I’ve had my eye on this Limited Edition bottle of Johnny Walker Gold Reserve for quite some time. By “quite some time”, I mean 4 months. That’s around the time I settled on Johnnie Walker Black as my everyday goto whisky. I’ve seen that gleaming gold bottle on a few liquor store shelves in the past, but felt that $70 was just a bit out of my reach.

Even after my wife gave me a 4-bottle sampler of Black, Gold, Platinum, and Blue, I still wasn’t that eager to plunk down $70 bucks for a bottle. If anything, I was more willing to spend the extra and get a bottle of Platinum for $90. I felt the Platinum to be more worth the extravagance than the Gold. I just wasn’t overly impressed with the Gold. It wasn’t much better than the Black, and it wasn’t as good as the Platinum. The contrast between the Black and Platinum was very evident, and I guess the Gold just got lost somewhere in the middle.

I tried the Double Black, figuring it was a cheeper alternative to the Gold. I wasn’t impressed. If anything, I was actually very disappointed. Maybe I had a bad bottle, because I felt that towards the end of the bottle, it started to taste a little “fizzy”.

A few months went by and I found myself in the liquor store looking to replenish my stock of Johnnie Walker Black. Lo and behold, they were out of it! I don’t think any self-respecting liquor store should ever find themselves in the position of being out of Johnnie Walker’s mot popular signature blend. That’s like a grocery store being out of milk! The humanity!

OK, so it’s not to total truth. They were out of the 750ml bottle. They had the 1L, but a $53 bottle wasn’t in my budget at the time. $40 would have done fine.

I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a bottle of Red. That would have felt like taking a step back. I looked over at the Double Black and thought, why not? I’ve had so many new whisky experiences since the last bottle, that maybe I’d have a new appreciation for it. That, and it was only $43 bucks.

My instincts were right. I really like it now. It really is Black with a lot more smoke. A lot more smoke. It’s like a campfire. It’s not as well rounded and polished as Black, but it has that extra smokiness and sweetness that makes it delicious. It’s a nice treat to change things up a bit, but it wouldn’t replace Black as my goto whisky.

With that said, I figured I’d give the Gold another try too. A week or two passed since I opened the Double Black. I still had a little bit left when my wife asked me to make a liquor store run. She needed a bottle of vodka and sambuca. I had a few extra bucks on me, so I figured while I was at it, I’d treat myself to a few bottles.

I was just going to pick up another bottle of Black, but I really wanted something different. Maybe a Gold. Maybe a Platinum. Maybe even a Swing. Total Wine sells Swing, even thought it’s usually only available in Duty Free shops. I thought I’d get lucky and they’d maybe have the odd bottle of one of the Explorer’s Club editions.

No such luck with the rarities. Even the spot on the shelf for the Gold Label Reserve was empty. Oh well. Guess it’ll be Black then. I looked around for some others that I’d like to try and saw that they had the original Glenmorangie. The Glenmorangie Lasanta 12-Year that I tried last time was pretty good, so I figured the 10 year was a safe bet. Some would agree that Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich are some of the whiskies that you should just always keep on hand.

As I was putting the Glenmorangie in my basket, one of the sales associates commented that it was a fine choice. I figured while I had his attention, I’d ask if he had any Gold Label stashed away somewhere. He said, as a matter of fact, he had a case up top.

I was delighted. It’s not just a bottle of Gold, but it’s a bottle of Gold in the Limited Edition bottle. You definitely want to grab one of these before they’re gone.







Wow! Just look at that! This has to be the coolest bottle I’ve ever seen. It looks like a solid bar of gold.





It has a mirror-like finish. You can really see yourself in it.



I’ve seen the Gold Label Reserve Limited Edition go for as high as $93 online. I paid $70. I’ve read some articles that said the retail price upon release was $87. It’s pretty much the same price as the Platinum. It’s pretty expensive. So I actually feel pretty good about getting it for $70. Still, that’s the most I’ve paid for a single bottle yet. It’s just too cool to pass up. And I know I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t buy one and it ended up being discontinued.

As cool as the gold finish is, there is a negative side to it. You can’t see how much you have left. You just have to go by how it feels. I have a feeling that when I go to pour that last glass, I’m going to be left with a tease.

You’ll notice that the Gold Reserve does not have an age statement on the bottle. Gold Label used to be an 18 year old. I’ve even seen pictures online of 15 year olds. I checked Johnnie Walker’s site and they have the Reserve shown as a regular offering. But where’s the “regular” Gold?



Apparently, the “regular” Gold Label 18 year has been discontinued in favor of the Platinum 18 year. It’s a shame, because everyone says the 18 year is a lot better than the Reserve. So if you find one, like Green Label, buy it!

So how’s it taste? Oh my goodness is this a fine whisky! Honey and vanilla. So smooth. You can just feel the quality going down. It’s unmistakably Johnnie Walker.

There’s definitely a toffee-like sweetness on the finish with a touch of wood.

This is the first glass of whisky I’ve handed to my wife to try and she’s stolen it from me. She just doesn’t care for whisky at all, but this....she took from me. That’s saying a lot.