Johnnie Walker is a world-known and renowned whiskey brand that even the absolute laypeople in the whiskey department are familiar with. From the bottle to the logo, to the taste and the quality of the spirit, everything about Johnnie Walker says refinement, elegance, and class.
The Johnnie Walker brand was created by a man named Johnnie Walker. He was Scottish, and in a time where the whiskey was single-malt grain bland spirit, he dreamt of a whiskey with complex flavor and refinement.
Johnnie Walker is the ultimate success story and an inspiration to many who aspire to achieve more in their lives.
Somewhere in the early 1800s, he made the first Johnnie Walker ever by blending several whiskeys. The whiskeys on the market until then varied in taste in quality from bottle to bottle, so he wanted to make a spirit and offer the customers consistency and reliability.
After him, his son Alexander took over the family business. The timing couldn’t have been better, as it was the peak of the industrial revolution.
He made the right connections at the right time and with the right people, so soon after, the Johnnie Walkers were available in over 100 countries worldwide.
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Alexander’s grandsons took over the business in the early 1900s and during his management of the company, he created the famous label we all know today- the gentleman with the monocle, the tuxedo, the top hat.
The logo, along with the unique bottle shape that was initially designed to be shipping-friendly, has shaped the brand setting for no other possible outcome than success.
This newly-developed label denoted a new beginning for the Johnnie Walker brand. It was clear that it was meant for enjoyment and delight, bursting with elegance and style.
It was also then when two new Jonny Walker labels were introduced, Johnnie Walker Red Label and Johnnie Walker Black Label.
Now, Johnnie Walker has seven standard labels and some limited editions along the way. They have also debuted their Game of Thrones-inspired collection: Johnnie Walker White Walker, Johnnie Walker House of Fire, and Johnnie Walker House of Ice.
Among the most iconic Johnnie Walker labels are the Red, Black, and Blue labels, each of them carrying different aspects of the Johnnie Walker tradition.
In the following article, I will describe the best of Johnnie Walker, list the best-quality labels, and tell you a few words about each of them.
Johnnie Walker is a very versatile brand, and that is precisely why you should know a bit more about each label, as they differ in taste, smoothness, and strength.
10 Best Johnnie Walker
Also, you need to be well-informed so that you know how to enjoy this spirit, as not all labels call for the same circumstances.
1. Black Label
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The Johnnie Walker Black Label seduces with its appearance as well as with its taste. With its honey-amber color and the jet black details on the label and the cap, this spirit first captivates the eyes before it enchants the palate.
Made of single malt and grain whiskeys collected all over Scotland and aged for a minimum of 1 year, this drink is a classic depicting all the time, effort, and love invested into it.
Abundant in tastes and aromas, it starts with creamy toffee, sweet fruits, and spice, which are the same tastes in the middle, but more intense. The finish is creamy and smooth, with a warming burn and an exquisite smoky note.
On the nose, the Johnnie Walker Black Label is fruity and vanilla-like.
2. Double Black Label
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The Johnnie Walker Black Labels, Black and Double Black, are like two siblings, very similar but very different as well.
While the Johnnie Walker Black Label is the older, classier, more traditional, and classic version, the younger sibling, Johnnie Walker Double Black Label, has the wisdom of his older brother, with a rebellious side.
It is a very deep-flavored spirit, where the whiskeys have been not only blended but engraved into one another. Having the Johnnie Walker Black Label as a guide, the Double Black Label is an upgraded and a more evolved spirit.
To compare the Black and Double Labels in terms of quality is futile work, as they are both premium spirits, each bearing its own markings and style.
The Johnnie Walker Double Black Label is sharp but delicious, with spicy and smoky notes all over. It tastes rich and creamy in the middle with an accentuated vanilla flavor. It finishes with a potent, long, and velvety smooth finish.
The aromas of this delicacy are a mixture of smoke, vanilla, and spices.
3. Red Label
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This powerful lady in red from the Johnnie Walker spirit expressions has been carefully produced by blending the fieriest Scotch whiskeys known and loved for their blood.
It will definitely seduce you with the floral and fruity aromas and flavors, but don’t let that fool you, as this is a very powerful blend.
Therefore, the Johnnie Walker Red Label is intended explicitly for mixing, making strong and blood-boiling cocktails. You can, of course, have it neat, but be prepared not to handle it as well as you might think.
At first, it will pull you inside its web of fresh citrus fruitiness and expressively floral aromas. Mid-palate, expect a flavor bomb of pepper and cinnamon, creating a hot and burning sensation even before the actual burn. It ends smoky and spicy, with a smooth and lingering finish.
4. Green Label 15 Years Old
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Green indeed! This Johnnie Walker label is the perfect representation of the Scottish nature, blended entirely of single malts from all four corners of Scotland.
This whiskey ages for 15 years, accumulating the beauty of the Scottish highlands and combining all the flavors into a single masterfully unified spirit.
Commonly referred to as the Johnnie Walker Hidden Gem, and justifiably so. It starts with natural scents of garden fruits, interspersed with earthy notes and herbal aspects.
The earthiness and herbal notes are expressive and intense, with the middle supplemented with whiffs of wood, oak, and cedar.
The finish is smoky, long, and smooth, again accompanied by the signature herbal dimension of this spirit. Intended to have neat, don’t mix the Green Label, as you will miss out on a beautiful whiskey experience.
5. Jane Walker
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Jane Walker is a noteworthy limited edition under the Johnnie Walker brand, created by the pioneering female master distiller Jane Walker.
This limited edition spirit not only has immense worth in the whiskey industry but also has a social and cultural value, as it is a woman’s recognition in a male-dominated industry.
The Jane Walker is exquisitely soft and potent at the same time. This spirit is not only a tease for the taste buds but also a symbol of female empowerment. It is the sheer representation of how Mrs. Walker wanted women to be seen.
It is seductive on the nose, with orchard fruits and peaches aromas. It continues on that same note, and mid-palate, it has hints of baked apples and sweet cream.
It is exceptionally smooth and creamy, layering the palate each time to intensify the flavor with each new sip. So once you’ve tried it once, you will definitely want more.
It ends with a long, smooth, and lingering finish, tasting like dark chocolate.
6. Gold Label Reserve
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This whiskey is the honeycomb among the Johnnie Walker spirit expressions. It has been made from the smoothest, gentlest, honey-flavored whiskeys, resulting in a tender, sweet and gentle drink.
Starting from its color and ending with the burn, everything about this spirit says honey-sweetness. Standing excellently on its own, the Johnnie Walker Green Label Reserve is also an excellent addition to cocktails, the sweet-tasting ones in particular.
It starts slowly, immediately giving out its sweetness. It is creamy, full-bodied, and honey-sweet with vanilla tones in the middle. On the nose, you can feel expressive notes of hone, as well as wood and earthy whiffs.
It finishes sweet, with smoky and slightly spicy notes. This is a tame and playful spirit, but it has the recognizable Johnnie Walker edge.
7. 18-Year Old
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If something is worth the wait, it is the Johnnie Walker 18-Year Old. Made with hand-picked casks, each aged for 18 years; it depicts the wonders of each passing season.
Layer after layer, it stores and mixes all flavors created over the years, resulting in an incredibly vibrant, colorful, yet exceptionally well-unified spirit.
On the nose, it is rich, spicy, and warm. The spiciness and warmth go through the entire sip, whereby they are accompanied by a sweet fruit explosion and creaminess mid-palate. The finish is long, rich, and smooth, lingering on, still lasting even with your next sip.
8. Blue Label
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Johnnie Walker is not only premium whiskey but a top premium spirit. Imagine having a Johnnie Walker Blue Label from 20 years ago and everything that has happened in the world since then! It ages from 28 to 60 years, which is an incredibly long time during which the world can totally change.
It is a genuine time capsule and literally one in 10,000 casks, as that refinement and quality are that hard to find.
This spirit starts with spicy and vanilla notes on the nose that are also the kick start of the sip’s flavor. It then continues with caramel and hazelnut flavors, intertwined with dark chocolate and smokiness.
It finishes on a luxurious note, with a warm, smooth, and long finish, which is the signature ending for the Johnnie Walker whiskey labels.
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9. High Rye
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This is an exceptionally natural-tasting Johnnie Walker spirit made of 60% rye whiskies aged in American oak barrels. It derives from the Johnnie Walker Black Label, with its signature powerful taste and extremely refined and smooth texture.
The Johnnie Walker High Rye starts with green apple notes, only to pull you more profoundly in its substance with tastes of rich toffee and dried clove, interjected with scents of vanilla.
The finish is rich, smooth, long, and lingering. It has an expressive note of dry rye spice and sweetness, ever so discrete, creating a perfect ending to a perfect story.
Overall it has a warm and smoky dimension, more dominant mid-palate and near the finish.
10. Johnnie Blonde
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If you like whiskey, but at the same time, you don’t like whiskey (yes, it could happen), Johnnie Blonde is definitely spot on for you. It is sweet, gentle, rich, and smooth. It exhibits expressive fruity and floral notes, especially citrus-flavored, and it is very tame and delicious.
Initially meant for mixing, Johnnie Blonde goes incredibly well in sweet and refreshing cocktails, but it firmly holds its ground when neat as well.
Topped with a slice of orange, releasing its juices inside the glass, your Johnnie Blonde experience can turn into a refreshing and relaxing sensation.
It allures you with the berry and toffee aromas, gently seducing your senses. It proceeds with sweet vanilla and apple notes, retaining the toffee richness and adding the citrus dimension. The finish is smooth and light, with a very mild burn that warms you more than it stings you.
This is the perfect drink for afternoon relaxation or an evening cocktail with almost no bite.
More: What is the Smoothest Whiskey
Which Label Is the Best Johnnie Walker?
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To say which label is the best, Johnnie Walker, would be a highly subjective answer, as the brand’s beauty lies in its diversity. They have several labels for a reason, and it is not because some are better than others but because they know how diverse their audience is.
Among the abundance of flavors, everyone can find what they are looking for and enjoy the specificities of their favorite label. However, the general stand on which Johnnie Walker is the best is that the Blue Label is the most prestigious one.
The Blue Label is indeed an exceptionally high-quality spirit made with lots of love, effort, patience, and skill. The sheer fact that it ages between 29 and 60 years says more than enough about this drink. It is also the priciest one but is definitely worth the money.
Combining chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut flavors, everything about this label says excellence, which is not only a subjective impression but a fact.
Still, I must stress that there are as many tastes as there are people, so not all will agree on the same label, which doesn’t make any label anything less than the rest of them.
Johnnie Walker Labels Ranked
To each, his own is a saying that applies perfectly when it comes to ranking Johnnie Walker, as everyone would rank them differently due to the many aspects the labels have.
How you rank Johnnie Walker labels entirely depends on the aspect you rank them by as well as your personal taste and preference.
There is, of course, a general ranking, which considers all aspects as a sum, but if you rank them according to only their taste, or age, or price, the ranking will turn out differently.
The best overall Johnnie Walker label is the Blue Label. With the time needed to age and the scotches of which the blend is composed, it definitely deserves the peak spot on the ranking list.
The second is the Black Label, which is exceptionally refined, rich, and smoky. It is a smooth spirit and definitely one of the most memorable ones.
The Double Black Label comes in third as the younger and more rebellious sibling of the Black Label. It has the refinement of his older brother, but it also exhibits the traces of the new era with its potency and sharpness.
The Gold Label is fourth, with its honey-flavored gentility, smooth finish, and sweet and aromatic palate.
The 18-Year-Old is ranked fifth as the most colorful one, being the storyteller of the collection, as it combines each season over the 18 years of its maturation process. It is a painting in a bottle, bearing witness to all changes that occurred in the barrel.
The Green Label Reserve steps in at the sixth position as an incredibly natural and herbal spirit, bringing the history of the Scottish highlands in the shape of a message in a bottle.
The seventh spot belongs to the Red Label, as one of the best-sold Jonnie Walker whiskeys. Although it is pretty rough, it is very seductive, floral, and fruity on the nose and very potent on the palate. Made primarily for mixing, this whiskey can also hold well neat.
Johnnie Blond steps into the eighth position with its mildness, tenderness, and rich sweetness.
And on the ninth position are the limited editions, such as the Game of Thrones edition, Jane Walker, and the High Rye expression, only because they are not classical Johnnie Walkers but more on the experimental side.
Nevertheless, they are exquisite and of excellent quality, bearing the signature features of the Johnnie Walker Brand.
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What Are the Johnnie Walker Tiers?
Johnnie Walker has several whiskey levels differing according to the color and price tag.
From top to bottom tier, they go like this: Blue, Platinum, Green, Gold, Double Black, Black, and Red. This segmentation of the Johnnie Walker spirits is more of a scientific nature, and it makes a difference only to the very seasoned Johnnie Walker lovers.
If you are a whiskey enthusiast but not very into the science of whiskey, you may disagree with this Johnnie Walker division, as you may rely only on your taste.
Is Johnnie Walker Blue or Black Better?
Johnnie Walker Blue is considered the best of the brand. However, saying that Blue Label is better than Black Label Johnnie would be inaccurate as it highly depends on what you want in a whiskey. They are both definitely of superb quality and exceptionally delicious.
What Is Better Johnnie Walker; Black or Red?
The Red Label Johnnie is known as the harshest one and is meant for mixing instead of having it neat. Black Label Johnnie is a different story intended to sip slowly, neatly, or on the rocks.
The Red Label is the least costly, while the Black is a bit pricier. However, the price doesn’t determine which is better.
Therefore it is up to you to try them both and decide for yourself. The Black Label Johnnie is ranked higher due to various factors, but the quality isn’t one of them.
Resources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_Walker
- https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-my/our-whisky/
- https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-sg/whisky-cocktails/
- https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-us/our-whisky/core-range/