Johnnie Walker Blue Label

See my review of JW Gold for context. I purchased a JW set containing JW Red, Black, Gold, and Blue. Already a fan of JW Black, I was looking forward to sampling the other expressions.

Nose: very simple - honey, wood, malt, and spice.

Palate: initially, a luscious, silky mouth feel; sweet and spicy with honey, cinnamon, clove, and oak. Somewhat mild overall.

Finish: there is a faint, lingering sweetness that is hard to pin down among the tannic onslaught. What little flavour remains from the palate is swamped by oppressive, unending tannic spice.

Yet another disappointment. My experience with JW Blue did not conform to any expectation I had formed of this whisky. I wasn't expecting something mind blowing, but I was expecting certain common traits that seemed to be absent from this bottle. The predominant theme was tannic spice - everything else was an afterthought.

Perhaps this batch was over oaked, but my feeling is that I somehow acquired a dud set since the JW Gold was also disappointing. Perhaps they were stored incorrectly? The Red and Black seem to survive intact...as the Ontario Power Generation commercials say, it's "a mystery won't never be solved".

I am certainly willing to try JW Blue again, even if this bottling was a sad tannic mess.

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