Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Year

Charred green apple with peat burning in the distance and honey drizzled over the peel

JWG, this is my most anticipated JW liquid. I’ve been being told all manner of good things about this expression. Hopefully it stands up. I may not be correct here but I believe this is the only standard JW that is pure malt, with no grain component. Minimum of fifteen years in European or American oak with Talisker, Cragganmore, Linkwood, and Caol Ila as the backbone, the pedigree is good. Marketing is great here: “serving suggestion, enjoy 30 ml poured into a chilled glass” …OK then. N: Full, rich and viscous. Heaps of rich dark chocolate, coffee, really good oak woodiness, cigar box (I think?), oaky-biscuit and restrained wood smoke. There is also the deftest application of soft peat that laces through it all and that could be easily missed. P: Medium-full body with oily palate coating texture. Malt is crisp and carries notes of more coffee and chocolate but also toffee, nutty-creaminess, a salty maritime vibrancy and vaguely minty-herbal freshness. The flavours are punching hard but nothing is dominant, a wonderful balance. Now then, the peat. The peat is gentle and has a very slight medicinal underpinning with a slightly damp camp fire ashiness. F: Long. Lovely warmth with a lightly honey-cereal sweetness, soft oakiness and perhaps a gnats fart of florals. Crikey, I was not expecting that. So far my JW journey has been underwhelming at best and bewilderingly average at worst. This though just rocked the boat. I don’t think there is anything mind-blowing or breathtaking in the profiles it presents, but what it has done is to strike the most excellent balance between each of the notes. Nose to palate to finish is seamless in both texture and delivery of flavour. The absence of grain spirit filler is now apparent. In the other JWs so far the grain component hasn’t exactly been a negative experience. The JWG shows us though, that the grain spirit holds things back. This JWG has been allowed to really shine. JWG takes some well known individuals and creates something singularly good in its own right through excellent craftsmanship. [Pictured here with a green mineral for a green label. This mineral is a type of feldspar called amazonite, which is itself a type of perthite that contains lead and water impurities. Perthite though is a type of feldspar that is in fact an inter-growth of potassium rich microcline and sodium rich albite. So, single lump of mineral but four distinct mineral names going on in there. Excellent partner for the four malt character of JW Green label]. Distiller whisky taste #148 Johnnie Walker running scores Red: 2.0 Black 12: 2.5 Black Islay Origins: 3.5 Double Black: 3.25 Gold: 3.5 Green 15: 4.25

Delicious, an upgrade from the Black.