🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

A hermaphrodite somewhere between Scotland and America. Although simple (no wonder at the price), but not charmless.

No revelation, but much smarter and better drinkable than the Red. Good "party whiskey".

Why should a man drink Scotch that smells and tastes like a cheap American bourbon whiskey? Edit: Okay, now I understand. Beveridge said the be 'light style, along the lines of an Irish or Japanese whiskey', but with 'American whiskey signifiers'. In addition, Red Rye Finish marks the first time that the blending team has considered the whiskey application in the cocktails as a key part of the production process.

Nose — 79/100 Light and fairly restrained, with sweet cereal/malt, vanilla and gentle rye spice. There is some underlying grain sweetness, but the aromas lack the depth and intensity of the stronger American whiskies in the flight. Palate — 82/100 More enjoyable than the nose suggests. Sweet malt and vanilla come through first, followed by a modest rye-spice character. Fairly easy drinking and reasonably balanced, although still relatively simple and without much weight or complexity. Finish — 82/100 Moderate, with lingering cereal sweetness, gentle spice and some drying/bitter grain-oak notes. Pleasant enough, but it does not develop significantly after swallowing. Overall impression A competent, approachable blend with the rye adding useful spice and character, but it remains comparatively light and straightforward. The palate and finish are clearly better than the nose.

easy drinkable blend with a surprisingly pleasant rye background.

Nice combination starting with sherry then turning into bourbon, but the end is below expectations. Blind tasting notes from homemade Advent 2017 calendar, gentle gift of friends

I did not expect much, because I find the Red really cruel, and was pleasantly surprised. He is much better! Of course not a highlight, but decent easy drinking fabric and really good for the price!

Nose: Sweet and gentle, with plenty of vanilla and spice (some cardamom and pepper), freshly cut softwood, really has more of a bourbon (with a high rye content) than a scotch. Very pleasant and pleasing - no comparison to the normal Red. Appearance: now clear Rye spiciness with pepper and rye meal, citrus fruits, tremendously sweet (corn syrup) but also now a bit of breeze-typical oak bitterness, the sweetness with the fine vanilla stay long in the aftertaste and make you want more. No wonder of complexity but a clear step forward compared to "Red". But this blend also tastes more like a blend of Grain Whiskey and Rye Whiskey. Typical scotch notes are almost completely missing. And that's exactly what makes him so special and good in this price segment!

Easy drinking, good value for money. Not every painting has to be a Da Vinci...

Johnnie Walker Blender's Batch Red Rye Finish 40%. Golden orange. Aroma is banoffee pie, custard creams, apple pie, vanilla liqueur, vanilla ice cream with wafer, American oak, some sherry trifle. Beautiful aroma. Body is lightly oily. Taste is clean, all those notes from the aroma follow into the taste, lots of vanilla cake, some dried mango, soft prickly booze comes through, eggnog. Drinks as easy as water but carries plenty of flavour … and that prickly bite in the finish reminds you that you’re drinking a whisky. Just very easy to drink and pleasant. That's a very good blend to start an evening with. Not something to drink after something hefty! 3.65/87

65/100

Fresh, sweet, fruity, citrus, caramel, light oaky bitterness

Rye, grain, malt. What is this? Whatever it is, quite well enjoy this drink in this price.

In fact, no comparison to the Red Label. To classes better. Nice experience Blindtasting

Better than the standard red label, but with a little too much caramel in it. A lot of sweets. You can drink it with a cola or other mixer as well as solo. And this is his advantage over the entry-level Johnnie Walker.

- a very surprising JW for me - nice sweet aroma, much better and not comparable to the classic RED LABEL - even better than the BLACK LABEL and GOLD LABEL reserve - even if the bottle is not that fancy, I would prefer to buy this one. than the GOLD LABEL reserve - with 19 € already very cheap, normally it is around 30 €

2021 Rating

tasted another 5.0 cl on 02.08.2025:

aroma: flat, alcohol, iodine, vanilla in the background, maybe honey taste: rough, unpolished, caramel, vanilla, a little peat scattered, unpolished, flavors do not flow smoothly

Nose: Sweet, glue-ish, vanilla, some spices, indeed cardamom.  Something reminds me of carrot-juice. Overall it smells a bit 'bourbonesk'. Taste: Bitter, then sweet, again the glue, some vanilla and oak. Spices like cardamom and coriander powder. Body: Thin Finish: medium. Again 'bourbonesk' sweet, and vanilla. But fades away quickly with a bit of a peppery burst. Price: Very reasonable Presentation: I think it's fine. Comments: It's not top of the hill, but it is a very reasonable 'weird' blend. I think it should be tested blind, you probably will get quite good scores. Way better than the 'red label' and worth the little bit extra money.

Jim Beveridge initiated the Blender’s Batch series, which will include three bottles. The first of these is Johnnie Walker Red Rye Finish containing Port Dundas and Cardhu whiskey. The next ones are: Red Rye is "Bourbon Cask and Rye Finish" and "Triple Grain American Oak".

Warm, fruit syrup, caramel (which rises) beautiful mixture of cereals. This nose is really interesting. In the mouth, weak attack, significant reduction, but behind, it remains pleasant and juicy. Final lingering, but a little thin. Enthusiasm 4/5

Unfortunately does not come from the fags. Is too weak on my chest. By that I do not mean the alcohol, just everything around it.

you can drink it neat - it is way better than the normal RED - you can also mix it - but you can also leave it out… .;

Amber color.

Impressing surprise from Johnnie Walker: this blend is very aromatic, fine balanced and lasted hours to explore it. Much better than most of their standard range. The Rye is not too strong but blends wonderful with malt, that gives this whisky a broad buquet of exotic fruits.

N- Citrus, orange zest, shy earths with dusty spices and soft honey. Rising heat and muted wood prank. Lack structure and not holding up well. Mellow version of Red Label. P- Pickle ginger, caramelize orange, light and easy. F- Short-medium, whiff of peppery spice with some citrus with return of fragrant wood. Pleasant blends and good at price point. — at The Whisky Bar, Kuala Lumpur.

I tasted at the Whiskey Festival 2017, it was a welcome party at the opening ceremony. Pleasant whiskey, even with the OK price.

A nice, non-complex and non - pretentious expression from JW. Very easy on the budget and therefore great bang for your buck!

To classes different / better than a Johnnie Red, bargain for 17 euros if you like Bourbon / Rye. Only weak point are the only 40%, but he would be stronger too strong.

Tasting Notes: https://whiskycuse.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/johnnie-walker-blenders-batch-ted-rye-finish-40-vol-ob-2016/

They could have made it worse. There’s a lot to be said about the blenders’ art. Like those with a gifted schnoz who can make desperately enjoyable perfumes that, with a single whiff, can take you back to a single moment in time, a person or a place, a skilled blender can make things that are almost magical to drink. Other worldly reactions can occur, you know the kinds of whisky that have touched you over the years - I have a few. And of course, like any good story there is also the dark side of the same coin where blenders have created things which your palate recoils from and will always remain as singularly horrible experiences. For me, Johnnie Walker Red was one of those baaaaad experiences. I’d never drank it before, I’d merely read about it an decided that there was little point in ever trying it because, for the money, you could have significantly better. That is until I got given a bottle from the 70’ or maybe very early 80’s by a friend. It was one of her father’s who had recently passed away. Not the kind of thing you turn down. So, I dutifully drank it. It was, on the surface a singularly horrible whisky. Maybe, looking back I may have been ok but my initial reaction was one of mild horror and revulsion. Something similar to “how the hell is this on the shelves?” crossed my mind more than a few times as a begrudgingly got through it. By half way through it had been downgraded to mixer liquid. And so, that’s where JW Red Label is in my scotch landscape. I know it’s there and I never want to touch it again. But… I saw this rye experimentation bottle and thought, “HA! It can’t be any worse that the one I have a few years ago”, and you know what, it wasn’t. In fact I’m prepared to say it’s actually quite good, for what it is. The nose, instantly this is Red Label but with a great big slap of rye. Curry leaves, citrus mash of some persuasion, tanned leather, body odour, cardboards, wood glue, some new plywood, a sour note in there of something unfamiliar, a creamy swish and some feint vanillas, toasted coconut and oak and sour rye notes. Soft mint and cardamom. It’s strangely quite an enjoyable smell. The usual Red Label is a thankless thing to smell but the rye notes instantly make you think of bourbon and warmer, more inviting drinks rather than the usual paint thinners I associate with it. In the mouth and it’s waaaaay better that the usual Red label. There’s an initial sweetness but it’s instantly backed up with woodiness and a nice prickly rye note. It’s just enough to make it interesting. Any less and it would have been a footnote to the usual bland, grain heavy RL, but this is quite good. It doesn’t swamp it but it does cover up all the usual embarrassing shortcomings quite well. There’s a real sense of flavours being explorable (even though it’s a very short list) and it almost feels like a it would actually make a pretty half decent cocktail (probably where they’re aiming this at? Surely it’s not toward the neat scotch drinkers?). There’s chocolate powder, though it feels like the cheap sort. Bourbon vanilla and spicy rye. Lashings of young grain are immediately, some creamy citrus notes, wood and feint pepper and caramel. It makes you glad it's not the standard Red Label but it also makes you realise how good the older 43% Black Label bottlings are compared to this. Is it any good? Hell, er... yes and no! It’s still a terrible, cheap tasting, mass produced, industrial scotch. It has some enjoyable aspects, it's no doubt extremely consistent and will offer something new to the bourbon drinkers looking into scotch, but it's never going to excite the more well seasoned scotch drinkers; a diverting novelty. But it’s better than Red Label and perhaps you have to be thankful for small mercies sometimes.

Very good value for money.

Very quaffable – and dirt cheap – Walker, which will work wonders in a cocktail, but is also quite enjoyable neat.

Rye, cake, baking spices, oak cask, vanilla, furniture polish, cream brûlée, caramel and citrus notes on nose. Rye, spices, cream brûlée, maple syrup, caramel notes on palate. Middle finish with spices, vanilla, oak cask, cream brûlée and maple syrup notes. This is an interesting experiment with cask finish, Johnnie Walker in rye whiskey, more american than scotch.

Watery malt, with bourbon rye notes

Despite the fact that I had almost no expectations, this whiskey pleasantly surprised me. Yes, it seems a bit weak and it is a bit thin-watery, but it is surprisingly complex in both aroma and taste, and for the price it is a really drinkable whiskey. The spiciness of rye harmonizes with the honey sweetness in taste, and I really like the smell of something green like dill or unripe tomatoes in addition to fragrant flowers.

Its great for the price.

Johnnie Walker blends have become an integral part of store shelves. The Blenders' Batch series experiments with blending and its limits. The whiskey was created from only 4 different malts. It took over 200 samples before Emma Walker and her team got the perfect blend for the Red Rye.

This compilation of grain and malt whiskeys, which were finished in rye casks, beats the ''Red Label'' standard by far. For a whiskey in this price range, the ''Blenders' Batch No. 1'' not only tasty, but also amazingly expressive and can definitely convince in its segment.