{"id":5737,"date":"2019-06-25T10:38:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/?p=5737"},"modified":"2019-07-23T15:49:23","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T19:49:23","slug":"johnnie-walker-white-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/25\/johnnie-walker-white-walker\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnnie Walker White Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting gimmick for a Game of Thrones-marketed version of Johnnie Walker – enter the White Walkers!<\/p>\n

Fans of the series will be well familiar with the role these feared undead soldiers play in the series, with their characteristic blazing blue eyes. This effect is mirrored when placing this bottle of whisky in the freezer – a bright blue is revealed across the craggy design of the bottle, including the (now presumably) dead and glowing gentleman Johnnie, as well as the series ominous “Winter is Coming” motto. Conveniently, Johnnie Walker recommends you drink this whisky cold.<\/p>\n

Diageo went all out with its GoT tie-ins, releasing limited-edition single malts from across their stable of distilleries. Most of these cost a premium over standard official bottlings, so the JW White Walker is a chance for the masses to get in on the fun with this blended whisky. Of course, that’s if you think merchandising ties-in go well with whisky (as one prominent reviewer on Reddit eloquently put it – when first asked if he planned to try this new blend – “I’d rather join the White Walkers”).<\/p>\n

From what I can find online, it seems ~20% of the blend comes from malt whisky (with Clynelish and Cardu having been identified), and rest is grain whisky. Bottled at 41.7% ABV (a touch higher than industry standard). It sells for a comparable price to Johnnie Black around here (i.e., just under $60 CAD).<\/p>\n

There is no doubt the bottle design and marketing is clever – but what of the whisky itself? As an aside, the recommendation to serve it from a frozen bottle is never an encouraging endorsement. But I’ve long found Johnnie Walker Black to be a quite decent (and consistent) choice in this price range, and even prefer it over a few entry-level malts. So let’s see how all the GoT-inspired Diageo offerings do in my database, starting with the Johnnie Walker line-up:<\/p>\n

Johnnie Walker White Walker (GoT): 7.57 \u00b1 0.81 on 11 reviews ($$)<\/strong>
\nJohnnie Walker Red Label: 7.41 \u00b1 0.62 on 23 reviews ($)
\nJohnnie Walker Platinum Label: 8.44 \u00b1 0.42 on 18 reviews ($$$$)
\nJohnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve: 8.28 \u00b1 0.31 on 18 reviews ($$$$)
\nJohnnie Walker Blue Label: 8.61 \u00b1 0.45 on 18 reviews ($$$$$)
\nJohnnie Walker 15yo Green Label: 8.55 \u00b1 0.36 on 22 reviews ($$$$)
\nJohnnie Walker 12yo Black Label: 8.25 \u00b1 0.47 on 24 reviews ($$)<\/p>\n

As you can see, although the response is more variable than most, the consensus view of this whisky is much closer to JW Red than it is to JW Black (despite the comparable price). How do the more expensive GoT-branded single malts do?<\/p>\n

GoT House Baratheon Royal Lochnagar 12yo: 8.39 \u00b1 0.27 on 9 reviews ($$$$)
\nGoT Greyjoy Talisker Select Reserve: 8.78 \u00b1 0.32 on 9 reviews ($$$$)
\nGame of Thrones House Lannister Lagavulin 9yo: 8.81 \u00b1 0.24 on 13 reviews ($$$$)
\nGoT House Stark Dalwhinnie Winter\u2019s Frost: 8.47 \u00b1 0.40 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
\nGoT House Targaryen Cardhu Gold Reserve: 8.02 \u00b1 0.30 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
\nGoT House Tully Singleton Glendullan Select: 7.92 \u00b1 0.49 on 5 reviews ($$$)
\nGoT House Tyrell Clynelish Reserve: 8.83 \u00b1 0.20 on 9 reviews ($$$$)
\nGoT The Night\u2019s Watch Oban Bay Reserve: 8.58 \u00b1 0.33 on 8 reviews ($$$$)<\/p>\n

If you check my database for comparable official bottlings for those distilleries, you’ll see these consensus scores are not great for the price range. The Lagavulin, Talisker and Clynelish offerings seem to be the best quality and value (although again, you can find higher-ranked bottles for less).<\/p>\n

And now what I find in the glass for JW White Walker, comparing both a standard room temperature pour and one from a frozen bottle<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Nose<\/strong>: At room temp, the main note is light, sweet apple juice. Light caramel. Slightly floral (but no discernible specific flower), with a touch of hay. Maybe a little nutty. Pleasant, with happily no real off notes. As expected, the pour from the frozen bottle has very little aroma – it is thin and pale in comparison.<\/em><\/p>\n

Palate<\/strong>: Orange citrus comes in now, adding to the apple juice. Light caramel and butterscotch build. A bit of toasted char, coming across like toasted marshmellows. Cinnamon and a touch of cloves. Thin palate, with typical light, grainy mouthfeel. Some bitterness rises on the swallow. Served cold, I get even more butterscotch (oddly enough), and the mouthfeel thankfully gets thicker and oilier. Sweetness picks up too, with more candied marshmellow fluff. Actually prefer it cold, to be honest.<\/em><\/p>\n

Finish<\/strong>: The bitterness from the swallow builds quickly, and grows with time (especially prominent on the back of tongue). It has an artificial taste, somewhat plasticky. This is starting to remind me of JW Red now. Some of the spices remain, not that that helps much. Fortunately, when served cold, the bitterness is greatly attenuated. And cinnamon spice seems enhanced (although that may just be be from selectively dampening the other off-notes).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"It’s been a long time since I’ve tried Johnnie Walker Red, but the finish is really reminding me of it here. Frankly, that unpalatable bitterness is the main problem – and so, chilling definitely helps<\/em>. Of course, you will lose the light floral and fruity notes when its chilled, but that is probably worth the trade-off (and caramel sweetness is enhanced). Definitely relegated to the mixing rack for me.<\/p>\n

I find the consensus Meta-Critic score a little harsh – especially served cold, where it is more palatable. Among reviewers, the most positive reviews come from Jonny<\/a> of Whisky Advocate and unclimbabilty<\/a> of Reddit, both of whom give it an overall average score (and put it on par with JW Black). The Whiskey Jug<\/a> gives it a fairly positive review (although with a rating that puts it in the bottom 10th percentile of all whiskies he’s reviewed). Indeed, that’s a common theme, with many other reviewers (myself included) putting it in the same bottom 10% category, along with the guys at Quebec Whisky<\/a> and Jan of Best Shot Whisky Reviews<\/a>. The worse scores (i.e., the bottom 1st percentile) come from Serge<\/a> of Whisky Fun and washeewashee<\/a> and HawkI84<\/a> of Reddit.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, almost everyone who has tried both agrees it is better than JW Red. But few consider it on par with JW Black, where it is comparably priced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting gimmick for a Game of Thrones-marketed version of Johnnie Walker – enter the White Walkers! Fans of the series will be well familiar with the role these feared undead soldiers play in the series, with their characteristic blazing blue eyes. This effect is mirrored when placing this bottle of whisky in the freezer – a bright blue is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,190,189,141],"class_list":["post-5737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-blended","tag-game-of-thrones","tag-johnnie-walker","tag-scottish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5737"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5846,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737\/revisions\/5846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}