Johnnie Walker 15 Year Old Green Label

By Barry Bradford on December 21, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Years Old (43%, OB, 2018)

Category: Blended malt scotch whisky
Origin: undisclosed
Bottling: OB
ABV: 43%
Cost: £37.90

What they say

Johnnie Walker Green Label is crafted from a palette of Speyside, Highland, Lowland and Island malts matured for at least 15 years – all perfectly balanced to bring together the intense aromas of crisp cut grass, fresh fruit, wood smoke, deep vanilla, and sandalwood.

Johnnie Walker Green Label is crafted from a palate of malts matured for at least 15 years in American and European oak casks, to create a blend that is true to the Johnnie Walker style of bold flavour and distinctive smokiness.

Official tasting notes:

NOSE The clean aromas of cut grass and fresh fruit mingle with pepper, rich vanilla and sandalwood.
PALATE Discover a range of deep wood notes, lush with oak and cedar. Johnnie Walker Green Label combines these richer flavours masterfully with light garden fruits and tropical, fragrant, floral notes.
FINISH A fantastic expression our signature smoky finish, with notes of peat and the crisp flavour of sea salt.

What I say

Door #21 of the Drinks by the dram Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar.

A revisit to Johnnie Walkers recently reinstated Green Label 15 Years Old. Sadly at our last tasting of this new expression I didn’t really take detailed notes of some older bottlings of this blend other than enough to suggest they differed from the re-release.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Eiswein gold (7/20), slow, medium tears and infrequent medium leg.
Nose: Fresh, green apple and grass, pear, white grape, white pepper, vanilla, linen, nutmeg.
Taste: Balanced fruit and cereals, apple breakfast bars or porridge with fresh fruit; apple, pear, hints of pineapple and peach, woody and nutty hints, peanut butter and lime curd.
Finish: Long, citrus zest, sweet honey, white oak wood/sawdust.

Overall

Fresher and fruitier than I remember, slightly odd nutty and zestiness to it like peanut butter and lime curd on toast. – I guess peat and crisp sea salt from the official notes hints at what they are trying to attain.