London Cocktail Week : Tuesday - Johnnie Walker

This is Kabir, the very tall Johnnie Walker Reserve ambassador who packed out the room downstairs from the London Cocktail Week hub. Literally, there were queues of people hoping to get a last minute space!

And in front of us we had three glasses, which we could not touch, as the barman (sorry, didn't catch the name!) from Quo Vadis was mixing us a up Sazerac to get us started. This was done with 50ml Johnnie Walker Black, 5ml sugar syrup, 2 dashes of Peychaud bitters all stirred and strained into a Chartreuse washed glass and garnished with  citrus twist. A lovely smokey/sweet balanced drink. Now down to business!


#1 Johnnie Walker Gold - deep orange/gold colour. Caramel and vanilla nose becomes a little cardboardy (?) with a touch of smoke. There is a lot of smoke and spice on the finish and with a creamy vanilla expression lingering too.

#2 Johnnie Walker Platinum - medium orange/gold, sour pears nose but somewhat artificial, develops more sweetness with time. Thick, smooth and long dry finish but a little disappointing, doesn't pack the punch with spice or flavour...bland?

#3 Johnnie Walker Blue - medium gold/orange, more complex with honey and a memory of smoke, sherried, orange peel, nutty, spicy... Less oily on palate, smokey finish, long, delicious

Little facts for you

• The main whisky in the gold blend is Clynelish, where gold was discovered in the water, hence the name
• The first blends that Johnnie Walker (original) sold were old in a red label and very old in a black label, hence the label colour calling nowadays