Johnnie Walker Red Label
The world's best-selling blended Scotch and the whisky made for mixing. Spicy with cinnamon and pepper, fresh with apple and finished with a smoky tail: at its best in a tall glass full of ice with ginger ale or cola.
Johnnie Walker's blended whisky
Johnnie Walker Red Label is the house's entry-level bottle: a blend of up to 35 whiskies from distilleries spread across Scotland. There is no age statement on the label, and there does not need to be. Red Label is not about long maturation, but about a consistent, lively flavour that holds its own when you add ice and soft drink.
While Black Label consists of whiskies aged for at least twelve years and is rounder, Red Label is younger, spicier and more direct. Think cinnamon, pepper and fresh apple, with a long, smoky finish. The brand itself recommends serving it over ice in a highball glass with ginger ale or cola, and that is exactly where it shows why it is the world's best-selling blended Scotch.
In brief
Spicy, fresh and slightly salty
Spices and apple
Aromatic spices with cinnamon and pepper at the forefront, underpinned by a fresh, fruity sweetness of ripe apple.
Lively and balanced
Fresh, sweet and fruity, with a salty note that keeps it balanced. Spicier and lighter than Black Label.
Long and smoky
A long, lingering finish in which the smoke has the last word. You can still taste that smoke through the ginger ale.
Johnnie Walker Red Label tasting profile neat. With ginger ale, the apple and spices come through most prominently.
Three ways to drink Red Label
Red Label was made for ice and bubbles. A tall glass, plenty of ice and a good mixer do more for this whisky than a tasting glass.
Red Label highball
Fill a long drink glass to the brim with ice, add 50 ml Red Label and 150 ml ginger ale, and garnish with a lime wedge or an apple slice. The ginger enhances the cinnamon and pepper.
To the highball recipe →Whisky and cola
40 ml Red Label with 160 ml ice-cold cola in a long drink glass full of ice and a lemon wedge. Simple, and the smoky finish gives the cola a little more depth.
Long drink glasses →With soda over ice
40 ml Red Label with 80 ml cold soda water over large ice cubes in a tumbler. Without sugar, you can taste how fresh and briny this blend really is.
Tumblers →Cocktails with Red Label
For cocktails with lemon, honey or soda, Red Label is the natural whisky choice: spicy enough to come through and made to be mixed.
Highball
Whisky and cold soda water or ginger ale in a tall glass full of ice. The way Red Label is most often enjoyed.
Whisky Sour
Whisky, lemon juice, sugar syrup and optionally egg white, shaken hard. Red Label's cinnamon gives it a spicy edge.
Penicillin
Blended Scotch with lemon and honey-ginger syrup. Red Label is a great base; the smoky float can come from an Islay malt.
Whisky cocktails
All cocktails with whisky in one place, from Hot Toddy to Rusty Nail.The right glass for Johnnie Walker Red Label
Red Label is best enjoyed long: a tall long drink glass for a highball and whisky and cola, a sturdy tumbler for a sour and for soda over ice.
More Johnnie Walker flavors
Johnnie Walker
Where it all began. On the brand page, you can read everything about Johnnie Walker: its origins, varieties, and classic cocktails.
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Johnnie Walker Double Black
More Islay smoke and deeply charred casks. Full-bodied, vanilla-like and intense; neat with a splash of water.
View Johnnie Walker Double Black →
Johnnie Walker Green Label
Only single malts aged for at least fifteen years. Grass, pepper and sandalwood; neat with a drop of water.
View Johnnie Walker Green Label →
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve
Honey, apricot and vanilla with subtle smoke. Delicious ice-cold straight from the freezer.
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Johnnie Walker Blue Label
Rare malt and grain whiskies, velvety smooth. Chocolate and honey; taste neat, with ice water beforehand.
View Johnnie Walker Blue Label →Everything about whisky: the types, the best-known brands and the cocktails.
Questions about Johnnie Walker Red Label
Didn't find your question here? Read more on the Johnnie Walker page or browse our cocktail recipes.
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