Review: Johnnie Walker Black Ruby

Johnnie Walker Black Ruby is one of the blender’s more complex products, featuring a complicated maturation that involves PX and oloroso sherry casks, “seasoned” red wine casks, and ex-bourbon casks — and no Port at all, as the name of the whiskey might connote.

It’s also only available outside the U.S. or in duty free/travel retail shops, making it especially unique among JW expressions. (It can also be found online in the States, but at a premium price.)

It took some doing but we managed to score a bottle courtesy of the distillery. With that setup out of the way, let’s get to tasting.

Johnnie Walker Black Ruby Review

The whisky bottle is almost completely opaque, so it comes as a bit of a surprise when the spirit pours surprisingly light in color, and not particularly red in hue. No matter, let’s plow ahead. The nose is immediately indicative of blended Scotch, with a healthy granary quality on display that presents as fresh cereal and toasty, dried hay notes. The essence of sherry — primarily oloroso — builds the longer you let it simmer in the glass, offering aromas of wet leather and torched orange peel, though both are on the light side.

The sherry is more evident on the palate, with citrus notes meeting up with lighter hints of milk chocolate, mint, and cardamom. There’s a ruggedness here that I wasn’t really expecting; Black Ruby is intended to be sweet, and while there is some sweetness present, this is not a canonically “sweet” whiskey by any stretch. Rather, the savory grain-driven notes evident on the nose maintain focus here, offering a rather gritty counterpoint against the spice and citrus. It works, the two halves melding into a cohesive whole that finishes with a pleasant spiciness, evoking saffron at times. The way out sees a reprise of that cardamom note, pleasantly earthy, and oddly making me think of gin.

80 proof.

B+ / $40 (700ml) [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]

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