Its easy to dismiss Red Label due to its price point, but i challenge you to do a Johnnie Walker blind tasting of 4 or 5 JW expressions and then see how you feel about it. My whisky group did a blind of the Red, Black, Green, and Blue. The only expression that was easy for everyone to identify was the Blue. Not because it was so much better but because it is just soft and easy to drink to the point where most people will find it almost bland and lacking some bite. The surpise was that none of us picked the Red in last place. Red punches so much better than you expect when you dont know what you are drinking.