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Johnny Walker Blue at Costco $160
- Thread starter Evadman
- Start date
middlehead
Diamond Member
I'll take 9
RMSistight
Golden Member
Good thing I don't drink. Save me a lot of money.
BigInJapan
Member
You must be awful dehydrated... Any fluid has the capacity to be expensive.
Fixed. 🙂
By the way, I think the JW blue is sold pretty frequently around here under $200. The liquor store around the corner from me has it for $169. Costco is still the best price I know, but it's not the steal you might think it is...just the best price in town.
Not to rain on your parade, although the other blends of JW (Johnnie Walker) are priced fairly, except arguably for Gold,
The BLUE is marketed simply for those that want a pricey 'display' boxed bottle to show off their 'good taste'
and has little to do with what is INSIDE the bottle. No experienced taster of import views Blue as anything
other than a great marketing campaign.
There are five steps in the evolution of a scotch drinker (according to no one but me))) - most only take step one or two.
1) Drink from a plethora of mass market or bar scotches like Grants, Scorsby, Passport, J&B, Cutty Sark (ick) etc that you can get at any drugstore/liquor store.
2) Graduate to the higher quality or sometimes just higher priced mass market blends - Dewers, Chevas, Johnnie Walker etc
3) Reach stardom and fame by displaying their collection of 'premium' blends - JW Blue, Gold or Green and displaying it proudly like a badge (while still getting a much better bottle)
4) Buy into the 'single malt experience by buying a mass market bottle of Glenlivet and thinking that is what it is all about
5) Starting the never ending journey of wonder by researching and actually buying several bottles of REALLY nice Single Malt and maybe blending your own as well ? You will probably end up with some for daily sipping in the <$50 bottle category and some for special occassions or moods that cost upwards from that.
Anyone with any siginificant scotch whisky tasting experience knows that Blue, although a
'nice' blend with almost no harshness is mundane and hardly noteworthy for its flavor characteristics.
There are dozens of others choices for less than $50 a bottle that would run rings around it to most tasters.
Although I favor single malts, there are many good blends (which is combined malt AND lesser grain alcohols) and I blend and vat some of my own from single malts or singles and blends.
(a 'vatted' or 'pure' malt is a combination of just single malts and not to be confused with a 'blend' which is a malt or malts combined with lesser grain alcohols - JW Gold and Green are vatted and who knows what Blue is)
Just google up Scotch Whisky and let the learning begin.
Also note that there is a LOT of variance in the bottle to bottle taste of Walker blends.
At the price point of Blue, you could be buying 2 or three bottles of some REALLY nice tasting whisky
Then you won't need to 'show off' your newfound good taste.
Oh, and btw, a 10yo old bottle of most single malts is NOTHING like the 12 or older bottles of the same brand and is most often a less than than great experience, though not always,
so start with 12yo+ tasting and up to 15-16yo for the sweet spot in the value category. Leave the 18+ for when you are tasting someone ELSE's bottle - unless of course, you have already hit the lottery
or just can't help yourself )))
----
If you think of 'blending' NOT as a way for a distiller to use different single malts to mix up the 'blend' of perfection in an attempt to make an absolutely great tasting bottle,
but rather, a way to use a little of some great single malts to enhance their low end, really cheap, awful tasting, but highly profitable spirit inventory
to become somewhat more palatable and marketable, you are well on your way to understanding the diffference.
----
Look up Talisker, Highland Park or Lagavulin - another Diageo brand (the parent of Johnnie Walker and a dozen or so other common liquors like Captain Morgan)
as well as lots and lots of others, before long you will find you are an expert on the GEOGRAPHY of Scotland as well. Then you are doomed. There is NO going back.
FWIW & IMHO
The BLUE is marketed simply for those that want a pricey 'display' boxed bottle to show off their 'good taste'
and has little to do with what is INSIDE the bottle. No experienced taster of import views Blue as anything
other than a great marketing campaign.
There are five steps in the evolution of a scotch drinker (according to no one but me))) - most only take step one or two.
1) Drink from a plethora of mass market or bar scotches like Grants, Scorsby, Passport, J&B, Cutty Sark (ick) etc that you can get at any drugstore/liquor store.
2) Graduate to the higher quality or sometimes just higher priced mass market blends - Dewers, Chevas, Johnnie Walker etc
3) Reach stardom and fame by displaying their collection of 'premium' blends - JW Blue, Gold or Green and displaying it proudly like a badge (while still getting a much better bottle)
4) Buy into the 'single malt experience by buying a mass market bottle of Glenlivet and thinking that is what it is all about
5) Starting the never ending journey of wonder by researching and actually buying several bottles of REALLY nice Single Malt and maybe blending your own as well ? You will probably end up with some for daily sipping in the <$50 bottle category and some for special occassions or moods that cost upwards from that.
Anyone with any siginificant scotch whisky tasting experience knows that Blue, although a
'nice' blend with almost no harshness is mundane and hardly noteworthy for its flavor characteristics.
There are dozens of others choices for less than $50 a bottle that would run rings around it to most tasters.
Although I favor single malts, there are many good blends (which is combined malt AND lesser grain alcohols) and I blend and vat some of my own from single malts or singles and blends.
(a 'vatted' or 'pure' malt is a combination of just single malts and not to be confused with a 'blend' which is a malt or malts combined with lesser grain alcohols - JW Gold and Green are vatted and who knows what Blue is)
Just google up Scotch Whisky and let the learning begin.
Also note that there is a LOT of variance in the bottle to bottle taste of Walker blends.
At the price point of Blue, you could be buying 2 or three bottles of some REALLY nice tasting whisky
Then you won't need to 'show off' your newfound good taste.
Oh, and btw, a 10yo old bottle of most single malts is NOTHING like the 12 or older bottles of the same brand and is most often a less than than great experience, though not always,
so start with 12yo+ tasting and up to 15-16yo for the sweet spot in the value category. Leave the 18+ for when you are tasting someone ELSE's bottle - unless of course, you have already hit the lottery
or just can't help yourself )))
----
If you think of 'blending' NOT as a way for a distiller to use different single malts to mix up the 'blend' of perfection in an attempt to make an absolutely great tasting bottle,
but rather, a way to use a little of some great single malts to enhance their low end, really cheap, awful tasting, but highly profitable spirit inventory
to become somewhat more palatable and marketable, you are well on your way to understanding the diffference.
----
Look up Talisker, Highland Park or Lagavulin - another Diageo brand (the parent of Johnnie Walker and a dozen or so other common liquors like Captain Morgan)
as well as lots and lots of others, before long you will find you are an expert on the GEOGRAPHY of Scotland as well. Then you are doomed. There is NO going back.
FWIW & IMHO
Back in the 40's When I was 18 and in the Army Air Corps I made a reputation for myself by using Cutty Sark for after shave -- well, as mouthwash and gargle too. Johnny Walker is only a small step up from that. There is no "Best" scotch since like music it depends on the taste of the person, but after over seventy years of testing and tasting, I have two that come close: Bunnahabhain from the Isle of Islay is (to my taste) the finest of all of the single malt scotches. So smooth on the tongue that I describe it as like the wind rippling a field of ripe wheat. Not even the faintest hint of "bite" on the root of the tongue. The other "best" scotch is cask strength Glenfarclas which is a peaty heavy flavored scotch. Both are hard to find, but worth imposing an a friend to bring back from a trip to the UK.
lxskllr
No Lifer
Are you seriously that old? AAC would have put you in WWII right? In any case, it's good to have you around. A depressing number of WWII vets die every day, I like to know there's still some that are active out there :^)
Btw, the best scotch is Laphroaig, especially some of the third party bottleings, and their own natural offerings :^P
Hello From New Orleans:
Before Katrina, I rented a car in Ireland and also went to Northern Ireland-in the UK. Someplace along the way I did the tour at the Bushmill's Distillery, I think in No. Ire. After the tour, which I do recommend, I was the chosen one in our small touring group do a "blind" taste test of about 8 Scotches and Whiskeys. No Bourbon's and I think only Irish and UK products. In the end chose what I occasionally drink at home, Jameson (don't remember which quality level). Bushmill's also recc. diluting Irish Whiskey with water/ice, about 1:1 as memory serves me. And no, we don't use bottled water here, just tap water 🙂. Their Single Malt was very nice. I think KY Bourbon is distilled once; Scotch is dried with peat and distilled twice; Irish fire water does not use specially dried barley and is distilled thrice. If I am wrong, please correct this. I do not know Canadian distilling rules.
As a non-connoisseur, Jameson is about the only Scotch/Whiskey that I tolerate-like, preferring it 12-18 yrs old, on the rock and with a twist of lime. Keep in mind I have a legendary sweet tooth, having ordered a Pina Colada at my job interview dinner. I got the job here in 1999.
Just my 2 cents.
Before Katrina, I rented a car in Ireland and also went to Northern Ireland-in the UK. Someplace along the way I did the tour at the Bushmill's Distillery, I think in No. Ire. After the tour, which I do recommend, I was the chosen one in our small touring group do a "blind" taste test of about 8 Scotches and Whiskeys. No Bourbon's and I think only Irish and UK products. In the end chose what I occasionally drink at home, Jameson (don't remember which quality level). Bushmill's also recc. diluting Irish Whiskey with water/ice, about 1:1 as memory serves me. And no, we don't use bottled water here, just tap water 🙂. Their Single Malt was very nice. I think KY Bourbon is distilled once; Scotch is dried with peat and distilled twice; Irish fire water does not use specially dried barley and is distilled thrice. If I am wrong, please correct this. I do not know Canadian distilling rules.
As a non-connoisseur, Jameson is about the only Scotch/Whiskey that I tolerate-like, preferring it 12-18 yrs old, on the rock and with a twist of lime. Keep in mind I have a legendary sweet tooth, having ordered a Pina Colada at my job interview dinner. I got the job here in 1999.
Just my 2 cents.
Samus
Golden Member
Blue label is definately in a different league than any other Whiskey. I'm 25 years old and happen to like it. My Dad and I sipped down a bottle together at my brothers wedding a few years back and I've been a fan ever since. Green label is aged just as long but doesn't have the character. Both, however, give you a almost flatlining hit on the first swish in your mouth.
Kwint Sommer
Senior member
Where can you get a handle of the Captain for $21? I count myself lucky if it's under $30 here in The People's Republic of Cambridge....
I do enjoy the occasional sip of Whiskey but being in college seriously limits what I can afford. That said, I'm still enjoying reading your thoughts on the matter. Keep the amateur guides to Whiskey coming!
Samus, it is strange that would say:
"Green label is aged just as long but doesn't have the character."
Strange since Green is aged for 15 years but JW has never ever said just how long Blue is aged. Maybe that;s just because they consider it 'ageless' or maybe because you REALLY don't want to know ) As far as a 'flatlining hit' ... well at 25, maybe that is what you are looking for, but that is not at all what people are looking for in buying a bottle of Blue or any good Scotch, if I understand your meaning.
Blue IS a fine scotch and there is no reason not to like it - just a lot of reason to spend that much money on a lot better bottle of scotch or two or three.
(also it is Whisky without the 'e' not Whiskey)
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