I’ve seen several bar ads for Johnnie Walker Blue label, one of them mentioning the price is $25 for a shot. I know very little about scotch, or any form of whiskey. I stick mainly to beer, vodka, and gin.
A shot at $25 sounds quite expensive unless you’re at a trendy nightclub. Also, is it common to drink shots of Johnnie Walker? I’ve consumed shots of Jameson, tequila, Jim Beam and Jack Daniels and they’re commonly ordered at bars.
Since I get my annual bonus on Friday, should I order Johnnie Walker Blue, either as a shot or I am better off getting it as a cocktail on the rocks?
I was once anonymously gifted a bottle of Blue. It’s delicious stuff - incredibly smooth, bold scotch flavor, extremely well-balanced. I’d never buy a bottle myself, it’s just too expensive. And I’d likely order a single malt if inclined to spend that much on a drink in a bar. But for someone who hasn’t had it and wants to splurge a little, do it. I’d order it neat - not as a shot. Sip and enjoy it.
There is nothing wrong with a blended whiskey per se, any more than there is anything wrong with blending different varietals to get a well-balanced wine. But Walker Blue is a fairly indifferent Scotch whisky that is carried on the strength of its brand, and give that you can pick up a bottle for ~US$135, a cost of $25 seems disproportionate; the bar will make around $250 profit above cost, which is ridiculous even given that it’ll probably take 6 months to empty the bottle. At that price point there are much better whiskeys, Scotch and otherwise, available to you.
I splurged on a double neat on my birthday. Very nice. Awfully expensive for the “so smooth you can barely tell it’s there” class, IMVHO. As I’ve said in other brown-goods threads, not being cheap and harsh is a good thing, but some of these lauded products are “smooth” to the point of tastelessness, which makes me wonder what the point is.
Yes. Is it worth the money? Not to me, but to plenty of others. Order on the rocks if you like a cold drink or like your whiskey slightly diluted. Don’t order expensive scotch if you like your whiskey highly diluted.
Blended scotches can be better than single malts, regardless of what anyone says. But if you don’t like scotch, it doesn’t matter. If you drink cocktails, you are wasting money using expensive liquors period – a Grey Goose vodka drink is not better than other vodkas in a drink, but makes a difference in simpler drinks (gin and tonic, but not Tom Collins)…
IT’s a very good blend, in my opinion, but about double the price of what I would consider a fair price for it. Get it neat, maybe with a splash of water, but I would advise against mixing it. I’m a big fan of Johnnie Walker Green. Also a blend (actually, a vatted malt, which is a special kind of blend) and at $60-$70 a fifth, the best bang for buck of the Johnnie Walker line, in my opinion, and one that I prefer to a lot of single malts in this price range.
I don’t like blends but I have to say it’s pretty good. I think the price performance is waaaaaay over rated. In other words, I’ll drink it if you’re buying, but I would buy pretty much any single malt in the same price range instead.
Where are we finding it for $135 a bottle? Typically, it’s around $200 here. I see the superstore that usually has the best prices has it for $180. I’ve never seen it under maybe $170 in the past ten to fifteen years.
In my opinion it shouldn’t be ordered at all at that price. I’ve had it and enjoyed it, but I would have considered it a bad decision if I had paid $25 for it.
mmm
I’m happy to have paid $25 for a decent taste that lets me move on to better things, instead of $150-250 for a bottle that would have irritated me for the remaining 95%.
It’s good if you like it super smooth, but the price is a bit too high.
I’d rather go for Green ($50) or, if I’m saving a few bucks, Double Black ($35).
Here in Peru, where there isn’t much of a whisky culture, is the whisky “everyone knows” is the best. The phrase “single malt” is only for connoisseurs.
It’s tradition that you serve whisky at wedding receptions. You usually get Black label. If you get Blue you can almost be sure that the family didn’t get the money 100% legally or it’s a rags-to-riches story like a professional football player.