Talk:Johnnie Walker

Wrong information about black label

it was stated that black label is 80 proof in the USA and 70 proof globally. This is very confusing it makes it sound like it is bottled at different strengths in different markets. however It is sold at 40% abv all over the world. Historically british proof was 1.75x ABV and american proof was 2x ABV. However the UK no longer uses 'proof' I am british and I have never heard the word proof used apart from american sources. Therefore as the UK stopped using the concept of proof many decades ago and america is the only country to use proof I have removed any reference to it being '70' proof which will just confuse people who may think it is sometimes sold at 35% abv which would of course be less than the 40% strength that the EU states is the minimum for any product to be called a whisky.

Thebar.com

In addition to the official Johnnie Walker site, Diageo also has a website that they've designed as a extra resource for their brands. It is www.thebar.com- I think this link would be useful to add to the page. Any thoughts?

PR

Was the "Blends" listing written by Walker's PR department? Sure reads like it was… — 193.5.56.40 10:28, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Pregnancies

I don't believe that bogus statistic about 2/11 pregnancies in Europe. Probably JohnCrawford's idea of humor, but perhaps it should go? — 68.163.10.220 23 July 2004 (UTC)

Obviously no such statistic, so removed! — 80.5.160.5 15 September 2004 (UTC)

Whiskey brand

what the heck is a whisky brand entry mixed with a biography? shouldnt there be a disambiguation page or something? —12.42.51.28 12 May 2005 (UTC)

I fixed that. -R. fiend 19:29, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

"Oldest & Finest"

I have a bottle of Johnnie Walker in my cupboard… it was bought by my father some years back. It has a blue label, but no blue label written on it… the label says "Johnnie Walker Oldest & Finest blend of whiskies". What is it ?? I did some research but found nothing. Someone please help —202.71.138.35 22 October 2005 (UTC)

I think that should probably be added, see http://www.whiskey-galore.co.uk/johnniewalker.htm. Also someone on eBay that has a bottle for sale says: "The Johnnie Walker OLDEST was a very limited release during the late 1980s and is not available anymore. This bottling was released prior to the JW Blue." MDuchek 02:41, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Red Label is aged 5 years?

I though red label was aged 8 years, not 5, as said in the article. Is it really aged 5 years? —200.180.76.155 14 December 2005 (UTC)

I removed that until someone comes up with a good source. Aging blends is never as straightforward as aging single malts, as they are a blend of whiskies of different ages. I believe they have to ues the youngest when giving a number, which is why blends usually don't state an age, unlike single malts. -R. fiend 16:56, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

I also notice that the article now states that Green Label contains Talisker and Cragganmore, and that it is 15 years old. This seems contradictory, as Talisker and Cragganmore are only 10 and 12 years old, respectively. Am I missing something? -R. fiend 20:00, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

What you are missing, is the distinction between standard distillery editions of Talisker 10yo single malt and Cragganmore 12yo single malt on the one hand, and on the other, individual casks that the distilleries sell to blenders.

Talisker 10yo and Cragganmore 12 yo are the so called "single malts", but the distilleries sell off individual casks of other ages to blenders. These casks can be older or younger, whatever the blenders need. The age statement is only to indicate the age of the youngest whisky that was used in a whisky. So either there are only 15yo (or older) casks in there, or the whisky was younger when blended, but matured - as a blend - until 15yo.

So, for Johnnie Walker Green Label, other casks are used. Thus, a blended whisky can be older or younger than the standard 10yo Talisker or the 12yo Cragganmore. I hope I've made things clearer. - Galwaygirl 22:03, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Interesting. I wasn't aware (and am a bit surprised) that the distilleries age their whiskies longer for the blends, when the more mature taste the extra years bring will be diluted with a bunch of other whiskies. But I guess that's what the blenders are willing to pay for in order to put a specific age on their bottles. Also, I was unaware that blends are aged as blends. I was under the impression they always went from blending straight to bottling. -R. fiend 19:11, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Older does not mean better. Many fine single-malts are in the 10-12 year-old range. Much of the time, aging beyond 18-years in oak casks imparts way too much wood flavor into the whisky. Something like Black Label with a 12-year age statement is comprised of malt and grain whiskies that have all been matured for 12 years individually before bottling. -Ceugene (talk) 13:56, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Johnnie Walker USA Availability

I have read through the history of Johnnie Walker many times from several sources. I can find when Johnnie Walker became locally available in 1820 and even when the marketing kicked in for the Striding Man and Red Label and Black Label were avaiable in 1909. My question is, when did the different labels become available in the United States? The history implies that Johnnie Walker Blue was available in Britian in the late 1800's, but I can not believe it was being exported at the time. Furthermore, I have no sense of time about Johnnie Walker Gold or Pure. —Blacstag 11:42, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

The table I created should help there. Diago claims that Blue is a reproduction of John Walker's original blend, but that seems to be marketing spin, as outside sources all pretty much agree that Johnnie Walker Black Label is still today Alexander’s original blend, and John Walker did not blend scotch (it was not legal until after he died). Now John Walker could have vatted malt whisky, but I have not found any evidence of this. One could argue that Blue is the high-end blend Alexander would have made if the flood had not destroyed their old stock. —MJBurrage 14:29, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

To clarify. Blending is mixing malt and grain whisky. Vatting is mixing only malt whiskies.

question re Johnnie Walker's personal history

When was Johnnie Walker born?69.85.170.16 18:40, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

See John Walker (grocer) MrZaius^talk 03:57, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

time table

What is the reasoning for putting the table in reverse chronological order? It seems unnecessary and bizarre. Vicarious 02:04, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

No strong reason, when I created the table, it made more sense to start with the current blends next to the axis, and so the older availability ended up flowing to the right. Feel free to reverse it if you want. —MJBurrage 04:33, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Swing available in US

I purchased a 750ml bottle of JW Swing today for about $65. The owner said it is a recient re-release in the States.

I want to also note the abocve is probably true. I know they were set re-released it in the US recently and was supposted to be between $60-and $70 according to an article I read recently.

I think the Swing bottle is intended for the "duty-free" shopping market with an artificial limited availability cachet. It is supposed to reflect "the 'golden age' of travel in the twenties and thirties when luxury liners carried high society passengers around the world".

In popular culture section

Several of the tidbits in the section seem hardly noteworthy. I wonder: should these be edited for significance? Or are we planning to provide an exhaustive list of when JW is mentioned? --SidP 04:33, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I think just about all of them should be removed. This "so-and-so was mentioned/seen in this movie and this TV show etc." trend is a plague on wikipedia. It's all over the place. Should be nipped in the bud. In cases where the item in question (in this case JW, but same goes for all such entries) actually plays an important role in the work of fiction (and in this case none leap to mind) they deserve mention, but who gives a shit that Angelina Jolie was drinking it in Mr. and Mrs. Smith? It's irrelevant to the movie and to the product, and looks appallingly amateurish. I'll wait for any further comments before removing them. -R. fiend 23:09, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Wasn't Sid james famous for having a contract with johnnie walker and then trying to display its bottles in every carry on film that he was in? I think this is more relevant than "so & so was mentioned in movie ".. as this is an actor trying to self promote a brand? Source not sure but UK Sunday Times a few years (~10) ago springs to mind —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.110.235.3 (talk) 05:34, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

In Carry On Again Doctor, Sid James plays Gladstone Screwer, a medical orderly in a godforsaken tropical health clinic whose activities consist of drinking and having sex with the native women. At one point he opens a cupboard containing hundreds of clearly identifiable Johnnie Walker bottles. At that time (1969) JW was still a major whisky brand in the UK. --80.176.142.11 (talk) 15:06, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

I recently watched all six seasons of 30 Rock and I'm very sure Jack Donaghy drinks Blue Label, not Black as stated in the article. 87.172.184.43 (talk) 18:15, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

"The Letter than Johnny Walker Read". Asleep at the Wheel. Album - "Texas Gold" Capital Records - ST-11441 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jpipersson (talk • contribs) 15:24, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

It's strange how some of the entries in this section have citation needed and some don't while not being any more noteworthy but if you wanted the citation for Skynyrd's "Poison Whiskey" it's here: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Poison-Whisky-lyrics-Lynyrd-Skynyrd/BD2A3CAB4584E7A7482569EB0016C3A2 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.96.9.45 (talk) 10:23, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Trivia

Is this section just managed arbitrarily? What exactly is the criteria for what belongs there? Jordinho 02:48, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Significance. -R. fiend 02:59, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Clynelish

The article states that Clynelish malt is very rare (in the section on Gold label). I have a bottle of the 14 and I know that it is pretty common. I'm just wondering if this is referring to another Clynelish single malt, or perhaps some rare casking or something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.243.177.254 (talk) 17:38, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Proof listed in infobox

It doesn't seem appropriate to list the proof of Johnnie Walker in the infobox for two reasons:

1) It is inaccurate; Johnnie Walker Green Label is 86 proof.
2) This isn't information that pertains to the brand. Rather, it pertains to the specific product, and should be listed in the page for that product if one exists.

"Proof" should be removed from the infobox.

Esilverberg (talk) 05:45, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Craig Kilbourn's final show?

On Craig Kilbourn's final episode hosting CBS's the Late Late Show, he had a bottle of scotch and had a glass from it. He'd mentioned having scotch on the final show in the earlier weeks, and mentioned a brand, but I forget what it was. The brand wound up sending him a $2000+ bottle, probably for mentioning its name on the show. Does anybody remember the brand? Was it JW? It would be fun to mention in the popular culture section. --24.21.148.155 (talk) 04:25, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

JW is an export brand

JW has been a Diageo export brand for many years, possibly dating back to the formation of United Distillers in 1987. It is not actively marketed in the UK (including Scotland, obviously) where the mass market Diageo blended whisky brand is Bell's. Diageo is actually not dominant in the UK Scotch whisky market, though it is a major player. Maybe some reference should be made to this in the article? --80.176.142.11 (talk) 16:15, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

JW began to be actively marketed in the UK in 2013, and a major advertising campaign is underway in the runup to Christmas 2013. --Ef80 (talk) 01:56, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

If it is true that the brand has primarily been an export brand and is not especially prevalent in the UK, that seems like an important fact that should be included in the article. I don't notice any current mention of that. Are there some reliable sources we can cite? Some statistics about the brand's market share in the Scotch whisky market segment within the UK and outside the UK (and in Scotland in particular) would also be nice to have, and could be used to support such a statement. —BarrelProof (talk) 18:45, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

It's a bit late now. JW was an export brand over the last twenty years, and was only seen in the UK when people bought it in airport duty free shops. However, there seems to have been a change of corporate policy in 2013 and all the major supermarkets are now stocking Red Label. There has also been a TV advertising campaign. It isn't clear what has prompted this repositioning, but if anybody has suitably referenced info about it, it would make an interesting addition to the article. --Ef80 (talk) 13:31, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

It's never too late to include some words about the strange history of marketing strategy and availability of Johnnie Walker. I was missing that information in the article as well. And see also Johnny Walker's domestic counterweight Bell's whisky, and a comment I made on the strange relation of the two which should also be mentioned if someone can put up the obligatory sources. --BjKa (talk) 13:15, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

It is now clear that Diageo have re-introduced JW to the UK as a premium blended whisky, priced above Bell's and The Famous Grouse but below the mass market single malt brands like Laphroaig. I still don't have any refs though. --Ef80 (talk) 20:46, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Churchill

The Manchester reference states, "Remaining within reach are the jam and a weak (three-ounce) scotch and soda -- always Johnny [sic] Walker Red -- which the prostrate Winston will sip over the next four hours in the tradition of Palmerston, Pitt, and Baldwin."

(Manchester goes on to deny that Churchill was a heavy drinker, but citing Pitt in that context is not such a good idea.) --Andersonblog (talk) 14:54, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

The Man Who Walked Around The World

It doesn't have a real relevance to the article, which is why I'm posting it here, but this commercial was sent to me and I thought it was very interesting. It's a very well done long take narrative of the history of the whisky. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikekearn (talk • contribs) 17:10, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Kilmarnick

I have a square bottle of Walker's Kilmarnick dated 1851 - so the info. in the Wiki page about the tiem of creation of a square bottle is not accurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.164.200.203 (talk) 21:04, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

The date on many brands is the date the brand was first sold, not the date of the bottle itself. If the bottle actually says it was bottled in 1851, that would be different. —MJBurrage^(T•C) 14:08, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Johnnie Walker Green malts

Johnnie Walker Green is actually not made up of just four malt whiskies, but many more. The four that JW/Diageo have advertised are Cragganmore, Linkwood, Talisker and Caol Ila. -Ceugene (talk) 13:59, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Illustrations

The second picture is captioned "Black Label, standard US edition in 750mL Bottle," but, unless my monitor has some heretofore unheard-of specific issue, the label is blue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Altgeld (talk • contribs) 22:59, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Celebrating or Agitating?

Is "widespread media attention and celebration from..." correct? The rest of the sentence reads like the groups were agitating against the decision, not celebrating it. 192.31.106.35 (talk) 00:39, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

what means number back the label?

00:12 04 11,L1249T5000 , 19995796,where is "Bottling date"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.95.201.236 (talk) 14:37, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Nixon and Blue

It states that "Notable Blue Label aficionados include the late U.S. President Richard Nixon, who mixed it with Dry Ginger Ale and a slice of lemon" (with no citation), and normally that would be a-ok with me, but then the chart says Blue was only introduced in 1992...so it seems to be a slight conflict, unless Nixon only developed a taste for blue in the last few years of his life. Regardless, maybe a citation would solve it all. Cheers. --Percival2436 (talk) 20:54, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Jarring discrepancy

Table of least to most expensive omits platinum label, even though bullet points above mention it. It's just a jarring omission. 06:04, 9 December 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Randal Oulton (talk • contribs)

Island Green

In 2016, they released a new "Island Green" line that's apparently only available in duty-free shops. Jason Quinn (talk) 14:45, 29 October 2016 (UTC) Only in SE Asia.Moitranaak

Peacock terms and excessive level of detail

I've restored the 'peacock' words tag I previously added to the 'Blends' section. This still contains an unacceptable amount of non-neutral language and PR-style buzzwords. These words include "distinctive" "hint" "rolled-out" "surprisingly" "revamp" etc. Article's should be written in a formal tone, and avoid editorializing language. If this article were edited down to an appropriate length, so it did not read like a product catalog, these problems would likely disappear. Grayfell (talk) 22:14, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

It wasn't just the blends section. It was the whole friggin' article! This thing read like a load of promotional puffery mixed with a personal essay full of editorializing and useless trivia. This is simply unacceptable in any fashion, per, oh, evaery bit of WP:NPOV. The attempt to list every special bottling, which was the absolute worst offender, as it was utter fanboy trivia (if scotch whisky brands can be said to have fanboys) coupled with editorializing of the higher order. I have done a massive series NPOV cleanup edits here. I don't really have time to check the validity of the references, however, and I fear there are some that simply fail WP:RS or are misrepresented. oknazevad (talk) 00:49, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for doing that, it looks much, much better. The tag wasn't an endorsement of the rest of the article, it was just the most obvious starting point. Grayfell (talk) 00:19, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Cultural figures

There are a number of inconsistencies under this heading. “Winston Churchill's favourite whisky was Johnnie Walker Red Label, which he mixed with water and drank throughout the day.” Actually, Churchill was fond of both the Red & Black Label brands. I, for one, consider that the man is not contemporary and celebs need to be looked at in this light, which, as I understand, is Wikipedia’s aim. Do allow me to digress for a moment. If those who read these lines plan to visit India, or know of relatives/friends who do, please advise them not to talk about this man in public. In genteel society you will be shunned. Elsewhere, you will be stunned.

Jason Debly, says “…the ringing endorsement I always get a kick out of was from Christopher Hitchens: "The best blended Scotch in the history of the world - which was also the favourite drink of the Iraqi Baath Party, as it still is of the Palestinian Authority and the Libyan dictatorship and large branches of the Saudi Arabian royal family - is Johnnie Walker Black." If the Iraqi Baath Party, the Palestinian Authority and the Libyan dictatorship are relics of the past, why not quote just the Saudi Arabian royal family? And isn’t Mr Hitchens of no relevance today? What is Vanity Fair? An American magazine read by less than 0.01% of our global population?

“Johnnie Walker Blue Label was a favourite of the late US president Richard Nixon's; Nixon used to enjoy it with ginger ale and a wedge of lime.” . He too is history. This is a global platform; do look beyond the horizon for celebs. There are plenty in this overpopulated world. A number of singers and songwriters have referenced Johnnie Walker in their works, from Amanda Marshall to ZZ Top. Elliott Smith's Oscar-nominated "Miss Misery" has the narrator "[making] it through the day with some help from Johnnie Walker Red." Heavy metal band Black Label Society was named after Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, as Zakk Wylde was very fond of the drink. Polish fictional humorous character Jakub Wędrowycz is a word play based on Polish translation of "Johny Walker". That’s fine. An Indian comedian, Badruddin Kazi (11 November 1926 – 29 July 2003), took up the stage name Johnny Walker. Once a household name, he is now a relic. Gen Eisenhower liked Black Label too. Isn’t he of Churchill’s era, and more famous? .

• Moitranaak ([talk]talk)18:11, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

References

Ad

This reads like an ad, using language like 'best' etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.113.161.186 (talk) 15:42, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

The only uses of the word "best" in the article are either as part of the phrase "best-selling", which is an objective statement of fact, or as part of an award's name, also a statement of fact that the whisky was awarded that recognition. Neither are cases of the article promoting the product. oknazevad (talk) 18:09, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

GoT JW

Oknazevad, hello. "Diageo had earlier released a collection of Game of Thrones-inspired single malt whiskies." means earlier than the release of JW WW, right? Per source, WW came in October ("out Monday"), and the houses would come in November. This source [1] disagrees on November, but agree that WW came first. It may be more correct since it was written after the fact. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 07:27, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I think I was confusing myself with the date of the final season's air date. I don't think we need to include the exact release date here anyway, as it's trivial detail. I'll make adjustments. (Honestly, I don't know if we need to mention the house-themed whiskies at all since they're not Johnnie Walker labeled products, but if we take them out they're likely to be re-added anyway.) oknazevad (talk) 11:10, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Yes, per the Diageo+GoT+whisky connection I think it's reasonable to mention them. Anyway, added 2 more GoT-JW. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 16:34, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

feels very promotional

I suspect there's some paid editing here. I haven't read the whole thing but just from the lead the article seems to need some editing to neutralize tone. —valereee (talk) 22:44, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

It used to be a lot worse. One editor that frankly cannot write English did a hack job of an expansion some time back. That said, I completely disagree that the lead reads promotionally. It's a plain fact that this is the world's best selling whisky brand, and supporting that with the numbers is just good writing. If anything, the lead is too short as it doesn't sufficiently summarize the article. oknazevad (talk) 02:10, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Platinum and Aged 18 Years are NOT the same whiskey.

Not calling out the OP since he cited a(n inaccurate) source. I've tasted these side by side and they are VERY different. I like the platinum much better. At the price, I don't by the A18y. 2600:1700:8550:F70:60E3:7DA1:D939:D261 (talk) 23:18, 5 March 2023 (UTC)