Tastes

This is essentially a mixing scotch, nothing more, nothing less, but it gets the job done. Perfect for the scotch and soda or highball crowds.

This is as solid a standby as can be had. This is the blended equivalent of Glenlivet 12--always on hand and a great everyday scotch for casual gatherings where there will be many people drinking scotch.

Not a fan of the char level. I think they took it far to far. For a more subdued char experience one can look to Glenfiddich Bourbon Barrel Reserve 14. Much lighter on the pallet.

The 4.2 on this bottle, I feel, probably has a lot to do with not living up to the hype rather than the actual experience of drinking what is undoubtedly a great scotch. For most of us who worked our way up the Johnny ladder as we could afford them, the first time you try Blue can be like finding out that Santa Clause isn't real. It's not that it's not a great scotch--it's just not that much better than even Johnny Green. Now if you really know how to drink scotch you can obviously write a novel on the difference, it's just that the leap forward doesn't seem as far from the far side of the canyon between Platinum and Blue.

Got ahold of this in the duty free in Virgin Islands back when it was just about to come out in the states, brought it home to the scotch crew and we were all pleasantly surprised. We mostly agree that Green is the king of the traditional Johnny line, but this gives Green a run and was almost unanimously rated above Blue in our small, perhaps unqualified judgments. Great bottle to have on hand to think important matters over.

I'm giving this bottle five stars because (1) it will help bring the aggregate score to 4.0 where I think it unarguably belongs, and (2) because of the entire realistically-priced line of Johnny (from Red to Blue), this is by far the best in my opinion and was all by itself until the introduction of Platinum. A great scotch and one that any real scotch man can be proud to serve to even the most respected of guest.

Three stars is rough for this bottle as it shouldn't be expected to be knock your socks off great--it's too young--but in this price range in single malts it's one of the best. This is the Johnny Black of single malts.

I'd say that it was a surprise to see that, as billed,this stacks up so well against Blue, except that I'm not that big of a fan of Blue (Green is the king of the realistically priced Walkers) so it doesn't take much. This is a good, solid scotch and a good bottle to keep on hand for respected guest because of its stature and presentation but not likely to be your new "must have on hand" bottle. Four stars is dead on at this price, cut it by a third and it would rise to a 4.3-4.7 in that range with the added value boost. I think this is a marketing issue. They should have billed it as the Platinum killer and priced accordingly. You don't take on Walker from the top of the (again, realistically priced) line, you have to climb the ladder.

Not an overdone char like Johnny double black but definitely there. An overall solid scotch and probably great if you're really into the char/bourbon crossover. I'm more of a traditionalist but this is a good move for them in the American market.