Review #54 Johnnie Walker Song of Fire and Ice: Scotch
Score: 7.2 & 7.4 / 10
Distillery: Cardhu
Type: Blended Scotch
A while back I had a tonsillectomy. They told me the recovery would be “tough” (believe me it was BRUTAL – don’t do it unless you absolutely have to) so I wanted to do something nice for my girlfriend who was going to be taking care of me for a week or two after the surgery. I stopped by my local liquor store and snagged a bottle of Jane Walker 12 as a gift for her. While I was checking out the clerk said, “Oh yeah we have those other Johnnie Walkers on sale too!” and pointed to the cases of Johnnie Walker Game of Thrones edition Song of Ice and Fire bottles that were stacked high next to the check out line. The sign said $19.99 (they were previously sold at $45.99 in my neck of the woods). The clerk chimed in again and said, “they even come with a mail in rebate!”
Ah what the heck, I thought to myself, so I grabbed one of each. I’m bad at rebates so I filled out both immediately and mailed them out same day. Fast forward about 6 weeks and I get an email from USPS informed delivery with a check from Diageo with $40 on it. Score – free whisky, just had to wait six weeks. I walked over to my mailbox to pick up the mail and then saw that there was not one, but TWO checks for $40 ($80 total) that had been mailed to me. One for each bottle… I started laughing to myself, realizing that I had just made $40 to drink Johnnie Walker. Pretty sweet deal. I’m thinking about writing Diageo to see if they want me to sample anything else for $40.
As for the whisky – I finally sat down and wrote reviews about both expressions:
Whiskey Review:
Song of Fire:
Nose: Slightly earthy and sweet. Processed sugar? Faint honey and red fruit with cinnamon.
Palate: Light, oily and tastes like cinnamon gum (cinnamon + sugar + fake fruit)
Finish: Juicy but quickly fading finish leaves hints to cinnamon that tingle the tongue before disappearing entirely.
Score: 7.2
Song of Ice:
Nose: Light smoke, tobacco, baked apple. Hints of pear and honey.
Palate: Half-chewy and loaded with sweet honey and creamy vanilla.
Finish: Short. Dried fruit and sugar. Quickly fading but reveals a moderate menthol sensation
Score: 7.4
Scale:
S+ Sensational - The Pinnacle (9.5+)
A - AXEceptional (astounding) (9-9.5)
B - bravo (step aBove average) (8-8.9)
C - competent (7-7.9)
D - disappointing (6-6.9)
F - flush it down the toilet (fail) (5.9 below)
Notes: Availability? Common. So common that they pay you to drink them. Your result may very. Is there a button here to make small text... I guess not :(
Bottom line? I didn’t hate them, but they lacked complexity on almost every level. Do you like chewing Big Red gum? Fire is for you. Want a thicker honey/vanilla expression with a bit of mint? Go with Ice. However both bottles were still better than Season 8 of Game of Thrones.
