Whisky Review: Johnnie Walker Black Label Blended Scotch

Each week on the Film & Whiskey Podcast, we crack open a classic movie and a new bottle of whiskey. This time, we’re revisiting an old favorite that somehow never made it to the review table: Johnnie Walker Black Label Blended Scotch.

Bob was convinced we had reviewed it before, probably because we’ve always compared it favorably to Red Label. But to our surprise, this is the first time we’re officially reviewing it.

Johnnie Walker Black Label is a blended Scotch whisky bottled at 40% ABV and aged 12 years. Unlike Red Label, which carries no age statement and is clearly intended for mixing, Black Label sits comfortably at the $35 price point and promises a more refined experience.

So, how does it stack up against our usual blended Scotch benchmarks like Monkey Shoulder and Chivas Regal?

This review is taken from our episode "Hanksgiving VI: Catch Me if You Can / Johnnie Walker Black Label." Click the link to listen to this review in audio format.

Nose

Brad:
"Yeah, the Johnnie Walker Black has a really beautiful classic, what you would expect from a blended Scotch nose. There is honey. It gets a little bit on the fruity side. There's some peach, some like darker plum type of notes going on. It gets a little bit nutty for me. The longer I sit with it, almost like an almond. It's a really nice, pleasant nose, Bob. I'm going to give it an 8/10."

Bob:
"Yeah, man, I think I'm in the same spot as you. I think I'm going to give this a 7.5/10. It's kind of exactly what you're looking for. Nothing's really blowing me away about it, but it's like this is the baseline when I'm drinking blended Scotch—from Cutty Sark up to Monkey Shoulder. These are the notes I expect to get. This is a much more mellow, not harsh kind of rendering of that, which I will give some credit to."

Taste

Brad:
"I think the palate runs the same gambit. The honey is there. It has such a pleasant barley taste—like there's definitely some Scotches that taste like young barley. This is just a really nice cereal grainy kind of flavor. The plum sticks around for me. The nuttiness almost turns into like a caramelized toffee kind of vibe. I really like this a lot. I'm going to come down a tiny bit from the nose. This is just like standard, baseline, really good Scotch. I'll give it a 7.5/10."

Bob:
"I think I'm a little bit lower on this whiskey than you are, Brad. Any fruit that is there on the palate is just kind of hinted at. It's like the La Croix of whiskeys. You said plum and I kept looking for it and I'm just not finding it. I could maybe get down with some kind of fruit skins. It's got a little bit of earthiness to it. But primarily for me, it's like buttery. There's definitely butterscotch, toffee. I'm in that same category, but it tips a little more like saline heavy for me. So it's like salted caramel, salted butterscotch kind of a thing. And then quite a bit of smoke, quite a bit of earthiness on it. I like it, but I wish it had a little more fruit character to go with it. I'm going to be at a 6.5/10 on the palate."

Finish

Brad:
"For me, the finish—the toffee sticks around and the plum sticks around. Those are like the main notes that sit in this really nice, effervescent, sweet kind of category. There's not really any sourness that sits on my palate. The barley just kind of dissipates nicely. There's not too much graininess. I'm going to come back up from that 7.5 on the palate and give it an 8/10 on the finish."

Bob:
"I think I'll give it a 7/10 on the finish because it's a really long-lasting, super buttery finish. I just wish it was a little more complex than what I'm actually getting here."

Balance

Brad:
"Yeah, it makes me a little sad. I love when we agree on Scotch, Bob. We're not terribly far off from each other. I think balance-wise, this is a really well-balanced whiskey. There's nothing that puts it over the top. I'll give it a 7.5/10 on balance."

Bob:
"Yeah, I think I'll give it a 7/10. This is a pretty standard above-average blended Scotch whiskey. It's not approaching Monkey Shoulder for me. And as I recall from that Chivas a few weeks ago, I don't think I would put this above Chivas personally either."

Value

Bob:
"That takes us to our value category. We're at $35. So it's just a touch below where Monkey Shoulder is currently sitting in the state of Ohio, and right around where Chivas is. And I think given my preference for both of those other two, it's priced definitely fairly. It just comes down to what your preferred flavor is on a blended Scotch. If you like a little bit more of those fruity notes to come through, I would say go to Monkey Shoulder or Chivas before you come to Johnnie Walker. I don't think it's a bad value. I would not personally pick it over those other two. So I'm going to be at a 7.5/10."

Brad:
"Yeah, I am actually with you on value. I think this is a standard value for a blended Scotch in this range. 7.5/10 is my score. I think I would lean towards Monkey Shoulder over this. I think I'd take this over the Chivas. It's not like crazy better—it just kind of sits in my wheelhouse a little more closely."

Final Scores

Bob:
"I'm coming out to a 35.5/50 on this one."

Brad:
"38.5/50"

That brings our average to a 37/50, or a 74/100 overall.

At Film & Whiskey, the threshold for recommending a bottle starts around 35/50. That makes Johnnie Walker Black Label a soft recommend from us. You’re getting a 12-year age statement, a reliable blended Scotch experience, and a classic profile at a very reasonable price point. But if you're looking for more fruit-forward or vibrant blended Scotches, we'd probably still steer you toward Monkey Shoulder or Chivas Regal. Still, Johnnie Walker Black remains a solid and dependable choice for your home bar.