Johnnie Walker Green Label to be discontinued

Quite sure this has already been discontinued.

@sengjc, if you read the few posts just above yours you will see that it has been brought back for a limited time release.

@broadwayblue

Wow...

That's amazing marketing...

@sengjc QUITE RIGHT

Let's look at this from 2 perspectives:

1. The JW Green is the only blended malt of the JW range. Some have said it's the best of the red to Blue range. I've tried the red (new and old), black, double black, Green, Gold reserve (NAS) and the Blue. Though not all at the same time, I would agree that it is my favourite, though it could have been the power of suggestion. From that point of view it's great to have it back.

2. I've had a bottle of Green since, I believe, Dec 2010, before I formally started my hobby in earnest. I must have tried my brother in law's bottle around that time. I've never been tempted to open it. There are just so many good whiskies out there that I would rather have.

So it's marketing that makes this one so special. Otherwise it's a collection of 15 year old Diageo malts, blended together, diluted to 43%, chill filtered and coloured.

Now some people really like this one, and for them I'm happy it's available. But to many people it's about having one for the collection, or to give as a gift so as to appear "in the know". Take non-rare malts and put them together in a way that they are only available in limited quantities, and the whole is worth more than the sum of the individual malts.

Again, great marketing.

I haven't done this, but it would be interesting to see the prices of the component single malts compared to the same total volume of the Green. I'd bet the Green comes put more expensive...

@Nozinan, the MSRP on JWG is $50. A quick search on the official 12 year old bottlings of Caol Ila, Talisker and Cragganmore reveals they each go for at least as much, and while I couldn't find a distillery bottling of Linkwood, IBs of the 15 look to go for quite a bit more. I think this is the reason they pulled Green from the lineup...having a 15 year old malt blend costs them more to produce than the rest of their range which is based on grain whisky.

Yes, 15 yo malt usually costs more nowadays per bottle than does Johnnie Walker Green Label at around $ 50-55. If the price doees indeed stay the same, I am surprised that the price was not raised for this 'special' release. Johnnie Walker Green Label was always a relative bargain within their lineup.

This whole deal seems like an odd tease to me.

The best case I can imagine here is that Diageo is testing the waters to see whether bringing Green Label back would be commercially popular. If they were just going for a quick financial score I should think that they would have raised the price.

@Victor, regarding the price, while it appears they did not raise it, the did make some changes to the packaging/bottle. Gone it appears is the presentation box and the cork is now a twist off. Not sure how much that saves them though.

@Nozinan

If they have retained the old pricing then that's a good thing.

It is to me one of the better JW "labels" released. Maybe it is because it is a pure malt.

"I can understand why they would discontinue it because people are starting to realize it's better than Blue Label and it's 1/3 the cost"

That's the sound of @stakenblocken hitting the nail firmly on it's head.

I've heard through the grape vine that it is indeed making a comeback. I guess I have to stop rubbing in that it's "only available in Taiwan." Shame, I was enjoying being a dick about that.

Kidding, of course. That's great news!

I have read that it will be an USA release only to celebrate the 10 years of the JW Green Label.

From Whisky Cast: whiskycast.com/green-label-mystery-resolved…