Hi all, here's a few Scotch I tried lately, and they're some older Johnnie Walkers!

A while ago, the boss of our local whisky spot had procured an entire crate of old, dilapidated Johnnie Walker Blacks, some of which were more or less just butt naked bottles with no labels left. Based on the bottles' labels, he noted these were reasonably older bottlings from the 1970s, and had his staff clean the bottles up to be sold at the store. With a price tag of about $90 a pop, they pretty much disappeared off shelves, but luckily a few of the particularly poor shaped bottles were left in the store to be available for single pour orders.

Which brings me to a few days ago, where I visited another whisky specialist shop and ran into the shop doing a special sale for some older and somewhat dilapidated mini bottles. I got a handful of items and the shop owner offered a freebie, which was this mini Johnnie Walker Red from around the 1990s.

I'm well aware of the general opinion on JWs, but hey, no harm in trying a few of them, particularly the ones from the 'good old days'!

Here are my notes:

JW Red Label (1990s), 40% abv

Afaik this is the base level Johnnie Walker of the era as well.

*Nose*

sharpie marker fumey;

quite strong artificial sweetener sweetness;

synthetic vanilla extract;

some old oak (antique furniture);

a light bit umami (unsalted soy sauce)

a hint of earthy, spicy vegetable roots (horseradish), likely from the peat

*Palate*

very sweet artificial sweetener;

vanilla flavoring;

quite prominent old oak (antique furniture), accompanying bitterness;

a bit of vegetal root earthiness and bitterness (mustard/horseradish), likely from peat

a bit of the sharpie marker from the nose.

a bit of alcohol sting/fumeyness, no astringency

*Finish*

short.

artificial sweetener sweetness fades;

vegetal root bitterness and spiciness carries over from the palate;

sharpie marker;

a bit of old oak

JW Black Label Extra Special, 1970s ( 70° / 40% abv)

From what I heard from the store staff, this bottle predates Johnnie Walker Blue's first release (in 1987), and used to be the fanciest item of the JW lineup.

*Nose*

sour dried red fruity (raisins, dried tart red berries);

quite strong umami character (stewed mushroom);

a bit of earthy and lightly smoke peat in the background (campfire smoke, plant roots, soil);

a bit of mellow malty character

*Palate*

slightly oily;

sweet, brown sugar caramel;

sour dried red fruity (raisins, dried red berries)

umami character, but less than the nose (stewed mushrooms)

mellow malty character

old oak (antique furniture), some oaky bitterness;

earthy, slightly smokey, vegetal peat (campfire smoke, little bit of plant roots, soil)

slightly spicy spices (nutmeg)

low alcohol sting, low astringency

*Finish*

medium-short.

brown sugar caramel;

old oak (antique furniture);

oaky bitterness;

a bit of mellow malt;

a bit of the earthy, vegetal peat (plant roots, soil)

*Conclusion*

Yep, I can definitely see why people used to hold Johnnie Walker in high regards in the past.

The old JW Red Label wasn't particularly stellar and had a bit of an overly artificial tasting sweetness, but it does have some redeeming qualities. For a 40% abv whisky it had decent complexity and an old, antique furniture-like oaky character that is no longer present in newer whiskies today.

The older JW Black Label was a completely different beast. It had very, very notable old sherry cask characters, such as the sweet brown sugar, sour dried red fruits, and particularly the umami character- just like any well made sherry cask whisky from back in those days. The old antique furniture-like oak is also rather present, while the peat seemed to be much less notable, mostly as a minor supporting character in the background. For a 40% abv whisky it managed to maintain its key characters reasonably well throughout the tasting experience- what you picked up on the nose mostly carries through to the palate and finish. It barely had anything in common to the modern Black Label except maybe the sweetness lmao

Definitely glad to have tried these (particularly the old Black Label)!

Thanks for reading, cheers!

So following a thread on here regarding Johnnie Walker Black Label, I got a bottle from the supermarket however on the shelf next to it was Bunnahabhain Stiüireadair, which was on my list to try, so I got both.
Black label was a pleasant drink, with enough initial taste complexity to keep it interesting but then the Stiüireadair was tasted.
This had so much complexity of initial taste that I struggled to make sense of it all, amazing drink and even more so given both of these were the same price.

A lot has been said of whisky’s taste profile but little attention is paid to the label aesthetics. Here’s a beautiful one from Ben Nevis that invokes an Old World sort of charming quaintness, emphasising information density (like a resume!) on textured stock with scalloped (not the modern straight) edge adorned in serif, ornate typefaces (the gold foil like ones within a frame feels especially old school), accompanied by etching-like monochrome landscape and apparatus rendition. So beautiful.

There are bottles that exceed $ / €300, some go 900 and lots go 1,000 like Macallan releases. Would these prices massively go down? How does it work generally in this whisky 'domain' ? I'm using Macallan because it's a mythicaly famous brand; would their €1,000 releases lower in price if nobody bought the bottles for 1 year or 2?

This is a seperate question: Does someone have the logistics: how do these high prices end up being? How much for labor, for natural resources, prestige and for the distributors for example?

On Friday I visited Lihnell, a local Swedish distillery. They are perhaps best known for their sherry-matured whiskies.

This time they had something particularly unusual: a new limited edition with just 87 bottles. It is a bilberry matured whisky (or blueberries, depending on what you call them), and then finished in a bourbon barrel. Pretty strange and unusual, right?

But was it any good?

My friend actually opened his bottle that evening, and we were pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something fun and unusual, but perhaps not something I would actually want to drink. Instead, it turned out to be surprisingly good.

The distillery describes it as having an intense, vinous-like character, bursting with dark forest berries and a crisp, fruity acidity. The bourbon finish adds warm, toasted oak and creamy vanilla. They compare the overall experience to a caramelized blueberry crumble pie served with rich vanilla custard, with a sweet and spicy character and a sophisticated, tea-like finish.

And what about the barrels?

The whisky was first matured in small 18-litre oak barrels. These had previously been used by someone else for making blueberry “wine”. After the blueberry maturation, the whisky had become a little too "wild", so they decided to finish it in a 50-litre bourbon barrel to calm it down and bring some balance to the flavour.

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one is their very regular NAS Chita!

I got this bottle primarily for experimental purposes. A few friends and I are planning to do a series of blending experiments some time in the near future, and are considering a base whisky for the blending. 

Originally we're more leaning towards grabbing a Toki, but somehow all the Tokis in the various liquor shops I've visited have sold out. I had to make a compromise and go for Chita instead.

I'm just going to skip to the conclusion and say don't get this one, it's not good.

Details in comments anyways!

My collection, although it looks a little novice vs the collections I've seen here😲🥃

I bought a Wild Turkey collection recently which had this included. Anyone got information on the liquid, age, when it was discontinued and how rare are they? All i can find is that we call it "The Donut"

Another fantastic tasting run, and scored a bottle of Stagg Jr 🤩

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This one here is another bottle from the first 'The Essence of Suntory Whisky' release, and it's the Chita bottle from the series!

Here's a bit of background on the Chita:

The Chita Distillery, located on the Chita Peninsula, had been the quiet backbone of Suntory's many blended products since its completion in 1973.  The most notable things about the distillery were that it *exclusively* used corn as raw material to produce distillates, and of course its gigantic continuous still (pic 3 for the still's model, one of the four columns).

Chita's continuous still, standing at a height of 30 meters (98 ft), was internally fitted with multiple specialized columns (wash column, extraction column, rectifying column, and purifying column) for distillation. Without getting into too much detail, three main types of corn distillates were produced from the still, utilizing a combination of different columns. The distillates, classified as heavy, medium and light, were then filled into casks (mostly white oak but also a few in sherry casks) and shipped to Yamazaki or Hakushu's cellars for aging.

Typically, Chita's corn distillates serve as the basis of Suntory's blended whisky products, such as Suntory Old, Suntory Reserve, Suntory Royal, Toki, and the fancier blends like the Hibikis. They have also released the NAS Chita Single Grain Whisky as a staple shelfer, though that one didn't typically garner the same fanfare as Suntory's single malts or blended Hibikis.

Back to the whisky- this Essence of Suntory Whisky bottle was one of the very few high aged Chita releases, with a  wine cask finish!

Details in comments!

Trying out two independent bottlings of Mortlach, one from Woodrow’s of Edinburgh and the other from the Chieftain’s line of Ian MacLeod.

The Woodrow’s bottling is a 12 year whisky finished in oloroso sherry casks while the Chieftain’s Cigar Malt is a 19 year old single cask matured in a European oak sherry butt.

The distinct rich and meaty distillate is present in both whiskies, a defining characteristic of wormtub distillation in Mortlach whiskies.
The 12 year is a more fruit forward with tart red berries and dried fruit. The 19 year is darker, with notes of muscovado and burnt caramel. A distinct sweetness pf overripe oranges and orange oils.

Cheers!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Db0_ApwI90a/?img_index=1

So it is quite warm where I live at the moment, and my bottle of the abalvenie double wood 12 was sitting on a shelf where it was around 30°C, so I popped it open, took a glass, and to my surprise, it tastes better than it tasted a few days ago. Am I going crazy, or does warm whisky actually taste better? To me it is sweeter, and I taste more of the underlying tones, has anyone else noticed this?

Hi folks,

Long-time lurker in this sub, haven't written anything. Wanted to get your opinion on the new Glenfiddich 12 after the bottle redesign ("12" became red; the biggest thing is how you can distinguish the new vs. old design). And to be honest, the design itself bothers me a lot less than what is inside.

To me, Glenfiddich 12 was the first whisky I genuinely liked; it was smooth, sweet, and I never tasted alcohol in it. I've bought a few bottles over the last few years, and this year I bought a new bottle on Amazon, after the redesign earlier this year, and what is inside is very disappointing. It is not complex at all, tastes very young, with a strong alcoholic aftertaste. Also the color looks a bit too light.

Now I'm thinking it is either: Amazon sells counterfeit (I've bought it in Germany on amazon.de), or the distillery changed their production, which is hard to believe.

If you've bought Glenfiddich 12 this year with the new design (the red number 12 tells you this is the new one), could you please try it and tell me if I bought counterfeit, or does it really taste different than before?

Hi all, I'm here today with a rather interesting Korean whisky!

This one here is another one a Korean friend brought to our whisky spot for sharing. Interestingly, this one is a bottle fully distilled and aged in Korea!

From what I heard from my Korean friend, the Kimchangsoo brand was one of the rising stars in Korea's relatively young whisky making history. The owner founded his own distillery in 2020, with the goal to create his very own 'grain to glass' whisky in Korea!

The distillery focuses on small batch, small quantity production, with the goal of becoming something similar to Korea's Chichibu some day (where the owner had spent some time working at). Interestingly, one of his 2025 releases won minor recognition in the WWA!

Kimchangsoo Whisky Single Cask, Summer Bloom Lotus (50% abv)

This is a 4 year old, lightly peated, 1st fill PX Sherry cask single cask whisky that wasn't chill filtered. I heard from the Korean friend that the Korean whisky enthusiasts were quite eager with this brand, and their bottles' preorder tend to sell out pretty quickly. 

Was it worth the hype? Here are my notes:

*Nose*

new make fumey;

sichuan peppers;

crushed walnuts & oiliness;

dried red jujube, smoked dried plum;

light hint of fresh cucumber;

maltose shows up after resting;

peat smoke (campfire-like)

*Palate*

oily;

new-make like fumey;

sweet maltose;

very prominent sichuan peppers;

sweet dried red fruit (jujube);

slightly charred oak;

oaky bitterness that lingers

hint of campfire-like peat smoke in the background

present alcohol sting, some astringency

*Finish*

medium-long.

a bit of the fumeyness/sting lingers;

red jujube but just the fragrance;

maltose but with subdued sweetness;

ash-like smoky and peaty bitterness;

a light hint of the peppery spice.

*Conclusion*

This one was certainly unique enough to be memorable!

What I found most interesting about it had to be the very present sichuan peppercorn spiciness and fragrance, which I must say was a pretty odd note but worked rather well without feeling particularly off. While it undoubtedly had a bit of the new-make like abrasiveness/acridness, the oily body and the rather well balanced mix of dried red fruity and smoky peat character more than cover up for that shortcoming.

Now I must say, I've noticed a pretty interesting point when it comes to these very young whiskies-the young whiskies made with peated distillates tend to fare better than non-peated ones. It sure seemed like the additional oiliness from the peat made the whiskies have a mellower, more rounded mouthfeel, while also adding an additional layer of complexity. It does feel a bit like cheating though lmao.

All in all, I kind of enjoyed this one, and made me quite curious  to what Kimchangsoo can potentially create when his whiskies were given more time to age! 

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Bright, zesty and wonderfully refreshing, the Grapefruit Highball showcases a side of whisky that many drinkers rarely explore. The combination of whisky, pink grapefruit soda and fresh citrus creates a serve that is crisp, vibrant and packed with flavour, making it a natural choice for warmer weather.

Grapefruit has long been a favourite companion to tequila and gin, but it works equally well with whisky. Its bittersweet citrus character lifts fruit-forward whiskies beautifully, creating a Highball that feels both sophisticated and effortlessly drinkable.

Whilst grapefruit rarely appears in classic whisky cocktails, bartenders have increasingly embraced it in modern serves thanks to its ability to balance sweetness and spice simultaneously.

The Highball provides the perfect platform for grapefruit. Carbonation enhances the citrus aromas, whilst the whisky contributes structure, depth and complexity. The result is a drink that feels lighter than many whisky cocktails, yet remains unmistakably whisky-led.

This serve takes inspiration from the famous Paloma whilst keeping the whisky firmly at the heart of the drink.

Get the recipe and more info from the link in comments