Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 Year Old

I found a bar in town called the Triple Nickel (that my friends dubbed the "trickle nipple" years ago). The bar serves all of the Johnnie Walker major labels. The bartender was very nice. I mentioned that she looked remarkably like Helen Hunt and she very politely told me that she was quite tired of hearing that observation. She explained that she is the same approximate age as Helen Hunt and that the comparisons began in her adolescent years when Helen Hunt first starred in an after school special that all of her friends saw.

The Helen Hunt Lookalike Bartender and I watched Conan O'Brien together. Jennie McCarthy was interviewed about how she lusted after the image of Jesus in posters that she had purchased at 7/11 as a girl, and how later, as a Playmate dinner escort in Italy, she had once tried on the Pope's hat when she was let into his apartment without him being there. Some younger 20-something guys came over to order drinks at the bar, and lauded McCarthy, saying she was their favorite older "Playmate."

I also spoke with a stone mason who claimed that the owner of Evergreen Aircraft was very nice, and quite generous in the amount of work he had given the mason, despite the fact that this man felt that Evergreen Aircraft is responsible for Chemtrail spraying across the western states of the USA. He claimed that the spraying was being done for the purpose of weather modification with reflective materials like nano-particles of aluminum.

At any rate, I was treated to very surreal conversations over some high quality (but rather bland) scotch.

Drank a glass of Green and a glass of Gold. Here is my verdict:

THE REVIEW

Both Green and Gold should sit in a glass for at least 15 minutes to bring out the flavor. Cover the glass with a steel can lid if possible, or if not, a cardboard coaster. I covered mine with a drink coaster.

After fifteen minutes, the flavors began to ooze up and collect in the glass, providing an adequate nose to rate. Prior to that both noses were practically non-existent.

Nose of the Gold: Carmel apples (green), pecans, roasted chestnuts, toasted malt.

Initial sip: Apples, caramel, mild heat, smooth yet indefinite magic that was hard to identify specifically.

Mid note: Pecan pie, Granny smith apples, very very low heat, a cognac type consistency that reminds me a good Remy Martin.

Finish: Not terribly long but pleasant; lingering caramel; dates; whipped cream.

Compared to the Green Label, the Gold was lackluster but very very smooth. Do I prefer the Green? Yes, over the Gold, but it still was not very impressive. In fact, neither struck my fancy and neither was worth the price.

I paid $15 for a glass of Green and $20 for a glass of Gold. Personally, in retrospect, I would rather have paid much less for glass of Caol Ila and a glass of Talisker. I would have mixed the two and sipped my way to heaven.

By the way, the Green was sorely lacking when it came to the Caol Ila and the Talisker. I tasted NEITHER in the blend. This is dramatically different from two years ago when both signatures were prominent.

If you are planning on stocking up on Green Label because it will soon be discontinued, , you might think twice. Today's Green label is not the same as a few years ago. You might end up sorely disappointed, as I was tonight.

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