Whisky I've Drank - Ballantine's Finest

By Richard Thomas

The square, brown glass bottle of Ballatine’s Finest, the entry-level scotch of the company, is a familiar sight around the world. Even in countries where you can’t find J&B or Jack Daniels, Ballantine’s is usually around. For many years, Ballantine’s was the top-selling scotch in Europe, and it continues to enjoy great popularity both there and in Asia. This has a lot to do with the modest virtues of Ballantine’s, as it’s a reasonably priced scotch that delivers just a little more than what the price tag promises. Ballantine’s is part of a trio of mass market scotch whiskeys, including J&B and Cutty Sark, that are almost always occupying the same pricing slot at the bar or on a supermarket shelf. Of the three, Ballantine’s is the best.

The Whiskey

Ballantine’s puts the “blended” into blended scotch, combining both malt and grain whiskeys made at a handful of different distilleries. Everything that goes into a bottle of Ballantine’s has been aged for at least three years, and the whiskey is bottled at 40% alcohol. The scotch has a light gold color, and has a lovely glint on ice. Most bottles come with an aerator, a feature which I don’t care for.

On the nose, Ballatine’s Finest is a soft, sweet whiskey with a touch of spice and a hint of peat. That musty peat comes forward on the palate, but overall the whiskey’s flavor is one of smooth, lightly sweetened vanilla. The finish is warm, sweet and even.

Price:

Ballantine’s Finest is usually available in the United States for $13 to $15, and in Europe for 8 to 10 euros.

Awards

For an entry-level, standard label, Ballantine’s is actually a well-decorated scotch. In 2006, the whiskey won a Gold at the International Spirits Challenge, and a Silver from the International Wine and Spirit Competition. That was quite an accomplishment for a whiskey from a category that usually manages a “seal of approval.”

Whisky I've Drank - White Horse

By Jason Debly
I like blended scotch whisky.
I keep good company because most of you reading this post also share my affection. Blended scotch whisky makes up about 85-90% of single malt sales. Comparatively, the market for single malts is much smaller. You wouldn't know it if you surf the web and search "scotch reviews."
Anyhow, I like blends because they like are an old pair of shoes: comfortable and familiar. Yeah, yeah single malts are typically more complex and therefore more impressive, but there are times when I just want to chill. I am not looking for challenge. I spent all day slaying dragons (albeit mostly paper ones) and now it's night time. I am mentally spent and I just wanna listen to my eclectic line-up of music like Iggy Pop's Search and Destroy, Urge Overkill's most excellent rendition of that Neil Diamond classic Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon followed by maybe Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang and sip a familiar blend. Comfort scotch if you will.
Three Great Blended Scotch Whiskies
There are three truly great economy blends that you must become familiar with in this life of yours: (1) Teacher's Highland Cream; (2) Black Bottle; and (3) White Horse.
The first two, I have written about plenty, but the third, not so much. White Horse is a very old brand. Been around a real long time. Occupied space in many grandads, and dads liquor cabinets. And for good reason. It's cheap.
White Horse retails for $18 in North Carolina. Elsewhere in the US, it may be a couple of bucks more, but it is still very affordable. Amongst the cheapest blends on the market. The question that immediately comes to mind: "Is it any good?" The perpetual question eh? Okay, my budding Siddhartha, let's find out.
Nose (undiluted):
A touch of sherry, prunes and the citrus notes of over-ripe blood oranges. Maybe a hint of salt laden sea air too. Not the most impressive of aromas to ever float heavenward from a glass. Matter of fact, pretty bland. But, at this price point, the noteworthy attribute is that it is not offensive.
Palate (undiluted):
Smooth, viscous, mouth-coating, creamy body.
Blood oranges, buttery shortbread cookies, slight sherry, counter balanced by wild honey, lemon zest and very subtle peat and smoke. There is some see-saw action going on between the fruity orange/honey flavors of Speyside at the forefront and the very restrained Islay/Islands smoke/peat at mid-palate.
Finish (undiluted):
This is where Islay and the Islands (ie. Skye) come through. Lagavulin, Cao Ila, Talisker make an appearance. Nice smokey finish with great malt notes. Hmm! Ginger and salty pretzel too.
General Impressions:
White Horse delivers sweet, buttery soft flavors of oranges, honey, some limes and finally a nice puff of smoke from a menthol cigarette and a little peat.
It is the "finish" that is impressive. Breathe through your mouth after sipping this blend and you can taste the smoke much more clearly. It becomes far more pronounced.
Smooth, totally inoffensive with nice briar patch fire smoke and salty tang on the finish.
Complex? Ahh no. But, remember, this scotch retails for $18! Enjoyable? Ahh yes!
Claim to Fame?
White Horse is famous for having Lagavulin as one of the principal single malts composing this blend. It seems that every review I read makes mention of this fact.
In all honesty, I can't say that I taste Lagavulin in this blend. It is stated so on the back label, but again, I am not tasting much of it.
I taste Talisker on the mid-palate to finish. Caol Ila is another malt in this blend. The smokey finish tastes of that fine malt.
There are 40 whiskies making up this blend. Some grain and some malt. The grain whiskies are well integrated and taste crisp. Malt whiskies make up 40% of the blend, which may explain the lack of a grainy character.
Criticisms?
At $18 a bottle, it is hard to criticize this blend. If I had to make one, I guess I do find it extremely smooth and consequently very drinkable. I mean $18! Dude, can you have breakfast for two less than that?
Anyway, it is very smooth. I would, in a perfect world like it to be a little more vibrant, but this is just an observation and not really valid at this price point.
Sweetness is another concern. This blend like the vast majority of bottom shelf scotch tend to be very sweet. White Horse succeeds where others (ie. J&B, Ballantine's, etc.) fail. While White Horse is sweet, it is not cloyingly so, and more importantly, by the time of the finish, it is no longer sweet but rather smokey with some peat giving a drying affect. So, while I had many reservations upon initially sipping it, my concerns washed away, literally, by the time of the finish.
Highly quaffable and highly recommended when one is on a budget or just wants a friendly blend to keep them company and not make any pesky demands.
Special Thanks
A reader went to great lengths to have this bottle delivered to me. Thanks a lot Will!
Now, I must get back to that rather eclectic music collection of mine . . . Hole performing "Doll Parts."
Cheers!
Jason Debly

By Proof66.com

White Horse blended scotch is traditional scotch first produced in 1890 by Peter Mackie. It is a blend of 40 different scotches and recognized as one of the more intriguing and flavorful blends on the market. It is said to be named after an inn in Edinburgh, Scotland. Various whisky reviews note the presence of Lagavulin Islay single malt at the heart of the blend.

The label used to be owned by United Distillers and Vintners, which become involved in a series of merges that ultimately turned in to Diageo, who now owns the label.

Whisky I've Drank - Grand Macnish

By Jan van den Ende

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: NAS

Alcohol: 40%

Color: Bright Gold

Nose: 

Sweet Grain, Malt, Caramel, Light Peat, Oak, Straw, Leather, Floral Tones (Think of Lavender), Honey and Lemon. A light Vinegar off-note. There’s a hint of fruit but I can’t pin it down. Peach maybe or Pineapple. Some Sharp Alcohol makes it a bit difficult to get to the heart of this Blend. Give it time to open up a bit. It’s not bad but I can’t really get excited about this.

Taste: 

Sweet Grain, Caramel, Toffee, Honey, Malt and Light Spices. It’ s quite sweet and smooth. A tad salty.

Not earth-shocking but not bad either.

Finish: 

Short and Dry Speyside-type Finish with some Toffee, Oak and Floral notes. The Salt is still there as well.

I added a few drops of water that does nothing extra for the Nose but enhances the Honey on the Palate and in the Finish. Just try it out.

Rating: 82

Nose: 20 – Taste: 21,5– Finish: 20 – Overall: 20,5

General Remarks: 

This Blend was created in 1863 by Robert McNish. It consists of around 40 Malt and Grain-Whiskies from a.o. Highland and Speyside. The Brand is currently owned by MacDuff International, Glasgow. It’s not widely available around the world although it’s been produced constantly since 1863. It was a favorite of the well-known writer Ernest Hemingway. The bottle is quite old-fashioned.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Okay

Conclusion: 

This is one of those few occasions where I rate the Nose lower than the Palate. The Nose is really uneventful. Nothing to write home about. But on the Palate the Grand Macnish is very smooth and the Honey tone is very nice. The Finish is on the Short side. If you can get this Blend it will cost you around 35 Dollars, which is a good price for this Blend, especially when you like the combination of Speyside and Highland whiskies.

Whisky I've Drank - Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve

By Jan van den Ende
Country: Scotland
Brand: Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve
Type: Blended Scotch Whisky
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Date: 12/02/2014
Colour: Light Amber
Nose:

There's a young feeling to the Nose. I find Grains, Heather and Honey, Toffee and Caramel, Oak, a little Sherry, a touch of Sulphur of the Vegetative type, Floral, Vegetable and Earthy tones, Straw, Banana Cake, Apple Pie with Raisins, Malt, Citrus Peel, a little Perfume and a pinch of Nutmeg. It's a bit of everything but nothing is really convincing. The Alcohol is not fully integrated.
Taste: 

The Delivery is quite Thin and Watery. Nothing to get excited about. I find Honey, Toffee/Butterscotch, Wax, Citrus Peel, Dried Fruits, light Oak, Grain and light Spices.
Finish: 

Rather Short and Disappointing. Sweet at first, Dry later on. A bit of Toffee, Honey, Orange Peel, Pepper, Raisins, Wax and Oak.
The Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve does not accept Water very well. It's best enjoyed over a little Ice.
Rating: 79.5
Nose: 20.5 – Taste: 19.5 – Finish: 19.5 – Overall: 20
General Remarks: 

The Johnnie Walker Brand is owned since 1997 by the Diageo Group. The Gold Label Reserve was released in 2012/2013 and was crafted by the current JW Master Blender Jim Beveridge to celebrate almost 200 Years of the JW Blends. At the heart of this Blend lies Clynelish. This distillery uses Water from the Kildonan Hills were Gold was found in 1868. The new Gold Reserve is supposed to replace the old Gold Label 18 Years that has been discontinued. The Blend sells at between 65 and 90 US Dollars, quite expensive for a NAS Blend. Nice modern bottle though!
Drinking Experience Neat: Okay
Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Okay/Good
Conclusion: 

Quite disappointing. At this price level I would simply expect a better Blend. The Nose is okay but not really exciting. On the Palate and in the Finish, the Johnnie Walker Gold Reserve is easily drinkable but Thin, Boring and Bland. It's impossible to compare this NAS Gold Label Reserve to the old Gold Label 18 years although their prices are quite similar! The old Gold Label was meant to be appreciated, perhaps on a special occasion, like the Green and the Blue. The new Gold Reserve screams " Take Me, I'm Easy To Drink" and "It's Party Time" and clearly aims at a different and younger public. At a lower cost of production (younger whiskies) and with more or less the same sales price this means good business! At least in the short term. But many Whisky fans, including me, miss the Old Comfortable Gold and the Vatted Quality Green!

By Geoff Kleinman 

Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve vs. Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 

By Geoff Kleinman 
We’ve been talking a lot about a massive change in the Scotch Whisky market lately with a clear move away from age stated whiskies. Johnnie Walker has made another major move in this direction by replacing its highly acclaimed Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 year Blended whisky with the new Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve. For its “introduction” (the whisky was previously only available in travel retail internationally), Johnnie Walker has put the new Gold Label Reserve into a shiny gold bottle that looks a lot like the Ace of Spaces (aka Armand de Brignac champagne) packaging. The shiny gold bottle isn’t intended to be the permanent packaging for Gold Label Reserve as it’s billed as a “limited time offering.” This is probably a good thing as the packaging is one of the worst we’ve seen come out of Johnnie Walker.
Another major change for Johnnie Walker’s Gold offering is the dropping of the 18 year old age statement. The Scotch Whisky industry has seen some dramatic shortages of 18 year old malts, and while Gold Label has traditionally been an 18 year old product, Johnnie Walker Platinum Label has now taken over that space. Perhaps the most difficult change for Johnnie Walker fans is the price. Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 year traditionally retailed for around $85, this new Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve was initially rumored to come in around the $65 price point (a fair adjustment for a much younger product), but unfortunately, much to our surprise, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve comes in at the painfully high $87. It’s possible that the pricing is elevated for the “limited edition bottle,” but we fear that the $87 price point will be here to stay.
To be fair, we’ve decided to start with a review of the new Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve individually, before we start comparing it to Gold Label 18.
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve (40% ABV / 80 proof, $87) – light amber in color, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve has a very sweet and fruity nose with honey, apricot, and raisin. These fruit notes are monstrous and leap out of the glass. Underneath this fruit is a very subtle smoke, a little salinity, a touch of oak spice, and a little barnyard hay. The entry for Gold Label Reserve feels a little thin and watery, which is a disconnect from the extremely expressive nose. It takes a moment for the flavors to really arrive on the palate, but once they do they are a pale version of the notes in the nose with honeyed malt, apricot, and raisin. In the midpalate the slight smoke from the nose does emerge along with very slight black pepper, but it’s the oak that really jumps out and begins to take over the fruit, throwing whisky off balance. Towards the end of the midpalate the fruit notes begin to dry out and are replaced by light citrus. The finish on Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve is fairly short and dry, mostly dominated by citrus, light smoke, and strong oak.
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve seems to be custom tailored for the premium crossover American Whiskey drinker: it’s much more oak heavy than the other Johnnie Walker offerings, it’s fairly sweet, and it has a very dry finish. Johnnie Walker Gold has the affability of a blend without anything that’s going to really challenge or offend anyone. It’s a complete mystery how this liquid found its way into a near $100 offering. That is until you listen to Brian Radics, Director of Scotch Whisky with Diageo frame the whisky, “Gold Label Reserve provides consumers with a unique flavor for high energy celebrations that may not have been traditionally looked at as a Scotch whisky occasion.” It’s unfortunate that Diageo decided to swap out what was considered one of their top connoisseur blends for a product aimed at nightclubs and traditionally non-whisky “occasions.”
So how does it compare with Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 (aka The Centenary Blend)?
Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 (40% ABV / 80 proof, $85 – discontinued) – while it’s the same light amber color as Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, Gold Label 18 has an extraordinarily different nose. Instead of monster fruit, the nose on Gold Label 18 is a well integrated and complex blend of aromas including a nice soft smoke, malted barley, honey, varnished oak, dried apricot, and a little brininess. While the mouth feel of Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 is light, it’s not nearly as watery as Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve and it is much more forthcoming with its flavor notes, which are more closely aligned with its nose. The entry leads immediately with some of the sweeter elements of the whisky with honey, dried apricot, and apple. These fruit notes are combined with a nice clear malt flavor. In the midpalate a pleasant smokiness emerges from the heart of this whisky which combines with a solid salinity that integrates wonderfully with the fruit notes. Towards the end of the midpalate the whisky takes on a little spice with oak, black pepper, and ginger. The finish is fairly long and is a superb blend of the sweet, smoky, and spice elements all coming to a slightly dry conclusion.
Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 is a phenomenal example of a quality blended scotch. It brings together a wide variety of flavors and delivers a nice level of complexity and integration while still maintaing a lighter style of flavor experience and a high level of affability. Johnnie Walker Gold Label does a superb job of bringing together many of the different kinds of malts in the Johnnie Walker universe into a singular expression that demonstrates why blended scotch is so highly consumed.
With 18 year old malts in limited supply, it’s not a shock that Johnnie Walker pulled the age statement from their Gold Label release; what is a shock is how dramatically they’ve shifted the strategy for a product with almost the same name. Johnnie Walker fans looking to Gold Label Reserve as a replacement for their beloved Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 will be severely disappointed, maybe even downright mad. These two Johnnie Walker Gold Label releases couldn’t be more different. The change, though, isn’t entirely out of context. Johnnie Walker has quickly become one of the world’s great aspirational brands. In many countries it has outpaced the indigenous spirit, a feat considered nearly impossible just a decade ago. Johnnie Walker’s premium line, including the now discontinued Johnnie Walker Green Label Malt Blend and Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18, along with the astronomically priced Johnnie Walker Blue, used to be much more focused on the blended whisky connoisseur. The line now with Johnnie Walker Platinum and Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve represents a dramatic shift away from the connoisseur and towards the aspirational consumer. Diageo is clearly banking on the fact that they can re-capture the connoisseur with one of their many single malt offerings (it’s no coincidence that Talisker Storm was released at the same time as Gold Label Reserve).
Our best advice is for connoisseurs of blended Scotch whisky to run out and stock up on some of the few remaining bottles of the Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 Year still out there in liquor stores. Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 represents the end of an era for Johnnie Walker blended scotch whisky, one that will be fondly remembered.