DrRHCMadden
Johnnie Walker Red Label
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
January 15, 2023 (edited July 18, 2023)
Long overdue.
I don’t remember the last time I had a JW Red and I don’t think I’ve ever had a JW Red neat before. JW pull together 35 malt and grain whiskies and market this as a mixer. I guess then it would be inconsiderate of me to have high expectations drinking it neat. Still though, dishwater is dishwater even if intended to be mixed, so lets hope it’s not as bad as I suspect it will be.
N: A very grain forward, syrupy sweet open with rough raw spirit burn. There are some lacklustre honey and cereal notes, and if you can get past the raw spirit the faintest touch of smoke.
P: Thin and watery. Sweet and a little sickly with a cereal and grain dominant character. Raw spirit is again present, forceful, and rough. Maybe there is some generic fruity and toffee to woody flavour, but I think I’m reaching. Again, the slightest bit of smoke, perhaps a wood smoke but it doesn’t really do anything, it feels disjointed.
F: About the shortest finish I think I’ve experienced. Ethanol, some unidentifiable sweetness and gristy cereal.
Safe to say I am not surprised. It is clearly marketed as a budget bottom shelf mixer, and indeed that is where it should remain. But, this is rough and ready which I is in its favour; so widely available it will do if thats all you can find. At least it’s better than Loch Lomond 12, and just as good as Loch Lomond 18. Theres a damming indictment for LL if ever I gave one!
[Pictured here with a red rock for a red label. This is a gossan (highly oxidised non distinct rock) with a red coating of cinnabar (mercury sulphide) and brassy pyrite (fools gold). This toxic lump is from Almàden, Spain with mineralisation dated to ~360 million years ago]
Distiller whisky taste #145
43.95
AUD
per
Bottle
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@pkingmartin doing a JW run, but Xmas is over, so dropping back to a weekly tasting. JW black up next. The LL, fortunately, was long enough ago to be but a distant memory.
@DrRHCMadden Dang, sounds like you were committed to giving that LL 12 a fair shot. After three strikes, time for something more palatable to help you recover from the trauma.
@DrRHCMadden guess it's just a particularly divisive whisky.
@soonershrink wondering the same thing I got a another pack of samples… and tried it at a bar as well. Determined to give it a fair crack… I felt even worse about it second and third time around.
I have to say, I quite like Loch Lomond 12 also, and have been through several full-size bottles. I have wondered if what you got in the sampler bottles was tainted or different in some way.
@BDanner I pray to the Whisky gods that you never have to realise that situation….
The highest praise I can manage for this one is, "It'll do in a pinch if nothing else is available".
@Ctrexman I can but hope that LL get to read this. My hatred for that liquid is real.
Yeah this stuff is a bit rough around the edges way. Too much grain influence to be good neat....."At least it’s better than Loch Lomond 12"......this is hilarious imo but keeps this site interesting
@angstrom ha! That would likely have more character!
Yeah, this tastes like it was aged in an old work boot instead of a barrel.