DrRHCMadden
Johnnie Walker Black Label Islay Origin
Blended Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
October 18, 2022 (edited October 23, 2022)
N: Instant, but gentle, peat with just the slightest iodine. Sweetness from a light orange oil and some generic sherry influence. A vaguely toffee fullness to this nose is combined with a faintest tar.
P: Ashy, really ashy, with peppery zing. This is both full but also slightly grainy (ashy again) in texture with some mild leather and perhaps something of a thin watery honey. Not as good as the nose promised but the simple profile here gets delivered well.
F: Short-medium. Ash turns to a soft smoke and is delivered with some of the toffee from the nose. There is a slight, almost lemony sweetness as well. I’ve only had one Caol Ila before (and that was in 2016) but I seem to recall lemon there. Perhaps I’m imaging it, does Caol Ila deliver lemon? The final parting gift of this finish is some pleasant maltiness.
This was an interesting blend. The nose and finish were delightful but the palate let the overall expression down. Not that the palate was bad, but it was a little boring. The flavours that were there were very much en point but I found my self wanting to stick with the nose and then rush to the finish. I don’t actually think I’ve ever had the regular JW Black but the Double Black is a good comparison point. I haven’t had JWDB in some time but from what I recall the honey and BBQ are better developed and hold interest on the palate a lot more than this Islay Origins Black Label. That said I am taken by the nose and finish here. Thats a 2:1 win for the Islay Origins.
I am told by the great @cascode that generously shared this dram with me that this was available for AUD$70 with a crazy offer of AUD$58 at one point. I don’t even know where to find this in Australia, it seems the great one bought all of the Australian allocation. A great buy at AUD$70 and a freaking steal for less than $60 if you see it.
(I have no rocks from Islay so instead this evenings pour is pictured here with a classic Scottish lithology; the 427 million year old Ballachullish Granite from Argyllshire in the Southwest Highlands. A fantastic piece of the Caledonian Orogeny)
Distiller whisky taste #94
70.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@DrRHCMadden LOL! Re. JW, a few years ago I hosted a vertical tasting event that included all the available JWs I could obtain (apart from the multitude of Blue Label releases- we just di basic Blue). It was an interesting experience, but pretty much confirmed exactly what you would expect and for me anyway proved the point that you get what you pay for with JW. My enduring favourites are Blue and Green label, but every expression from them has its place (well, maybe not the ghastly White Walker - that was utter crap).
@cascode sticking with my assessment that you bought it all.
@PBMichiganWolverine you know what, I don’t even think I’ve had regular JWGL. Shocking. I was trying to find a sample pack of JW, thought it might be fun to try R-B-DB-G-B-Gold-Platinum in one sitting. Alas, I cannot find. I have always heard good things about GL, maybe I’m overdue buying a bottle….
It was easy to find for a short time at Dan Murphys, Liquorland, BWS and all the other big franchise stores but hen it just as suddenly disappeared. It was a limited time product and I assume we only had one allocation. There were 4 expressions in the Black Label “Origins” series, three blended malts and a blended scotch. I’ve had the Highland origin as well and it was good but not as good as this one, and I have both the Speyside and Lowland Origins as well but have not opened them yet. This one started out at something like $90, which was too much, but it quickly went on special. I’ve not seen it now for months but you can still get the Speyside and Lowland in 1 litre sizes for about $140. It was the combination of a decent, competitive smoky blended malt at a really good price that made this attractive, and hence why I bought a couple of cases at the time.
@DrRHCMadden have you tried the JW Green 15 yr? Best VFM when it came out, and better than many single malts of the same age and 2x as much in price