Tastes

If you are looking for a voyage you're in luck. This whisky promises you bonfire and smoke on the beach, then takes you on a trip in a land full of fruity and sweet flavors to finally keep its promise and land you by the seaside, by the fire. Everything is done in a smooth, light and delicate style. Aspect: color: white wine             Clarity: clear             Viscosity: nice clear buds that transform in long, spaced out, slowly descending tears giving this whisky an appealing oily aspect. Nose: peat, pear, brine, wood, flowers Taste: nice arrival, not too strong, it rather pampers you, oily texture, honey, sweet wood, pear,  malt and peat on the background growing stronger (but not overwhelmingly strong) as it develops on your palate. Finish: medium - long, peated, oily. This is where this whisky comes full circle, where you have the whole image after a gustatory voyage into the realm of sweetness and honey Body: smooth, light

Appearance Color: amber reddish, dark, deep Clarity: clear, pure Legs: hard forming, low speed, pretty thick and spaced out Nose: raisins, fruity, sherry, bourbon-y, chocolate Taste: sweet, fruits, raisins Finish: medium - long, a certain dryness Add water: Nose: vanilla, pear, sweet, honey, smoky Taste: sweet, peary, fruity, peat - weak, at the end with a little malt, smoke. A bit of dryness. Finish: pleasantly long Oddly, there's a more pronounced smell of smoke that stays in the glass after you have finished it than when the whisky is in it. Body: Balanced, rounded Makes me think of armagnac. This whisky is like a trip. Made in Scotland, Islay - it makes you travel way south, in France with a resemblance of armagnac but it gets you back on Islay with a hint of peatiness. It's like a translator: from Scottish Gaelic to French, it translates the roughness of Scotland into the “douceur du sud de la France “ but still keeping its Scottish personality. Very well suited, in my opinion, with (as) a desert.

“Be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make them laugh, he's gotta like you and then forget you the moment you left his sight “ - Rusty's art of conversation - Ocean's Eleven In my opinion, this quote sums up very well this whisky. It is a wonderful dram. But not memorable. It tells you something. And then you don't remember what. The moment you have an encounter with it you like it. A lot. And then you forget it. Every time you see it, it serves you well. It is there, doing perfectly what whisky does. Without too much pretension. This is why this is a very versatile whisky. This is a good dram. You don't have to search too much to understand it. But you like it. And taken into consideration the price point - the winner of your wallet's preferences. Appearance: color: amber (caramel added) Clarity: clear, no mist when adding water Viscosity: long, thin legs, descending close together Nose: vanilla, orange, honey, fruit, wood? Taste: sweet, orange, wood, caramel Finish: spicy, short, dry Body: balanced, smooth

Color: natural Nose: smoky, peat, iodine. Flowers? Sweet smell in the background . Orange - after a while. Sea water finally. Three weeks after the opening  - the dram gets a brine smell. Taste. A nice arrival with a strong personality. Smoky sweet. Persistent. Oily. Salty. Brine. Finish: long, persistent, salty Full body. Rich. Leave it in the glass for about 10 minutes. It will develop it's full flavor. The peat and smoke will give way to more subtle fragrances. Orange mixed with brine. The longer you have a conversation with this whisky you discover more facets of its character. It changes over time. The glass you enjoy at the beginning of the bottle will be different in character than the ones after. This is a story told by a good old friend by the fire. The flames are playing in the dark, you smell the smoke, you feel the fire heating you. The story develops. You feel good and cozy.

This whisky is an ode to Man, by Man. This is a construction. It's not the nectar that the gods of whisky gave to men by some happy combination of clear water, magnificent barley or some other specificities that gave whisky its personality and sense of a place. No...oh, no. This is the work of Man, creating the drink the Man wanted, getting it as close as possible to His dreams. Its appearance, body and feeling are wanted, created. Now, I know that the purists like to get lost into the mist of a non chill filtered, no color added whisky, the slow descending tears of a cask strength, to travel and explore places with their senses. But Johnnie Walker Double Black is not a whisky intended to do that. It is made to be your everyday go to whisky, from price point to ABV. It is a whisky made to interpret what people THINK what whisky should be, and not let people interpret the whisky, offering them on a plate an easy translation of their thoughts into reality. And this is the key I chose for  this whisky. It is a whisky that I will always have in my home, it is a whisky I will always have when trying to unwind without giving  it too much thought or attention. I will just enjoy it. PS: Don't add water. It will significantly subdue its aromas. PS 2: due to its made up fabric it is consistent from the first to the last dram of the bottle, bottle to bottle. Appearance: color - amber, clarity - very clear, viscosity - nice legs on the glass but rather thin, wine-like. Nose: light, sweet, medicinal, smoky, a hint of sherry, brine Taste: sweet, woody, creamy Finish: enough length, hint of smokiness and maltiness Body: well rounded, balanced