DrRHCMadden
Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Year
Blended Malt — Scotland
Reviewed
January 27, 2023 (edited February 6, 2023)
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
96.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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Excellent review! I rated it the same, but it hit my palate as more fruit forward. The best JW I've tried to date, by much more than a gnat's fart.
@cascode $65 would be a bit of a game changer for the price bracket!
@DrRHCMadden wow because the last time I looked you could still find it for $65
@cascode not sure what the wow is in reference to now, comment thread here has got a little busy. My Dans had sold out for the 89.95 members offer. Got mine at BWS for 96. So much at this price point for us.
@DrRHCMadden Wow, the best local price I can find is AUD$89.95 at Dan Murphys, and it's up to $100 in other places.
@angstrom the Australian market is saturated for this price point, so so much good stuff available that the green is overshadowed. Still, no regrets on this purchase.
@DrRHCMadden Here it is $58 USD. Honestly, I think that is the best Scotch in that price range. Only that might beat it are Arran 10 and Craigellachie 13 yr at $50 and $60.
@PBMichiganWolverine I don’t think it was a replace - They claim when it was reintroduced to the USA, it was the same recipe. But Talisker in the flavor profile when from center stage to backing vocals. My guess would be they are trying to coax any on profile Talisker to 18 yrs since that bottle is so in demand.
@PBMichiganWolverine so far, it’s definitely the best of the batch. I think as most enjoyable goes, JWDB is actually still punching hard. JWG is sure good, but I wonder, would I have preferred to of spent my $99 on something else?
@angstrom indeed, I was looking for talisker, but found what I believe is Caol Ila. I’m not familiar with the other core malts, and been a long time since I have had a CI, but from what I have read, this “new” JWG has drifted away from talisker.
@angstrom very kind words, thank you. You keep reading them, I’ll keep writing them.
@angstrom i didn’t realize it was replaced with Caol Ila. I only had the Talisker version. I need to now try the Caol Ila one
@DrRHCMadden this is my favorite affordable JW. Without considering price, the Ghost and Rare Brora is the best in my opinion
This is still great - seems like 10+ yrs ago this was Talisker driven and is now Caol Ila driven.
This is the one I have been waiting for - a favorite whiskey reviewed by a favorite reviewer.
@cascode I was really surprised. I wouldn’t be able to pick this as a JW in blind approach. The others, maybe I could. It would come down to the grains influence. Looking at my scores I’ve put the Islay origin you sent me at 3.5, which is on par with the gold. But now I wonder if I have done something a disservice. In any case the 18 and Blue are next to come. As far as good grain spirits go, I’ve got to put a spot light on Nikka Coffey Grain, that’s stuffs excellent.
Great review, and a great point in the sequence of tastings to try Green Label. It really shines a torch on the lacklustre grain component in most of their core range. IMHO it’s only when you get up to Blue Label that you hit really good grain whisky. It’s also a reason why I so much enjoyed their Black Label Origin series from a couple of years back as they were likewise blended malts (well, 3 of the 4 in the series were).