Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky owned by Diageo that originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of over 130 million bottles.  

·         Red Label: an 80 proof (40% ABV) blend of 35 grain and malt whiskies. It is intended for making mixed drinks. According to William Manchester this was the favorite Scotch of Winston Churchill, who mixed it with soda. Red Label has been reported to be former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's drink of choice.

·         Black Label: an 80 proof (40% ABV) blend of about 40 whiskies, each aged at least 12 years.

·         Double Black Label: A new addition, the whisky was created taking Black Label as a blueprint and adding heavily peated malts and some aged in deeply charred oak casks.  

A variety of blends.

·         Green Label: An 86 proof (43% ABV) whisky, it is no longer internationally available, but remains in limited production for the Taiwanese market. Elsewhere, as of mid-2014 it can still occasionally be found in retail channels. This variety is a blended malt, meaning it is made just from single-malts with no grain whisky added. Green Label uses predominantly four malts "drawn from the four corners of Scotland." Each of the malts (Talisker, Linkwood, Cragganmore, and Caol Ila) was selected by the blender for balance, with each malt whisky matured for a minimum of 15 years.

·         Gold Label: an 80 proof (40% ABV) blend of over 15 single malts. It was derived from Alexander Walker II's blending notes for a whisky to commemorate Johnnie Walker's centenary. His original efforts were thwarted by a shortage of these malts following World War I. Gold Label is commonly bottled at 15 or 18 years. Gold Label has been replaced, without an age statement, as "Gold Label Reserve" as of 2013.

·         Platinum Label: an 80 proof (40% ABV) private blend—aged 18 years to replace the original Gold Label in the Asian market, and sold alongside Gold Label Reserve. It is also available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Poland, South Africa and Israel.

·         Blue Label: Johnnie Walker's premium 80–86 proof (40–43% ABV blend with no age statement. Johnnie Walker Blue Label, also known as Max Walker, is blended to recreate the character and taste of some of the earliest whisky blends created in the 19th century. Bottles are numbered serially and sold in a silk-lined box accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. It is one of the most expensive blended Scotches on the market,

·         Johnnie Walker Swing: supplied in a distinctive bottle whose irregular bottom allows it to rock back and forth. It was Alexander II’s last blend: it features a high proportion of Speyside malts, complemented by malts from the northern Highlands and Islay, and is "almost as sweet as a bourbon".