This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of Johnnie Walker’s famed Black Label blended Scotch, and to celebrate the birthday Diageo, the owner of the brand, have released a special edition, the Black Label Centenary Pack.
In addition, they are holding a series of events around the country to increase consumers’ understanding of blended whisky and not coincidentally, to promote the brand.
I attended one of these the other evening, a tasting at The Brandy Library in New York at which Andrew Ford, Johnnie Walker’s Master Blender gave a master class in blending. He showed how the various different styles of single malt whisky – Lowland, Highland, Islay etc – are combined with grain whisky to make a great blend like Black Label.
Elements of a blend
And the process was illuminating – it turns out Black Label consists of about 40 different single malts — they are very guarded about the exact recipe, to say the least — in which the rich, sweet, preserved-fruit flavors of sherry cask whiskies predominate, supported by a distinctive backing of island smokiness.
The Johnnie Walker Black Label Centenary Pack is available now and costs about $50.
As a Scot and a seasoned whisky drinker, i can assure your readers that black label is indeed one of the very best blended whiskies. Having said that i would not pay the very high prices Diageo are charging for the blue and green versions – this is just marketing gone expensive.
Another excellent blended but premium whisky which is currently my house whisky (and we get through a lot!) is Baillie Nichol Jarvie which is availble at several major retailers in the UK but i am not sure if it is for sale in the USA. Hunt it out – not only for the taste but also for its distinctive label, guaranteed to impress your guests!