There isn't a million ways to make it happen. Discipline, diligence, direction. Luck sometimes. Everyone knows this though. I imagine everyone would give you roughly the same answer. So why is it so rare? We ponder on this today, as we sip on some Johnnie Walker Green Label.
By many considered the best of the Johnnie core line up, 15 years, advertises Talisker, Linkwood, Cragganmore, and Caol Ila as part of the mix. So we're expecting a smoky earthy apple going into this.
We sniff around.
We get the apples but no smoke no earthy. Fruity sweetness.
Decent amount of fumes coming out of this, hard to take big sniffs.
Scott points to a little citrus. We get it.
We cheers.
Scott: ''That's a scotch''.
Sweet and spicy.
Scott gets a dessert scotch. Like ice cream, or pie filling.
We see it too, there's butterscotch, apples. Sean says butterscotch ripple ice cream.
You have to dig for any smoke, it's very subtle and barely a player here.
Simon gets a bit of a liqueur.
Scott says that's a hard no for the smokiness, which the bottle advertises. There's a whisper at best.
It advertises itself as malty as well. That's more present. As we get halfway the sweetness has gone from fruity caramel to a malty cereal.
Herbal comes through halfway, maybe from the Talisker.
It's not as desserty anymore.
A little floral finish now Simon says. A little salt on the finish too.
Easy drinking. Great mouthfeel.
Still warm. Full flavored. Simon compares it to a full flavored, more balanced version of Aberfeldy 12.
The one thing that's still absent though is the smoke. We're killing the very end of a bottle that's been opened 2-years, not sure if that has anything to do with it.
Ratings: Scott starts us off. Goes 79. Didn't get smoke, didn't get the malt, so the marketing is flawed there, but what he did get he was loving it. Would go really nice with ice cream. Simon goes 78. Nice balance, he would rate it a notch higher if the smoke popped. Full flavors, nice dynamism throughout the experience. Sean lands on 79. It got higher as the liquid dropped. Averages out to 78.7.
Overall: at mid-range $83 CAD here in Ontario, this isn't something we're going to rush and actively look for, but it likely will end up on our shelves again. It lands fairly high on our value scale at 82.1. It tastes more like a Highland than the Speysides or the Islays that make up the blend, but it's full flavored, nicely balanced, and if you're looking for something new mid-range, this is likely one of the bottles we'd recommend.
Cheers!
The S&P Crew.
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