started. It's all bottled at 40% ABV, except for the green label, which is bottled at 43%. I'm not going to get into colour, just because all of these have been artificially coloured. They all kind of look the same anyway. And for value, I'm going to give you the price here in Ontario at the LCBO, and at Total Wine in the United States, just to keep kind of a flat line price. All of this stuff is all different prices, kind of around the world, kind of depending where you look. So I'll use those two examples when I score it for value. Let's get started. Alright, starting with the red label, this one is $31 Canadian here in Ontario, and $18 US at Total Wine, on the nose. First thing you get is like, really young smelling whiskey. Like new make spirit, almost. You get a little bit of citrus, a little bit of like, oakiness to it. Maybe a little bit of butterscotch, and I get this like, juniper note. Almost like you'd get when you're smelling a gin. But yeah, very sharp, very youthful. Not the greatest nose, for sure. Let's try a pallet. Very strong, spicy kick here. You get pepper, maybe a little bit of cinnamon. A little bit of vanilla, and some smokiness, for sure. Finish, short to medium in length. Definitely that smoke, and that overall just like, youthful kind of sharpness sticks around. So, not the greatest sipping whiskey, but this whiskey wasn't meant to be sipped. Meant to be mixed. My favorite cocktail for this is just like, this with ice and like a carbonated lemonade I think goes really well. Kind of refreshing, you get that little bit of smokiness too. Kind of helps the lemonade. I like it. Score wise for me on this one, I'm going to give it actually a respectable score. I don't mind this whiskey. I can stomach it. I'm going to give it 68 out of 100. For value points, $18 US. You know, it's obviously entry level, bottom shelf stuff. I think that price is justified. I would definitely pay $18 US for this. So, I'm going to keep the value at zero, which I think is justified. So, overall, 68 out of 100 on this one. All right, Black Label. This one's bottled at 12 years old, $56 here, Canadian at the LCBO, and $26 US at Total Wine on the nose. So, I get some nice like, sherry kind of notes in this. Cranberries, figs, plums, get a nice little sweet note, almost like a marshmallow-y kind of note to it. A little bit of oak and some honey as well. Really nice on the nose. Definitely step up from the red, for sure. All right, I'm going to go palate. Really nice like, caramel, toffee kind of combo, and I get some of those like, figs again, cranberry note again. Nice little smokiness to it as well on the finish. So, yeah, really nice whiskey. I included this one in my top five whiskeys for beginners video. I think what you're getting here is a nice introduction to scotch, 12 years old, and it's a good value too. Score wise for me on this one, I'm going to give it 78.5 out of 100, and for the value, just eight bucks more to go up from the red to the black at Total Wine, I would pay that all the time. So, I'm going to pump this up another .5 for value and give it a nice even 80 out of 100. Okay, moving on to the Johnny Walker Double Black. This one's not available in Ontario, but it's $29 US at Total Wine on the nose. So, I'm getting a couple similarities to the Johnny Walker Black in that like, sherry kind of influence. You get the raisins and plums, you get this really nice like, oaky smokiness, little bit of wood, little bit of smoke kind of like, entwined together, and it's like, kind of like, sweet, kind of like, almondy note, really, really nice. I like the nose on this one, try a palate. Again, that sherry kind of influence, raisins, figs, nice oakiness, you get that like, sweet like, marzipan, almondy thing kind of going on, and you pick up some nice smokiness too. Definitely an increase in smoke from the black to the double black. Is it double? Yeah, maybe it's like, double, double the smokiness for sure. Definitely added some more peated whiskey to this, maybe a little more Kalila, a little more Talisker perhaps. I like this one a lot. Nice finish on it too. I'd say medium in length, you get this really nice like, sweet, chocolate, almondy kind of dessert thing going on with the finish, and then you get that nice like, peated smoke note too. Me and my friends cracked one of these a while back at a cottage. We downed the whole bottle, I think, before the night was over. Nice, easy drinking. If you like smoky kind of stuff, you'll like this one. I like it. I'm gonna give it 83.5 out of 100, and again, for value, just a couple more bucks to go from the black to the double black. I like that value. Gonna pump it up a half, sorry, one and a half points to make it a nice easy 85 out of 100 on this one. All right, moving on to the Johnny Walker Green Label, 15 years old and 43% ABV on this one. It's the only blended malt in the lineup. Blended malt just meaning it's a blend of different single malts from different distilleries with no grain whiskey. These other ones all are single malt blends with grain whiskey added to them. $80 Canadian here at the LCBO and $45 US at Total Wine on the nose. Really nice, fresh apple kind of note on this one. Really good, like, creamy vanilla. You get lemongrass, you get floral, nice maltiness to it, and some oak. Really like the nose on this for sure. Really, really nice. Let's try the palate. You get that citrus kind of note. Again, you get vanilla, floral, maltiness, oakiness. All kind of meshes very, very well. Well balanced for sure on this. Finish, medium length, you get that malt, oak, a little bit of smokiness, just a tad, but overall really, really good. Reminds me of Kleinlich, probably because there's a decent amount of Kleinlich in it, but yeah, really, really nice. Score wise for me on this one, I'm going to give it 83.5 out of 100. And value wise, $45 US, pretty decent price, bump it up a half point, give it a nice 84 out of 100. Okay, moving on to the Johnny Walker Gold label. This one used to be 18 years old and they've dropped the age statement from it. It costs $86 Canadian here in Ontario and $69 US in Total Wine on the nose. Really nice nose on this one. You get some baked goods, almost like apple pie, get some really nice jammy kind of notes, maybe a little bit of fig, almost like that Fig Newton filling in those cookies. That's good. All right, let's go palette. It's got this caramel apple kind of note to it, pretty decent. You get pie crust, a little bit of orange. Finish, kind of short, I'd say like short to medium finish. It's kind of drying, but it gives you a little bit of like nuttiness, just like chestnuts, a little bit of sherry notes, a little bit of chocolate. I feel like the finish on this one kind of where it loses a bit for me. Love the nose. I mean, the nose you get on that, really, really nice. That finish kind of just flattens out. Overall, it's pretty decent. I'm going to give it 82.5 out of 100, but for value, I think when you compare it to the prices of the other ones, I just don't like it as much. I'm going to take off half point for value here and bring it down to 82 out of 100. All right, moving on to Johnny Walker, 18 years old. This one used to be called Platinum. I guess they just dropped that. $150 Canadian here at the LCBO and $100 US at Total Wine on the nose. God, love the nose on this one. You get this fresh, like green apple, very, very like forefront, very, very nice. Pears and honey, man, it's really, really fresh, crisp, like orchard kind of fruit. It is really, really good. My favorite nose on everything so far. Let's go palate. Really nice caramel pear kind of note, a little bit of oak, a little bit of maltiness, just a little bit of like baking spices, all kind of work super, super well, very well constructed on this one for sure, but that nose is so great. Finish medium in length, I'd say you get that apple vanilla kind of combo on the finish. It is good. My favorite of the range so far for sure. Score wise for me on this one, I'm going to give it 86 out of 100. For value, $100 US. I think that price is justified, so I'm going to leave the value at zero, 86 out of 100 on this one. All right, last but not least, Johnny Walker Blue Label, the whiskey that every person who wears a suit to work has in their bar, 300 bucks Canadian here in Ontario, 165 US at Total Wine, let's try it on the nose. Well, just super, super rich and creamy kind of maltiness to this one. Floral notes, a little bit of like prune, fig, raisin kind of combo. You definitely tell there's like some older grain whiskey in this. Yeah, you can definitely smell the age on it. All right, let's go palate. So a little bit of like orchard chyna fruit in this one as well. Honey, vanilla, a little bit of floral. The mouthfeel on this, super velvety, very, very nice. Zero percent alcohol burn. It's just, you know, you use that word smooth, it's very smooth, without a doubt. Very, very smooth whiskey, very nicely constructed as well. Finish though, where is the finish on this? It just disappears so quickly, you'd think that you'd have like a long drawn-out finish. It kind of just goes away. I mean, it's the only really complaint about this one is just the finish kind of just dissipates and it's gone. Does give you a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of smoke, but then it's just like poof and it's gone. That being said, I really like this. Score-wise for me, 87 out of 100. But for value, you're not getting a $300 Canadian whiskey. You're not getting $165 US whiskey in this, in my opinion. I'm taking off two points for value on this one, bringing it down to 85 out of 100. Let's just talk about these all as a group. So what I like about this lineup is everything here, maybe minus the red label, is a very well-constructed, easy drinking, very balanced kind of whiskey. Different levels of smokiness when you go up and down the line, but all great kind of like appetizers into whiskey. If you're starting off having a few sips, a few different glasses in one night, you know, any one of these minus the red is a great way to start. Kind of like get your palate kind of acclimated to drinking just because nothing's going to jump out at you. Nothing's too sharp. Nothing's kind of in the way. The smokiness, there's some smokiness in here. None of it's overwhelming. I wouldn't call any of these peated whiskeys. Even the double black, yeah, it's the smokiest out of the lineup. But again, if you compare this to something like an Ardbeg, a Lagavulin, Lafroig, it's nowhere close. So really nicely constructed, really easy drinking whiskeys. Just starting here at the red label, clearly a mixing whiskey. The only way I'm drinking this is in a cocktail or if I'm stuck, you know, if I'm stuck at a wedding, it's the only scotch they have or I'm in an all-inclusive resort. I don't want to pay for the upgrade. I'll go with the red label if I have to. I can actually stomach it. I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people say it is, but really something you're not going to be looking to drinking neat. The black label, great whiskey to start out. If you're just getting into scotch, inexpensive and you're getting a nice array of flavors. It's aged 12 years. Double black, if you're into peated whiskey like me, if you like more smokier stuff, this one's great. Green label, a lot of people's favorite here. Really nice blended malt. If you like Kleinlich, you'll like it. If you like this, try Kleinlich. You'll like that too. The gold for me is a pass. I think that going up and down the line, I'd always pay the extra money to go up to the 18-year-old or stick with the 15-year-old green. I just think this one, for me, it doesn't fit into the lineup. I would always pass on this one, so not recommend buy, even though it's a decent whiskey. 18, lovely nose. I think it's the best nose out of the entire lineup. Great, great whiskey. And then the blue label, yes, it's good. Yes, it has amazing mouthfeel, but that finish on there is just not what it should be, in my opinion. For the age of the whiskey and what you're getting, the price you're paying, you deserve more for this one. So that's why I had to take off two value points because it's just too expensive. Now, that being said, you can find this thing on sale. Actually, the best place to find this whiskey is in UK auctions because no one in the auction game is looking to buy a Johnny Walker Black, probably because they already have a couple of them. So you can find those things for a deal. I actually purchased this bottle in a UK auction. I paid £75 for it. That's about US$100, so way, way less than what you're going to see in a store or you see it on sale. That's probably the only time to pick it up is if it goes on sale just because it's too expensive for what you're getting. And I guess the whole kind of like argument against Johnny Walker is they just bottle their stuff at way, way too low of an ABV. 40% ABV on these, I guess, except for the 15 at 43. It's just too low. It's just they're adding way too much water to their whiskey, especially the Blue Label. Now, they do make Blue Label at cash strength, which I've heard is a great, great whiskey. And I would assume that it would be because they're adding some really nicely aged grain whiskies to this, some really nicely aged single malts, and they're just dumping so much water into it. It just kind of kills it, you know, even though the mouthfeel is still great. And accomplishing that at 40% is kind of a feat in itself. But yeah, 40% ABV for the range is just not going to cut it. It's kind of limiting the whiskeys. You know, this could be a lot better if they were a bottle of the higher strength or even at cash strength. But I get it. I mean, Johnny Walker, they're a huge, huge brand. They're globally reached. So bottling, they got to stretch their whiskey out is kind of what I'm saying. But again, really nice whiskey. And I'm going to give you guys a chance to win some of this stuff. I'll let you know about that right now. One lucky viewer is going to win a two-ounce sample of each and every one of these Johnny Walkers from the Core range, plus one of my Sipper Social Clubs. I sip and I know things whiskey glasses. All you need to do to participate is to be a subscriber on the channel. Leave a comment down below. Just let me know what your favorite Johnny Walker is. Is it something here? Is it one of their special releases? I'm going to leave it open from now until January 31st, 2019. So good luck to everyone who participates. And thanks very much for watching. Very much appreciate it. Like, comment, subscribe. If you really like the content on the channel, you can check out my Patreon page. Just a dollar a month kind of helps out the show. Also, check me out on Instagram. I kind of just post like what I've purchased, what I'm drinking, that kind of stuff. So look forward to seeing you there as well. Thanks very much, guys. And as always, cheers.