So I love Game of Thrones (come on GRRM and finish Winds of Winter already!!) and I am trying to land all of the recent bottles released by Diageo to celebrate the upcoming final season. Michigan hasn’t released anything yet except this bottle from Johnnie Walker. Bottled at a strange 41.7% ABV, chill filtered and has colorant added making it a golden straw color. Among the unnamed grain components, Cardhu and Clynelish are named on the bottle as being the malt components. White Walker is recommended to be consumed straight out of the freezer (when the message “Winter is Here” appears on the bottle) so that’s where I started. Nose from the freezer: strong green grapes and green apples, lemons, oranges. Weak oak and vanilla, strong grain alcohol notes. Not much to detect, but what’s there is not good. Palate from the freezer: harsh grain alcohol, bitter. Some malty notes, sour oak. Spicy ginger or turmeric, coconut and vanilla. Really, really horrible stuff. At this point I could drink no more so I let it sit a while to warm up to room temperature. Here’s what I found. Nose at room temp: coconut, light oak and cinnamon, ginger. Almonds, cherries and orange oil. Very malty/yeasty, herbal, floral and grassy. Strong candle wax, the Clynelish component is really prominent, but always overshadowed by the young, harsh grain alcohol. A bit buttery and more oranges. Palate at room temp: strong grain alcohol. Light citrus- orange and lemon. Light oak, coconut, ginger, almonds and pepper. Malty biscuits, fairly waxy. Much better than when cold, but still subpar. A light bodied mouthfeel that is creamy, oily and mouthwatering. The finish is medium length with grain harshness, coconut, vanilla, waxy, oak and pepper. Well, I wasn’t expecting to be drinking Black Label when I picked up this bottle, but I also wasn’t expecting to be smacked with something worse than Red Label either. At least Red Label has some smoke to it to make things a little interesting. No smoke to be found here. Out of the freezer this is undrinkable garbage (and that’s how they recommend it!). At room temperature it’s ok, but would never be something I reach for, ever. I can say that it is well hidden in Coke/Pepsi, but at $42 that’s far too much for a mixer. At room temp I score this as a 2.25, but out of the freezer it’s a 1(and I think that’s being generous). So taking the average brings this to a 1.5. Avoid this unless you plan to never open it and just use it as a decoration. Cheers