In December I picked up a Johnnie Walker Discovery box, containing five 50ml bottles of various Johnnie Walker expressions.  My goal has always been to do a blind tasting, and after picking up a Green and Red to round it out, I sat down to see how well I know the Johnnie Walker line up.

The Setup
The whiskies in question are the Johnnie Walker expressions of Red, Black, Double Black, Gold, Green, 18 and Blue.  I poured a dram (~25ml) of each bottle into a Glencairn glass and arranged them in a line.  Then I set up a line of seven numbered cards.  My lovely assistant then sent me out of the room and randomly placed the drams in front of a numbered card, recording which bottle’s dram was on which number.

The Nosing
I went through each glass, nosing and making my notes on each.  I found my nose quickly burned out, and needed a refresh/break several times through the lineup.  On first nosing, I picked up some key differences, but as the nosing progressed, all but two of them became very similar.

The Tasting
Tasting mostly followed the nose in the key attributes.  Lot’s of sweet, fruit and apple.  Very little smoke!  What was there, was very subtle.

The Guesses
After making my way through the lineup, I reviewed my notes and made a guess at each one.  After round one, I had a total of…. ONE correctly identified whiskey!  Okay then!  I took another guess at the remaining six, and got ONE MORE right!  After that, the guesses became a bit of process of elimination, and I never did get them all correctly identified.  

The Whiskies

1 – Smoke, light peat on the nose.  Fruity and jammy.  Light smoke and figs on the palate.
My guesses:  Double Black.  Black.  Blue.  Gold.
The Whiskey:  Green

2 – No smoke. Lovely, fruity, apple.  Sweet.
My guesses:  Gold.  Green.  Blue.
The Whiskey:  Double Black

3 – Apply, no smoke.  Sweet, then to apple pie.
My guesses:  18.  Green.  Gold.  Double Black.
The Whiskey:  Black

4 – Fresh cut greenery, onion perhaps (very unique!).  Citrus acidity.  Muted, alcohol notes.
My guesses:  Red.
The Whiskey:  Red

5 – Honey sweetness. Black-like on the palate. Gentle finish.
My guesses:  Black.  Double Black.  Green.
The Whiskey:  Blue

6 – Thin, light.  Subtle.  Light dance of sweet.
My guesses:  18. Blue. Black.
The Whiskey:  Gold

7 – Butterscotch, musty.  Rich, complex. Deep.  Awesome.
My guesses:  Blue.  18.
The Whiskey:  18

Final Thoughts
I was a tiny bit surprised that the Blue eluded me.  I tasted it just a few weeks ago with Bruce and thought it would stand out.  Amongst the lineup of seven, it seemed to have nestled in with the Black and Double Black – interesting.

The 18 is by far the standout of the bunch – distinct, rich, complex, multi-layered.  An excellent dram and a real treat.  I had that one pegged as Blue, but when that missed, I was happy to confirm it as the 18.  Lovely dram, lovely enough to perhaps pull me into a very special purchase one day.

The Red was interesting – the nose is so unique, and not at all unpleasant.  The palate however did bring in the grain alcohol harshness, and it stood out as the least refined of the bunch.

I thought I would do better with the Green, given how many drams of it I’ve had over the years.  I was also surprised that the honey sweetness of the Gold did not find its way to a correct guess.  It has been a couple of years since I had Gold, but my memory of it’s honey sweetness remains.

The Black and Double Black – these were tough ones.  I got no smoke on the double black through all the rounds – nothing on the nose or palate.  Sweetness more than anything.  Again, it has been many years since I tasted the Double Black, and don’t recall if I should have been expecting smoke or not.

This was a fun exercise, for sure.  The Johnnie Walker 18 stands out as the best whiskey by a long shot.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Red, which also stands out for its uniqueness.  The rest seemed to blend together for me tonight.