Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Whisky
The Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve is a light amber gold drink, rich and smooth whisky with flavours of vanilla and dark fruit. This is a great testament to the harmonic partnership of Speyside and Highland whiskies, with a hint of smouldering embers from the West Coast.
The Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve falls under the category of blended Scotch whisky. Like other Scotch whisky brands, it has an alcohol content of 40% Alcohol By Volume (ABV) or 80 US Proof.
The Gold Label Reserve is a quality product from the beginning. It’s well-boxed and has a heavy foil closure, so it’s a great joy when the cap is opened for the first time. The shadow moulding of Johnnie walking is raised from a heavy and well-designed piece of glass and filled with magnificent liquid colour.
Created in 2013, the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve was actually a substitute for the discontinued Johnnie Walker Gold Label. The Gold Label Reserve, like the majority of Johnnie Walker expressions, is a blended Scotch whisky, which means it’s a mix of single malt and grain whiskies from Scotland.
Master Blender Jim Beveridge produced Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, a Gold Medal award-winning blend, to commemorate over 200 years of blending.
This iconic blend includes whiskies from Speyside and the Highlands of Scotland, as well as all other West Coast whiskies.
To develop such a diverse blend, their Master Blender searched his cellars for casks that had already matured to the point when their flavours were at their most vibrant. The strong, diverse flavours are carefully blended from classic malt whiskey and creamy Lowland grain whiskies to create the most finely balanced of luxury blends, complete with smokiness, and rich and fruity notes.
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve has a highly sweet and fruity scent with honey, apricot, and raisin. These fruit notes are enormous and jump out of the glass the minute it is poured. Underneath these fruity notes is a very slight smokiness, a little salinity, a touch of oak spice, and a hint of barnyard hay.
The entrance for Gold Label Reserve is a little thin and watery, which contrasts with the tremendously expressive scent. It takes time for the flavours to truly hit the tongue. However, once they do, they are a pale version of the characteristics in the scent, with honeyed malt, apricot, and raisin. Well-known for its buttery smoothness, it begins with a wonderful burst of delicate nectar and mild smokiness, then moves on to sweet fruits and deeper, velvety, honeyed tones before concluding with lovely, lingering whispers of smoke and oakiness.
The slight smoke from the aroma does appear in the midpalate, along with very slight black pepper, but it’s the oak that really pops out and begins to take over the fruit, pushing the whisky off balance. Towards the end of the midpalate, the fruit notes begin to fade and are replaced with subtle citrus. The finish for Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve is quite brief and dry, with citrus, a hint of smoke, and powerful oak notes dominating the finish.
The Gold Label Reserve appears to be tailor-made for the premium crossover American Whisky drinker. It’s much more oak-heavy than the other Johnnie Walker products, it’s pretty sweet, and it has a very dry finish.
Gold Label Reserve offers whisky lovers a distinct flavour for high-energy gatherings that may not have historically been thought of as a Scotch whisky occasion.
How to enjoy drinking Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve? In a highball glass, combine Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve and crushed ice. Garnish with an orange slice and serve. This whisky can also be enjoyed pure, with a dash of water, or with your favourite mixer.
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve is created for memorable nights out with incredible companions which are friends and family.