My First Brush with Johnnie Walker Blue

There are a lot of things I don't miss about trade shows. Namely the shows themselves. But they have provided some notable drinking experiences. One is to be excused for imagining me raiding the wine cellars of tourist traps, swinging magnums of Cristal around hotel bars or imbibing Louis XIII three fingers at a time. First, not my style. Second, I don’t possess the creative accounting skills to slip those entries through on my expense report.

I have consumed vast amounts of alcohol over the years on the company dime and a large majority of it has ranged from pedestrian to execrable; this includes much light beer and red wine that would inflict less of a headache if I smashed the bottle square across my forehead. Let’s just say trade shows are invariably about quantity more than quality, gluttonous more than discriminating.

My last trip to Chicago was noteworthy however in that, emboldened by the beer, wine and vodka I had already consumed one evening, I went ahead and ordered myself a Johnnie Walker Blue Label at dinner. Though I am a single malt enthusiast, I thought I would give Johnnie Walker Blue a try since I was in the mood for something a little different and it was the most venerable (and most expensive; it’ll run you $200 a bottle) blended scotch I could think of.

It’s a scotch that takes itself very seriously: every bottle is serial numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity. There are about 15 or so scotches in the blend, some old (up to 60 years), some young, some from distilleries that no longer exist, and some from micro-distilleries that produce limited quantities.

All of which sounds good to me. Here’s the rub though: my palate had been thoroughly abused by lesser spirits that I missed the hints of “rich homemade Dundee cake.” So I don’t have much to offer in the way of tasting notes. It was definitely peaty and smoky, reminding me of the Islay malts, but who knows what else was going on there. Dundee cake tastes like peaty, smoky scotch as far as I know.

I don’t think I will be picking up a bottle anytime soon at its price point, but it did offer a nice reprieve from the usual expense account fare. It’s time to be discriminating again.