Johnnie Walker 18 Year

Ah, JW15, suprisingly good. So, the natural progression in age statement to 18, well I might be forgiven for thinking I’m in for another treat. But, theres a catch. The bottle says “in pursuit of the ultimate 18 year old blend”, I don’t really know what that means, but it does foretell of the reintroduction of generic grain spirit. Whilst the addition of grain by JW hasn’t been an immediate turn off, I am beginning to understand just how much of a diluting and detractor to some excellent malts it is. So, not holding my breath on this 18. Let’s check in with Scotty from Marketing: “An intensely rich Scotch that perfectly balances a trilogy of flavours and textures. It’s made with hand-picked casks aged for 18 years, with each passing season building layers of complex flavour. A whisky worth the wait. Drink it neat or on the rocks”. Excellent hand picked, I’m so glad they weren’t feet picked. This reads so vaguely and generic that I’m already disappointed with what I’m now expecting. Oh well, here we go… N: Strongly cereal driven with a slightly oily to viscous presence. Also present, a fairly noticeable raw ethanol burn, nose feels woody and a little warmth from an associated spicyness. I think it’s trying to be slightly smoky, but its coming across as smouldering wet mulchy leaves, my nose is turning me away from whatever this is. P: A little on the thin side and with a borderline gritty texture, or am I imagining that. Malty and with a little floral or herbal lift, really really subdued (subtle?) fruity flavours of sultana, mulled red fruit (think sherry cask), maybe some nutty oils. Smoke is probably there as a mixer to everything and i think responsible for my initial gritty texture that feels earthy by the mid palate. The ABV whilst low at 40% is fairly present but stays the right side of warming. F: Long. Savour-sweet honey cereal, wood heavy sherry cask influence is the best I can describe it as. Odd. I had to go and read some other reviews before I finished the dram. I figured I must be missing something, this is a AUD$149.99 18 year old bottle and I am thinking it is barely average. But, I can’t find anything akin to the official Distiller review by Stephanie Moreno. Maybe I just don’t mesh well with this whisky. I am a rank amateur, but I don’t think I’m that crap at this game. I’m at the point where my initial feeling from Scotty in marketing, generic and vague is about the right summation for this hugely underwhelming pour. It just fails to get going, the nose for me is disagreeable, the palate is like a limp handshake, and the finish is verging on being too heavily woody. What a mess. Boo. 402 Distiller reviews average out at 3.96/5, my score 2.5/5. Am I an idiot? Perhaps not. I tend to discount those scores without notes. Only 113 reviews have notes. But, those still seem to be a 4-4.25 average at a glance. What is going on? Is it me, or is it the marketing teams genius… take a formatively travel retail exclusive, make that available at regular retail, change its name from platinum to 18, leverage peoples tendency to equate age with excellence. AUD$150 for an 18, sounds good. Must be good. Hold up… this is freaking Loch Lomond 18 all over again. Damn Loch Lomond blows, gah! Enraged. Rambling rant over. I’m probably crap at whisky. [Pictured here with a white coloured rock for a white coloured label. This rock is an anorthosite from the Proterozoic Rogaland Province in Norway. At ~930 million years old this white lump of rock is an igneous (magma) intrusive that is composed almost entirely of the calcium rich plagioclase feldspar mineral, anorthosite. What is particularly cool is that this is the same rock type that makes up a large part of our moons surface.] Distiller whisky taste #149 Johnnie Walker running scores Red: 2.0 Black 12: 2.5 Black Islay Origins: 3.5 Double Black: 3.25 Gold: 3.5 Green 15: 4.25 18: 2.5

Recently Johnnie Walker also underwent a rebranding process. Not in total, but in one of its expressions – the excellent Platinum Label. The whiskey took on a new look and was renamed. The reference to the color on the label came out and his age, which had always been eighteen years old, became evident. Platinum became Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years. In the case of Johnnie Walker Aged 18, the liquid remained unchanged, and what changed was only the packaging. And of course, the story behind the drink. According to the brand, Platinum – I mean, Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years – was created by master blender Jim Beveridge, and contains up to eighteen whiskeys from different regions of Scotland. According to him, “very matured malts can become very restrained over time, and the key to unlocking these flavors is the little and careful use of eighteen-year-old grain whiskey from the Lowlands.” He continues “I chose eighteen different whiskies, with outstanding flavor and character, including classic speyside malts such as Cardhu, Glen Elgin and Auchroisk, for their sweetness and elegance; Fruity, complex malts from the Highlands, including Blair Athol and beautifully matured malts from the islands, which allow me to introduce a subtle smokiness.” I would risk completing the formula revealed by Jim with two educated guesses: Caol Ila and Talisker. And Jim was very successful in that mission. Like (almost) all of the brand's whiskeys, Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years is lightly smoked. However, it also has a certain sweetness and citrus flavor that make it almost perfectly balanced. That's curious. In the case of Double Black or Gold Label Reserve there is a predominant note – smoky and sweet, respectively. But not in this expression. Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years is a serious, sophisticated and elegant blend. There is a clear exchange of appeal for complexity. Source: Cão Engarrafado website.

3.5 Stars - Very good; 100 ml sample and 750 ml bottle This is very close to being spectacular. Like the best blends, you can taste the individual components, yet everything works well in combination. Depending on the day, I either get more of the Speyside influence of sweetness (raisins, dates), Highlands dried fruit (apples, pear), island smokey peat, highly aged grain alcohol (similar to CB Hedonism), or a long kiss of oak. This far exceeds the commonly available 18 year olds (Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie) in both taste and value. So why is this not in my spectacular range? I generally am not an ABV snob, but this desperately needs to be 43% or 46%. This whiskey whispers when it should proclaim. Tasting this side-by-side with JW Green… and Green is still the clear winner. Nikka WFTB is similar in taste and price, but also does it better.

I came across this fancy looking/sounding offering from JW at my local Costco. The price seemed fair enough so I said what the heck! Out of all the colors, I've already had black, DB, and Blue. I'd say this was somewhere in the middle. Maybe somewhat closer to Blue without the bigger price tag. The nose seemed light and uneventful with only a touch of apple and grain. The flavor is where it shined brightly. A plethora of notes consisting of cereal, oak, vanilla, dark fruit, and soft smoke/spice flourished the palate. This in turn persisted to the finish which was joyfully long. The ethanol was quite minimal and dangerously easy to consume. IMO JW did a wonderful job with this blend. I foresee this bottle becoming empty in rapid fashion.

Nose: Soft and inoffensive, green apple and melon with a touch of honey sweetness and a hint of smoke Palate: Very light, oranges, lemon, plums, caramel, biscuity malt and grain Finish: Short, some gentle peat smoke appears with a spicy woodiness and citrus Overall: JW 18 is an incredibly easy to drink whisky but it's a bit underwhelming, the flavour that is there is nice but it's too thin and soft, I can appreciate gentle, delicate whiskies but this is a step too far for me; to be honest, it drinks like a £15 budget whisky but with a bit more complexity, Monkey Shoulder is a third of the price and has just as much, if not more body and character than this.

This is my second JW that I've tried after the black, and while it seems it's not for everyone, this is definitely my kind of Scotch. The nose is sweet with caramel and little bit of spice. The palate is to me a perfect balance of fruity Speysides, with interesting citrusy notes and hint of smoke. The finish is longer than many of the others I've tried with a bit of smoky chocolate. I got a great deal on a 1L bottle duty free, and am going to try to try to make this one last as long as possible. I'm still a rookie with Scotch (this is only the 7th I've tried so far) but this is by far my favourite at this point.