Tastes

Nose is light but nice! Fruit and honey. Taste is tight and integrated like no normal Johnnie blend. This has some real class about it. Its oily and made with nice wood. This dram is just on the sweet side but not a desert dram as it has a touch of smoke and dare I say peat. There is also a citrus note that makes this beautifully layered. I personally prefer Green label but this is top stuff....but price is too high especially when you compare to Green. 4 stars or 93

My first impression drinking this with Cascode remains. This is a loverly expression of wood and how it can be expressed in whisky. There is an understated elegance here that can be so easily overlooked. The nose is vanilla, subtle wood and bananas. The taste is light bodied fruit and oak tannin - finish is light spice. Smooth and clean as we've come to expect from Compass Box. Its overshadowed by its bigger dare I say brasher brothers and sisters in the Compass Box range. This is not a dram to compare but to savour. If you want to do some trainspotting best not stop here. Loverly stuff and kind of unique. I first gave this 3 stars but by the end of the glass I raised this 4 stars and 92.

I love this! Nose is sherry, sherry, sherry and finally vanilla oak. Taste is sweet and complex oak, vanilla and caramel giving way to balanced tannin. Loverly mouth feel and all this unwatered at 50% - impressive. Adding water brings out a treacle element in the nose and quietens down the taste and stretches out separates the tannin finish. I actually prefer it neat. 4 Stars or 92

Nose is ethanol and distant floral and fruit. Coloured blend but the taste makes up for the nose. Malt and vanilla builds to a nice full buttery fruit. Almost Sweet finish ends with tart tannin oak but nicely balanced. Not bad at all! I prefer Johnnie Black just for its more characterful delivery but still one of best blends. 3 stars or 90. Enjoy

Nose: Ethanol followed by distant and faint fruit and peat (smoke) Colour is not natural. Taste is medium bodied fruit driven and pleasant but ruined by sour tannin and metallic note on the finish. Not bad but no great. I remember this being a lot more smoky then it is now...pity. 2 stars or 85

Nose: Ethanol, malt and some distant peat and smoke but I could be mistaken as it so faint. Coloured blend. Taste of sweet malt and vanilla finishing in tart woody tannin but nicely balanced. For a cheap blend its nicely smooth and there are certainly worse to be had at this price point. It has a decent mouth feel and a touch of oil and a hint of salt and charcoal. 2.5 starts 86 points. Not bad at all if you are after a cheap blend.

Nose: Initial hit of peatiness followed by a touch of iodine and limey citrus. Not a huge nose but very nice. Colour: Pale straw – no added colour. Taste: Almost medium peatiness builds into a sweet citrus that smoothly transitions to a slightly tart lemon citrus finish. Its smooth and the finish while not super long transitions so well and the level of refinement at this price point is just lovely. After the citrus fades you are left with a hint of peat and an echo of smoke. For the price this is a great dram and a real surprise. Its 43% alcohol and best drunk neat, I’d give it 3.5 stars or on my numbering system 91. It would almost scrape 4 stars when price is factored in except for one flaw that can’t be ignored. The peatiness which is lovely and balanced when you open the bottle does not hang around and fades relatively quickly….by the time you get to the end of the bottle you are left with a citrus bowl and the peat is a memory. Still for $60 in Australia this is top stuff…lets face it in this price bracket you are still in blend (bland) land based on grains of various quality and caramel colour. The Six Isles has a little touch of class that they simply can’t match and shows that the modern vatted whisky are really showing the way for affordable whisky. Addendum the initial peat on the nose and on the taste does not hang around but the underlying peat does come through if you give it some time. After drinking some great whiskies and having time to consider - this is 4 stars when you factor in price. If you want a quick quality tour around the six isles this is great place to start.

There are two ways to approach Johnnie Walker Black - glass half full or glass half empty. The half empty view focuses on the underlying grain having some obvious roughness, the hint of smoke and the shortish finish in what is after all a mass-produced blend. The glass half full view - which is where I reside - is what a glorious dram for the money. Colour darkish orange obviously coloured. Nose is a moderate amount of smoke, a touch of maritime peatiness, vanilla and oak. No blend under 50 aussie dollars is even in the same universe as this nose. Taste is sweet vanilla and toasted caramel finishing in smoke and brine. Its impeccably balanced and has a good mouth feel really a tour de force for a blend or it would be if Compass Box wasn’t around to show blends can be much smoother with their grain and just as characterful. Yes they charge a premium but still the one weak point in the chain has to be acknowledged even when your glass is half full. It’s a blend but also an open window into the world of whisky. Many us will happily climb through the window taking a bottle of Black with us. 88 or a very solid 3 stars

Review for - Batch 27 Colour: pale yellow. Nose: Ethanol, vanilla, fruit, some hint of the sea. First sip the initial sweetness quickly makes way for a sour delivery betraying old casks and young undisciplined whisky. There is a bit of fruit and a wine/sherry note that is quiet pleasant and in many ways this is a whisky that could be knocked into shape but as it is I’d say this is a disappointing dram. In Australia this is basically the same price as Johnnie Walker Black, which is a much more complete, complex and focused experience. The ethanol nose and the burn in the finish would make you think this is a blend and not a vatted whisky - strange. Adding water opens it up a little and gave it a longer finish but not all of this was for the better as it also brings the sour finish and bad wood even more into view. So a relatively cheap whisky that can be drunk neat but frankly its not very complex or rewarding enough to warrant going out of your way to do so. I’d give it a score of 85 or 2.5 stars.