Johnnie Walker Black Label and Highland Park 12 are two pioneers that helped introduce peated whisky to the world. Their global popularity and long-standing presence on the shelves speak for themselves, but the question remains: which one comes out on top?
To explore that, we should look at their histories, their flavour profiles, and how they make me feel as a drinker.
Highland Park 12 Year Old
Highland Park Distillery, founded in 1798 in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands by Magnus Eunson, is celebrated as Scotland’s most northerly single malt distillery and is known for its use of heather-rich peat from Hobbister Moor, traditional floor maltings, and sherry-seasoned casks.
Its flagship expression, the Highland Park 12 Year Old, was first launched in the 1970s, with most sources citing 1979 as the year of introduction as the distillery’s core age statement bottling. Although precise modern sales figures are undisclosed, Highland Park marked the sale of its one-millionth bottle of the 12 Year Old in 2007, and the distillery’s total annual production capacity stands at around 2.5 million litres of pure alcohol.
Today, the 12 Year Old remains central to Highland Park’s identity, embodying the lightly peated, honeyed, and heathery style that has made the brand a mainstay of Scotch whisky tradition worldwide.
Tasting Notes & Review
Colour: Light Gold
Nose: Classic heather honey, milky coffee, and dark chocolate. A classic nose from Highland Park. There is a delicate amount of toffee, more honey, a little twist of orange, and some warming notes of ginger and allspice.
Palate: Sweet, mellow, and so welcoming. You still get those wonderful honey notes, a little touch of that sweet milky coffee. That is contrasted with dark chocolate, orange oil, oak spices, and a little flourish of smoke at the end.
Finish: Warming, gentle, and very drinkable. Highland Park has always managed to nail drinkability with complexity in all of its expressions.
Comments: A sweet, gentle, and welcoming expression from one of the most famous single malt distilleries in the world.
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Johnnie Walker Black Label traces its origins to 1865, when Alexander Walker created the original blend called “Old Highland Whisky”. Later, in 1909, when the brand rebranded its blends using colour-coded labels, the blend became known as “Black Label”. This expression carries a 12-year age statement and is composed of around 40 single malt and grain whiskies sourced from across Scotland.
While precise current global bottle sales figures for Black Label alone are not regularly published, one source reports that in 2015 the annual sales of the Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old were equivalent to over 226 million 750 ml bottles.
Owned by Diageo, the Johnnie Walker brand is a major force in Scotch whisky, known for its square bottle, the slanted 24-degree label introduced in 1877, and its wide global distribution.
Tasting Notes & Review
Colour: Reddened Gold
Nose: The smoke is clear from the start, those sweet smoky notes from Caol Ila and Talisker. The saltiness matches up well with the sweetness from the grain whiskies, caramel, toffee, ashy smoke, and rock salt. There is some sherry cask stock in Black Label, you can find touches of raisin and red grapes on the smell, too.
Palate: Smoke and grain whisky straight away. A solid combination of sweet and savoury that has made this whisky famous. The smoke does feel bigger on the palate, but it becomes fragrant and steps away quite quickly. Then you get soft spiciness from malts like Cragganmore, Linkwood, and Mannochmore. Lovingly balanced and easy drinking, with lots of flavour.
Finish: Gentle and slow, although it’s not the longest finish in the world. Lingering ashy smoke with flakes of milk chocolate and soft fruits.
Comments: There’s a reason why Johnnie Walker is as famous as it is; the quality in all of their whiskies is still there, depending on what that product was designed for (looking at you, Red Label), but you can feel loads of depth and flavour in this product.
Which One Wins?
This is a tough call. I’ve happily bought both for my home bar and ordered either when out with family or friends. However, if you had a gun to my head, and I could only drink one for the rest of my life, I’d have to go with Johnnie Walker Black Label.
I’ve bought more bottles of it over the years, talked about it more with both newcomers and seasoned whisky drinkers, and it is available almost everywhere. For many people, it’s their first proper step into the whisky world.
That said, this isn’t a slight on Highland Park 12. It remains a delicious whisky that captures the essence of the distillery. But for me, Johnnie Walker still holds my whisky-soaked heart.
Read the full article at Johnnie Walker Black Label or Highland Park 12: A Whisky Lover’s Comparison
