Mister Cocktail

The brand Johnnie Walker launched it’s first blended whisky in 1865. In fact, before 1860 it was illegal to sell blended whisky’s in Scotland. Black Label was launched in 1909, and continued on the first blended whisky Alexander Walker (John’s son) launched in 1865 as Walker’s Old Special (re-branded to Extra Special Old Highland in 1906). Enough with the dates now and on to the whisky!

Black Label is one of the most sold blended Scotch in the world and each expression has become world famous by now. And each different expression (you know: red, black, green, gold and blue) has it’s own drinker. It makes a lot of sense in my opinion to build further on each expression to ……. their fan base.

When tasting the ‘normal’ Black Label it always surprises me how complex this whisky actually is. This blend of a good 40 different whisky’s, each aged for at least 12 years, can be recognised by it’s 4 main flavour characteristics: fresh fruit, like apple, pear and orange – dried fruit like apricot and dates – vanilla, coming from the use of Bourbon-barrels – and smokiness, which comes from the Islay whisky’s used in the blending process.

It is a clear move to position Johnnie Walker Black Label as a brand of it’s own by launching the Double Black. For this brand they have chosen to follow the taste-profile of Black Label rather than the minimum age of the whisky’s. The 4 main tasting notes are still there, but are put in a new dimension by blending in more smokiness in the Double Black. This influences the taste in a very pleasant way, and does what it’s supposed to be doing: introduce their fan base to some slightly more mature flavours.

The bottle: The Double Black has a significantly larger and heavier bottle. With it’s dark glass and gold highlights on the label it really stands on it’s own.
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The nose: Clear peatiness promises a much heavier taste than one is used to get from the Black Label. There’s pleasant sweet notes that you can recognize as well from it’s older brother, giving a good indication about the balance between these 2 elements. Obviously, a lot of similarities between the two, but also strong characteristics specific to the Double Black.
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The contents: The smoke is much less dominant in the taste than it is on the nose. One of the most significant changes the smoke does to the components, is to the element of vanilla. In Black Label this element brings a rather sweet note to the palate. In the Double Black it has changed to a more creamy texture – much more soft and less sweet. It also appears to me that the mouthfeel is more silky and a bit thicker.  Pleasant fruitnotes like apple and raisin (a small percentage of the barrels JW uses in Sherry-cask) keep giving that sweet balance to the Double Black.
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Conclusion: This is absolutely a great next-step whisky for the Black Label fan, but also a nice very buy if you like some smokiness in your whisky, but not too much. The combination with the sweeter tones is a very pleasant one and I think can introduce  some less experienced drinkers to the more peated whisky’s.
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All over the world bartenders are always looking for new combinations of flavours and spirits. Thta’s how it used to be and that’s how things will probably be forever. Because by doing this, new cocktails are born, just like you would try to do at home with cooking or maybe when you’re mixing your own cocktails.

Last week I wrote about the Gin Basil Smash – a cocktail that made  it’s way from a local bar to the gallery of Contemporary Classics. That cocktail was created by a great bartender called Jörg Meyer and the good thing is that around the world there are more bartenders curious enough to explore new combinations of flavours.

One of these bartenders is Max La Rocca, bartender at Ohla Boutique Bar in Barcelona, well worth the visit for a number of reasons, the person said being a one of them! Max is a very talented host and bartender, being amongst the leading explorists of new ways to create cocktails and drinking experiences for their customers. His bar previous bar was famous for their afternoon tea and he was looking for ways to incorporate the drinking of cocktails into the teadrinking-ritual. Also because he liked to serve cocktails rather then serving tea. The cocktail he designed for this is based on the way to serve tea, poured from a teapot. He named his drink “Irish Mermaid” for two reasons: the base ingredient for this cocktail is Irish Whiskey and the second reason is to pay his homage to the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, where the Cherry Heering Liqueur is from.

Method:
Pour 35 ml a good quality Irish Whiskey, 10 ml Cherry Heering, 10 ml Aperol, 5 ml Orgeat Syrup and 2 dashes Angostura Bitters in a small teapot. Add ice and pour the contents into a small container, with enough room for the liquid to move around and to start foaming. Put the liquid back in the teapot and repeat all five or six times, when you think it’s ready!

Serve the drink in a nice cocktailglass (I used a small wineglass here) and use a nice zest of orange to garnish the drink.
You can do this by cutting a 2 x 5 cm piece of zest with a peeler, place it between your thumb and indexfinger and squeeze it with the orange side towards the glass.

Masataka Taketsuru (1895) was a member of the family that had been producing Sake since 1733, but he was obsessed with Whisky. His passion led him to Glasgow, where he studied the art of making whisky to eventually become master blender. He not only found his passion, but also his wife, Jessie Roberta, who he married and took home to Japan. He was the first one to produce whisky in Japan while working for a company called Yamazaki, but in 1934 he started his own company, Nikka.

Nikka from the Barrel is a blended whisky from matured malt whisky and grain whisky, blended together and ‘married’ by ageing and bottles at 51.4 % / 102.8 proof

The bottle: This undeniably cool bottle comes in a basic box, made of thick, silky cardboard with basically only Japanese printed on it. The bottle appears to come straight from an old pharmacist with a very simple alu-cap to close to short neck.
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The nose: Despite the high percentage of this whisky the nose is really soft, almost silky that leans towards a fine cognac. It is slightly sweet from orange and has a bit of dryness at the same time, reminiscent of a sweet sherry. After I added a drop of water more flavours are released: a bit of caramel and more wood shine through.
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The contents: A very mature taste of toasted wood at first, followed by more sweet notes, liquorice, slightly salty (very nice!). The high level of alcohol numbs the taste just a little but it so nicely balanced with the taste.
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The mixability: don’t mix it, unless it’s with a drop of water.

Overall: This is an amazing whisky, one of the finest I have ever tasted! It is very reasonably priced and I think a great asset to any spirits cabinet. It looks cool and the taste could also be a great introduction to Japanese whiskies.
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