White Walker by Johnnie Walker

Beautiful bottle. Beautiful tv series. Not so great whisky. This Johnnie Walker White Walker edition is a special limited edition with a Game Of Thrones theme. The most interesting thing is that it is highly collectible and when you put it on the freezer the whole bottle reveals an icy format, and the words "Winter is Here" appears. Nice packaging. Bottled at 41.7% abv, pale straw color. Well.... this is grain whisky. It smells like grain whisky and tastes like grain whisky. On the nose: grain whisky profile. Corn, vanilla, fresh fields of corn, grass, a cheap citric note and a very dim note of chocolate. On the palate, same grainy profile: Herbal, Grassy, Lots of grain, Oily and creamy, Corn, it feels Very young, Malty, Chocolate. Aftertaste is short with ginger spice. Overall its like an alternative to Johnnie Walker Red Label, a very young whisky with lots of grain influence. Best to keep the bottle closed for your collection and nothing more. 62 over 100.

I must admit. This doesn’t suck. Mind you it’s still not good whisky, but it isn’t irredeemable. This was a leftover from a tasting kit I got months ago for my birthday. I wasn’t in a hurry to try it, but I’m making room for better stuff in my cabinet. I did stick it in the freezer for a while as the bottle suggests. Definitely young grain whisky on the nose, but the cold ramps down some of the more metallic notes found in JW Red. Palate is soft, rounded, creamy, with a hint of nail polish. Mmmmmm. Really sells this one. Finish is mercifully short. It’s better than JW Red, but that’s a low bar indeed. If you MUST get one of the Game of Thrones whiskies (disappointing finale notwithstanding), go for the Talisker or Lagavulin. I heard the Clynelish and the Mortlach were also quite nice. Let this one fade into oblivion just like the Night King...

Served as recommended, out of the freezer. Nose - some vanilla and Apple, some spice... Cold glass feels nice in my hand, like having a cocktail. Palate - bitterness prominent at first, rounds out a little as drank, but fairly one dimensional. Vanilla notes hiding in the background. Finish - slightly harsh, somewhat like Danaerys's massacre of Kings landing, which happens to be what I'm watching as I drink this, so I may be slightly skewed. It does however change into a subtle sweetness, not unlike a Canadian whisky.... Or is it the reunification of Cercei and Jamie Lannister I'm tasting? Overall, probably best served as a component of a cocktail such as a rusty nail, or at least enjoyed with a large helping of Game of Thrones.

Nose: Fruity with lots of vanilla. Almost smells like a really well-made yogurt. Never thought I’d say that in a Scotch review... Palate: Very citrusy. Orange to be exact. A little vanilla comes in and compliments the orange. Finish: Medium. Vanilla lingers a little bit. Smooth and simple. Overall Thoughts: I don’t hate it. I know some people really did not enjoy this one and some people very much did. I know it has a kitschiness to it seeing that it’s basically just an ad campaign, but I don’t think it deserves to be brutalized the way I’ve seen it has been. For what it’s worth, I don’t see this as a bad dram. It would be fun to kick back and rewatch GoT and sip on this.

Bad Diageo! Bad. I had this at a friend's house. The marketing tie in made me nervous as did the requisite chilling. The bottle and graphics are truly amazing. It would be a nice collectible but how does it taste? It was really awful. I could not finish my dram. After a couple of sips, it was a drain pour and now that drain hates me like Gollum hates Bilbo. Forever! I hope Diageo is making this for the suckers to fund really good and affordable Talisker! I am starting a SpartaTodd rule that the graphics and bottle design is inversely proportional to the quality of the juice inside. If the goal was to make a whisky that matched Season 8 GoT then... SUCCESS!

It is fitting that this Scotch came out for the last two seasons of Game of Thrones. Much like the latter part of the show it is marketed for, it is horribly constructed and will leave you wishing for the original product. It is slightly more tolerable chilled or as a mixer, which is the only reason I'm scoring it over a 0. Make no mistake though, this is a truly awful bottle of Scotch, and is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Unless you're a huge fan of the books or show and want this as a collectors item, save your money and just buy a bottle of Red or Black.