Johnnie Walker Double Black

I dig JW Double Black. It's got a lot of the Talisker elements of black: salty, mineral, a little spice and vanilla, but with more smoke and peat. If I've been drinking Speysides or Highlands I notice the smoke, Peat, and leather hints a lot more. If I've been having a lot of Islays that week, I don't pick up nearly as smoke and get more of the Talisker and some sweetness. Also pretty good if you want to put a little twist or luxury on a spirit forward cocktail.

You remember that moment when you found out Santa Claus wasn't real... well thats kind of how I felt today after grabbing a bottle of this. I have loved this whiskey as long as I can remember. As I stated before on a previous post there weren't many options where I grew up and when it came down to scotch there is Dewars and JW and thats pretty much about it. The double black is sort of a luxury back home so whenever you could get your hands on it it was a cause for celebration. Today I was in the mood for a nice relaxing pool day with my lady so I went down to my local shop and opted for a bottle of this over a Laphroaig 10... I know what you guys are thinking. Insane comes to mind right away, but believe me I have my reasons but first let me get to my notes. As soon as I got home I opened the bottle I poured a bit on a sniffer and tried to pick this thing apart, keep in mind that in the past few months I had crossed over to "the dark side" having tried a decent amount of Islays, the likes of Ardbeg 10, Lag 16, Talisker 10, Oban 14 and Laphroaig Lore... so coming back to this was kind of bitter sweet. On the nose I got the same burnt rubber that I so much love along with a great amount of smokiness however it does lack some of the sweet saltiness most Islay have but it does not surprise me since it is not basically one. The first sip brings a lot of that smokey burnt rubber profile but somehow it those mellow out after the first few sips and becomes really one dimensional from there on. The smoke takes a back seat to a nice honey note with charred oak on the back end with a short and unremarkable finish. At this point on my scotch journey I will most definitely reach for an Islay over this 99.9 % of the time. So why reach for this today, well would you drink a smokey scotch when the local weather ranges from 94 degrees to 102 every damn day??? Well in order to make this tolerable,e the locals came up with this brilliant idea... you take coconut water and ice it then you pour the scotch over iced coconut water. I know this might get me kicked out buttttt ya`ll should try it someday.( I do not mix my single malts, I don't even add water by the way and this review was based of the product neat on a sniffer). Anyways that is how I learned how to drink scotch and its perfect for a day at the beach. Cheers!