Johnnie Walker is one of the most iconic whisky brands in the world. With its unique square bottle, and the labels tilted off-center, the company has created a strong brand image and its spirit is considered by many to be the quintessential Scottish whisky. The company has been operating since 1820, and has grown steadily to become one of the most important Scottish whisky brands in the world today.
According to my research, Johnnie Walker Red Label has undergone a small change recently. When I published my last review in 2017 it was advertised as containing up to 35 grain and malt whiskies. Today (December 2020) the Johnnie Walker Website has this to say about its iconic blend:
Johnnie Walker Red Label is a powerful mix of up to 30 malts and grains. It’s a combination of light whiskies from Scotland’s East Coast and more peaty whiskies from the West, expertly balanced to create an extraordinary depth of flavour.
With up to 5 grain and malt whiskies no longer in the blend, it could be that we may notice some small changes in the flavour profile, so I thought an updated review might be appropriate.
Here is a link to the new review:
Review: Johnnie Walker Red Label Blended Scotch Whisky
Interestingly, my scoring indicates that I like the Red label blend just a little bit more than before.
Chimo!
In 2018, to celebrate the final season of the critically-acclaimed HBO series, Game of Thrones; Johnnie Walker began to introduce a series of Game of Thrones themed whiskies. Included in this series was a range of eight single malts whiskies each representing a different house faction from the television series. These 2018 releases been followed by more releases in 2019 including Johnnie Walker A Song of Fire and Johnny Walker A Song of Ice which were inspired by the two of the remaining powerful houses of Westeros, House Stark (A song of Ice) and House Targaryen (A Song of Fire).
A few years ago Johnnie Walker Gold Label carried an age statement of 18 years. Back then it was called The Centenary Blend. The newest bottles of the Gold Label no longer carry that age statement. Coinciding with that particular change is a bit of a name change as well. Instead of Johnnie Walker Gold Label – The Centenary Blend, the newest version is now called Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve. Based upon what I can glean from the Johnnie Walker website (and the back of my bottle) it may not be only the ages of the individual whiskies in the blend which have changed, the actual constituents of the blend appear to have changed as well.
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