Johnnie Walker Celebratory Blend 200th Anniversary
2020 Release Blended Scotch Whisky | 51% ABV
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
The only Johnnie Walker I’ve purchased multiple times
An Express Lane to ‘Success’?
If you’re here for just the whisky - skip ahead to the review. The preamble today is introspective. It’s for the readers but also for my fellow Dramface team members. It comes in the form of a confession, of sorts.
That is; we’re not really doing enough to grow Dramface traffic. We’re aware that it’s the case and we don’t seem to care. Well, some of us do, but others push back. I need to explain.
Firstly, the editorial team - the folks who have access to the ‘back-end’ of Dramface including all the analytics - tend not to study or share stats with the team. The writers don’t hear how well their articles do: how many reads, how many unique visitors or how many shares, for example. Perhaps you’ll feel that there’s shame in that.
We’re not completely opaque. Occasionally, we’ll drop a screen shot to show that we’re growing fast and that their efforts are really making a difference. But there’s very little breakdown or detail and we’ll most definitely shy away from ‘Top 10 Articles this month!’ and such like. It’s all deliberate.
Today, I’d like to explain why but, should anyone disagree with this strategy, I’d be quite happy to engage in polite interaction in the comments below, before ignoring it all completely.
Firstly, if you’re creating online content for whisky as an observer, commenter, reviewer or what-have-you, there’s a very easy way to fast-track your growth: focus on reviewing Macallan, Springbank and Ardbeg. That’ll do you nicely. Thereafter, if you’re still not happy with the trajectory and you’d like to supercharge it, you can always reach for the Nuke Button and review a few Johnnie Walkers. Seriously. Boof! And the traffic arrives.
The last time we shared a Johnnie Walker review, an earnestly well-thought appraisal from our pal Gilbert, our site traffic alerts had our phones buzzing off our desks. Traffic, on that particular day and the day after, tripled. Now, while it would seem it has a lot to do with Google’s trust and the content being promoted to certain geographical areas, we have to admit that it’s effective. Gilbert’s Black Ruby review is now, statistically, the highest traffic review on Dramface to date, displacing Ogilvie’s JW Black review from 2023.
So, there you have it. The express route to success and growth is the world’s best-selling and most-recognised scotch whisky brand. Boom - and the job is done.
But of course, it isn’t. Let’s measure how effective that squirt of mega-traffic was in furthering the robustness or relevance of Dramface.
Did any of the shiny new visitors stay afterwards? Perhaps, but very few. In fact I’d say so little as to be immeasurable and make no real difference. Did we see a spike elsewhere in page views and reads elsewhere of all the other content we do? Not really. Did we see any new members sign up? Any new newsletter subscriptions? No. We did not.
More importantly, did the writers of those articles enjoy any more interaction? I doubt it, from what I can measure, it was the same as any other day. The only ‘feedback’ the writers enjoy is the comments section and the interactive ‘like’ buttons and emoji below each article (please, use these liberally, treat Dramface like any social platform). These traffic spikes were made from non-invested drive-bys; ghosts. Folks who perhaps love a whisky, but have only a passing interest. They care little for the niche, geeky side of whisky that Dramface serves and that’s entirely understandable. They are many and I am in no doubt that the next wave of whisky botherers exist partly therein, but attracting their attention is less effective than making good points about the whisky we’re enjoying as enthusiasts - for enthusiasts.
It’s just one of the reasons we don’t invest too much time in chasing numbers. We use numbers to measure our relevance, that’s all. This is also why there’s not much point in sharing the stats with the writers. We’d love for everyone who contributes to Dramface to write solely about the things that are making them think and driving them to share. Whether that’s a global brand or an unheard of tin shed hidden just outside Backend, Nowhere: they should write about what fires their imagination and not care a jot about what website traffic it may or may not generate.
Neither should they care about how they compete in reads, visits, views or shares against their peers. Everyone is different, everyone offers a unique value and no two writers are remotely alike. As soon as a pattern is identified for bringing more ‘success’, there’s a danger it could be adopted, consciously or not, and we encourage homogenisation.
We believe - I believe - the strength of any site or platform made up of multiple personalities should, as much as possible, embrace that variety. The scale of the traffic doesn’t matter, the quality does. We’re after our people; good, organic, curious, invested traffic who share our sensibilities as enthusiasts, if not always our personal opinions.
I say all of that, of course, right before I tee up a Johnnie Walker review.
But know that my motive here is to share an under-the-radar beauty of an affordable and quite excellent whisky, and the brand is honestly, completely incidental.
Review
Johnnie Walker Celebratory Blend, 200th Anniversary Edition, 2020 release, 51% ABV
£53 paid and still widely available (£64 RRP)
When I think about it, it’s remarkable this whisky is still around. Part of the myriad releases that arrived in 2020 to celebrate the brand’s 200 years, it was one of the affordable and large-scale outturns. I found it late.
Paying homage to the original 19th century Old Highland Blends and subsequently features a nice hike in ABV as a nod to the strength and style of the time, but otherwise it doesn’t look much from the outside. However, as you start to unpack it, there’s a sense that this could be something different from the endless special editions bearing Diageo’s Striding Man.
The box is excellent; it is robust and tactile with hidden magnetic closures, I note this as someone who usually tosses the box as soon as the bottle is open. But the gatefold box opens to reveal a nostalgic print - we’re told the only existing image - of the original John Walker grocers; their Kilmarnock roots.
I won’t dwell on how I wish there was enough desire to mark this history with a small museum or visitor centre in Kilmarnock, but I know, now that Diageo have fully pulled out of the town, that’s unlikely. It’s pretty sad, both for the town and the heritage of the brand. I suppose we should be grateful that the Princes Street centre in Edinburgh exists, which I’ve yet to visit. I hear it’s a great day out. I’ll get over my huff one day. It just feels like Johnnie Walker is celebrated in - literally - all four corners of Scotland, except the very spot it originated from. Anyway, nice box!
The square bottle itself is familiar and pretty bog standard, except for a gold sticker and the white, slanted homage to the Old Highland whisky of a hundred years ago. No matter, it’s what’s inside that counts and, as surprised as I am to say so, Diageo treated us with this one.
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
The only Johnnie Walker I’ve purchased multiple times
Nose
Ripe peaches and sweet melon flesh - galia and cantaloupe; before biscuity shortbread, white chocolate, icing sugar, soft cinnamon and ginger. With water, some vanilla and lemon custard pops a little to convey the creamy, sweet air of a patisserie.
Palate
Energising. Beautifully balanced and perfectly pitched. An immediate reassurance that some of the best stuff has been brought together for this. Gentle, ripe fruits and soft spices bind brilliantly together with white chocolate and a light, slightly waxy mouthfeel. With time, honey and a malty Ovaltine theme appears.
It takes a drop of water but honestly, it’s lovely and confident without it; water seems to split that creaminess. A longer-than-is-reasonable-to-expect finish offers more of those gentle kitchen spices before a last gasp appeal for another sip.
I will buy more of this, this isn’t just a rare, well-priced Johnnie Walker, it’s a rare, well-priced whisky.
The Dregs
The pictures betray that I’ve already bought a back up bottle. But, don’t judge me, I’ve actually bought four. I bought two when they went on sale and, as I got to know the bottle better, I bought another two, you know, for gifts and such like. Perhaps also because of the fear it will disappear soon.
For those that do not need a hammer-blow taste profile or an extreme position on the flavour bandwidth, this is pitch perfect. It sips well and can play the role of sucking you in with complexity and nuance, but also able to fade into the background to let you enjoy whatever’s going on outside of the glass. It’s lovely.
As we await the news of the prices to drop for this year’s 2025 Diageo Special Releases, we’re all prepped and ready to hop on the Diageo boycott train once more. They make it easy: oddball, arbitrary prices, fluffed up stories and occasionally contrived maturations. However, I think we’d all do well to take care not to throw babies out with bath whisky, there are occasional gems from the Big Kid in the scotch whisky playground. For those who care, this is one.
I’ll let you know in the comments if this JW review attracts the same odd, transient traffic spikes of the previous write-ups, but in all honesty, know that the intention of the words today are intended in the same spirit as every other day. We don’t - and hopefully will never - chase clicks, views, visits or shares.
We’re here to share the good, the bad and the indifferent. Once in a while, like today, we hope to alert you to the fact there’s a cracking affordable whisky out there, and that sometimes it’s hiding in plain sight.
Score: 8/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. WMc
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
Other opinions on this:
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.
