Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker Double Black NV 750ml

Smooth, smoky nose with notes of heather and earth; lush, mouth-filling flavors of spice, smoke, toasted oak and hickory; rich, masculine and creamy with complex flavors of caramel and dried fruit. A very fine new version of Johnnie Walker’s signature blend.

This blended Scotch, “matured in deep-charred old oak casks” features intensely smoky aromas and flavors, although honey sweetness and mellow almond peek through. Golden in hue, with a silky feel.

So how brave can you be? Would you take one of the world’s most iconic blends and risk messing with it? If you’ve got a whisky maker as good as Jim Beveridge, then why not? This picks up from the regular JW Black and its signature Caol Ila smoke and peat heart and then adds to it, doing exactly what it says on the tin. But the clever part of this is upping the apple, orange, and fruit content too. Great.

Marginally darker, more topaz in color than the regular JW Black; flawless clarity. Peatier, a smidgen sweeter and more charcoal-like and slightly smokier in the initial whiffs than the standard JW Black; this aroma is noticeably fatter and more oak barrel driven that the more angular, grainy and maritime-influenced regular JW Black. Entry is medium-smoky, astringent and dry, oaky and delightfully round; midpalate displays a measure of soft peatiness and olive brine that’s appealing but there are also dried fruit, candied almond and mint aspects that work in harmony with the texture. Concludes in a sweet, fruity pipe tobacco manner. Markedly different from standard JW Black, which is leaner and drier.