Johnnie Walker Blue label

You spend enough money on something, you expect to be blown away, or at least to be suitably impressed. Blue Label is one of those whiskies. Geared towards the high-end market, you can spend upwards of $200 a bottle for this blend of "finest rare whiskies." (It's actually not since the Blue Label George V edition has older and rarer whiskies). So inevitably perhaps, Blue Label disappoints. I have tried tiny samples before and not gotten much out of it, but I figured it was worth another go with a bottle sold at close to a bargain price (and earning 10 to 1 frequent flier miles in duty free!).

Blue is quite smooth as one would expect, but the promised smoke is much subtler than promised and the spice goes in and out. It would be unfair to compare it to a single malt, so I take the other concoctions from Hiram Walker and sons as a bench-mark instead, especially the ubiquitous black label and the refined gold (12 and 18 year old blends, respectively). The 12 is livelier, as one would expect, but also well balanced, whereas the gold's smoothness is indistinguishable (to this amateur's palate) from the blue. So, although Blue is a fine whisky, it's nothing to rave about. I would suggest investing your money in three bottles of gold or five to six bottles of black (or some combination thereof) instead.