The Johnnie Walker stable of whiskies continues to grow and expand, as the latest edition to the Black Label, the “Sherry Edition” demonstrates. Whisky & Wisdom has covered off most of the new releases and expressions in recent times (see links below), but whether Johnnie Walker is your cup of tea or not, you can’t accuse the world’s biggest selling brand of Scotch whisky of standing still. I guess that’s why Johnnie Walker is the striding gent.
Whisky’s marketing and messages follows the same trends as fashion cycles and if you’ve been in this caper long enough, you notice whisky doing exactly the same as fashion: The same things keep coming back, just with a slightly different twist.
The current trend getting a re-work is the focus on sherry maturation. After many years of extolling the virtues of the bourbon cask (a virtue borne of necessity), the brands are now reminding everyone that sherry-matured whiskies are a vital part of the product’s spectrum. The difference this time around is that both the landscape and the tools to work with are very different to the era in the early 2000’s when sherried whiskies were a different prospect.
Johnnie Walker Black Label’s Sherry Edition achieves its objective by injecting into the blend a greater proportion of ex-sherry casks. Interestingly, the official press release makes no mention of finishing, but implies that whiskies that have spent their full lives maturing in ex-sherry butts and hogsheads have been worked into the blend. Regular Black Label is already a reasonably complex and well-rounded blend as is, but the Sherry Edition also makes use of malt from Blair Athol, Cardhu and Strathmill to enhance the blend’s flavour profile – specifically looking for fresh orchard fruits, sweet vanilla, and some gentle smoke.
So if you’re going to put Sherry Edition on the label, people are going to expect to taste the difference in the liquid, so how does this stack up? Whisky & Wisdom put the Sherry Edition under the microscope, and also did a direct comparison with the regular Black Label to see how the Sherry Edition varied from its cousin:
Johnnie Walker Black Label Sherry Edition
Colour: For what it’s worth, the Sherry Edition is a tiny shade darker (a slightly more auburn tinge) than the regular Black Label, but with E150 in the mix, it’s hard to make anything meaningful of this.
Nose: Nosing straight off the bat early on a Sunday morning without any preceding drinks, it’s surprising just how good the nose of regular Black Label actually is, with strong vanilla and grain cutting through the light spice. In contrast, the Sherry Edition has a distinctive high note of fruit – particularly red currants. There’s also some wood resin, a touch more spice (cinnamon and star anise), and raspberries.
Palate: Moving straight from the regular Black Label to the Sherry Edition, the palate of the latter definitely reflects some sherry influence, although don’t be expecting dollops of oloroso or something akin to a Glendronach or Glenfarclas! The palate is drier, there’s a touch of tannins and drier oak, and the dial is turned up slightly on those spices. There’s some white pepper in the mix, oak-driven vanilla, and a slight spike of barley malt.
Finish: The finish is spicier, with a wee bit of heat and an ashy dryness that lingers a little longer.
Comments: The Sherry Edition’s distinction and differences from the regular Black Label are subtle, and it really does take an A-B comparison to pick these. Taken by itself, the Sherry Edition is a perfectly good and acceptable blend, but does it really scream sherry? The answer is no – there’s not really any overt oloroso to be found, leading this palate to suspect that fino is the prime contributor. The whisky is drier and spicier and works well as an interesting, 12 year old deluxe blend. But buy it for that very reason – not because the word sherry is on the label.
Cheers,
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Other recent Johnnie Walker reviews and write-ups by Whisky & Wisdom:
Select Casks – Rye Cask Finish
Blenders Series – Red Rye Finish
Blue Label – Ghost & Rare Brora
The new 18yo
Blue Label – Ghost & Rare Port Ellen
