Johnnie Walker Double Black
 

Was through SYD the other day and they were pushing an enhanced version of JW Black. I was hesitant to even sample it as most duty free scotch blends tend to be over-priced and under-whelming, aimed at the affluent travelers with more money than taste. However, I succumbed to the spiel which had it that Lagavulin and other Islay single malts were added to the Black, giving it a deeper and peatier taste. And indeed it did, turning this into a very fine blended scotch. I bought a bottle which was actually packaged with a bottle (both liters) of the regular Black and choice of a small roller bag or messenger bag for A$99. (This made transiting at SFO rather more easy as I carried it onto my SYD-SFO flight, but then after clearing customs had UA check the roller bag onto my SFO-YYZ flight.) The Double Black itself was going for a rather pricey A$66 a liter.

Apparently Diageo has been selling this at select Duty Frees since February for a six month test. IIRC it was available at SYD, JFK, SIN and a couple of others. If it sells well they will release it more widely at more Duty Frees. Hope it does succeed as this is a very pleasant blend for those of us into Islay single malts. Hope it's still around when I pass through SYD in September so I can stock up in case it doesn't make it...and I will have something quite special.

(According to a post on a whiskey BB this is how JW used to taste before WWII and before the sweetened it up for mass commercialization in the 50s and beyond.)

Dubai Duty Free has it and it is quite popular with the guys I work with. I usually buy gin.

I saw it at SIN a few weeks ago and blew right past it, I wish I knew it was blended with Islay single malts. I'm not a fan of JW, but love Islay single malts!

It would have been nice to try it, plus the roller bag looked pretty nice.:)

Indeed, an islay blend sounds yummy. And it sounds like a decent deal to boot.

Can you get this in the US anywhere other than the duty frees bought a bottle in NRT last week and its already gone
jeff

As I posted originally it is not yet decided if it will be sold more widely but even then it would only be at more Duty Frees not at normal retail outlets in various countries. The supply is too limited to distribute widely and cover marketing costs. I'm hoping it's still available at SYD next month so I can get a couple of more bottles...

I tasted this a couple of weeks ago in SYD. It was good, but overpriced.
A$66 is about USD$59, and for a few bucks more, I'd buy the real thing Lagavulin, or it's less expensive cousin, other Islay single malts.

No way will I spend A$66 on JW. FYI, I thought SYD duty free was very expensive vs other airports.

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Thanks for the heads up on this...

SYD is getting more expensive but the package deal of A$99 was a reasonable trade off considering those of us who do not live in the US tend to pay our health care premiums through our purchases of alcohol. (And I'd rather pay $5 a bottle more every couple of months than $800 a month to an insurance company!) But also, this stuff isn't widely available so makes a good offering to one's whiskey loving friends.

What I miss at SYD were those 200ml bottles of JW Black that went for A$5 a bottle. Worked out to be cheaper than the liter bottles. I think they're up to A$9 now so not a good deal.

Dan, how much do you pay for Lagavulin in the Big Apple these days....??

Mi Amigo. By responding to your question, I'm 1 post closer to 10,000. Since July 1, I've been trying to save my responses for 'important things' :p and this response is certainly important. :D

Just north of Manhattan, the usual price is in the low $70's. I just googled and found someone that's selling it at $59.99 (probably sold out). ;)

9993.
Slowly on the way to 10,000.

Gracias Dan..... amazing price... when are you coming down to EZE (finally.....) so that you can shlep down a case of the stuff for me...???? :p :D

Just found the JW Double Black in FRA Duty Free at the B gates. Price is 36.90 Euros for 1L.

That means they've decided to roll it out further afield and not drop it...unless the stuff didn't sell well at the test Duty Frees and they're moving stock around to dump and get rid of inventory. But the Euro pricing seems to be in line with the Aussie pricing.

So did you taste it? Buy a bottle?

Did indeed buy one since I have been looking since January, but never traveled through any of the 6 test markets. Store did not seem to have a lot displayed. One employee said they have had it for about two years which we all know is not correct. Another employee mentioned he did not when they started getting it, but only noticed the Double Black just recently.

Bottle is made with smoked glass so looks very dark. The outer box had a dark wood-grain print as the background. I am a JW Black and Green drinker, and this fell right in between. However, the scotch was darker in appearance than Green. Smoother, but not as peaty as Green. For the price, I will stick with Black ($20) and Green ($30) for 750mL. There are better values out there, but I will keep picking one up each time I see it to support the product.

Like the Green that used to be only available in Europe, they expanded it to the US and now one can buy it at Costco. Hope they do the same with Double Black. Interesting note is the bottle's label does not state the number of years of the old scotch in the blend. Black is 12yrs and Green is 15yrs. Would be interesting to see how many years Double Black contains which might justify the premium price difference.

since this item is currently exclusively available through Duty Free outlets, I'll add a link to the Duty Free Index in DiningBuzz.

Has anyone seen in in a NZ Duty Free? I figure there may be value there.

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Ive asked my local Diageo rep. about acquiring this locally..... lets see where that goes...

Will be through AKL in two weeks time so will be on the look out, particularly if the price is better than at SYD where I will also be.

I found a note somewhere on the web from the blender talking about the 'freedom' of not having to comply with an age declaration... seems like he will be using some younger Islay malts to get the flavour without having to pay extra for older malts which are less available (Islay production well down in the 90s).

Did find this on the web... someone's trying to make some money !

Personally I'm glad that it's spreading beyond the initial 6 trial markets, as I'd like to get my hands on some :)

At Koru Club AKL and have just found the best deal on JWDB: two 1-liter bottles for NZ$99! The JR Duty Free has a display and special pricing at the moment, albeit no free travel bag or other such premium goody. But at NZ$49.50 a bottle who cares? It goes for NZ$69.90 a bottle singly, compared with $69 a bottle as the price I saw leaving SYD the other day.

At about U$35 a bottle this has to be the best deal on the planet. Note, when the cashier rang it through at first it did not show the special pricing and I had to take her to the display, after which she adjusted the price. (This is about the same promotional price as the regular JW Black, with a laptop bag -- no more roller bags as I found last trip through SYD -- and is the same in NZ$ in AKL or A$ in SYD.) Did not see any special pricing on the JWDB at SYD on Wednesday though the sales clerk at the Duty Free did suggest it may be on sale when I was back there on Monday for my flight home to Canada.

Back at SYD and the price is now A$59 per bottle, or back to the JWBlack and JWDouble Black in just the computer/messenger bag for A$99, down A$10 from last week but nowhere near the deal across the Tasman!

Double Black a success, going into wider distribution
 

Seems the limited Duty Free test was a success and Diageo announced yesterday that it will put this blend into general distribution at most airport Duty Frees next spring. However, seems this will still limit it to airports and not regular retail outlets.

http://www.luxist.com/2010/09/29/joh...-going-global/
http://www.just-drinks.com/news/diag..._id101993.aspx

I again checked with my local Diageo rep and the answer seems to confirm the above... appartently it wont even be in EZE for a while.

Just spotted the DB on sale at the SFO Duty Free for U$43 a litre. There's a discount of $10 if you buy two which would make it U$38 a litre, almost as good as my NZ deal. Heading to Osaka and Kyoto and will pass at the moment, though might consider it next week when I am heading home.

JW Double Black spotted at DFW (D Terminal) this week for $43/L. Unfortunately it was not available at CUN (C Terminal), so I came home empty-handed. :(

not coming to the UK ...
 

Just spoke to the DF manager at LHR, and apparently Alpha Retail, who run most of the DFs in the UK, couldn't agree terms with Diageo so it's unlikely to be available for the forseeable future :(

AA had it on offer in flight from DFW to SCL a few days ago.

JW DB is available in SIN DFS for S$54 & Black label is at S$45.

I find it better than BlackLabel and have a distinct flavor.

Given that Alcohol is highly taxed in SIN & the Duty Free allowance is very limited, I'm picking up one every time I'm flying In :cool:

They have it at BOM duty free now. Current price is $ 40/Litre. Seems like a decent price. They had offers on all the other Johnnie Walker bottles but not on the Double Black yet. Per the store manager they will probably start offers on it in the near future.

JW Black was going for $ 60 for 2 1 litre bottles.

2,180 Baht at BKK duty-free at the moment for 2 bottles.

Seems great value, but sadly I've got another 14 flights before returning somewhere I can put it and have a chance of drinking.

After reading about it in this thread I eventually got around to buying some in CDG Duty Free for Euro30 per litre. I am surprised that I like it very much indeed. I'm partial to Islay and JW has delivered much of the peaty taste at a reasonable price.

I have been keeping my eyes open since i first saw this tread.
I found my JW Double Black at LAS $43us 1lt in the duty free at T2

Hi just got a JW double black from Singapore
Can't open the tamper seal what's the trick

Hi did you open the tamper seal
Can't seem to open my one

Those seem like exceptional prices...where have you seen them that cheap?

Johnny walker black label US$37 for 1L @ SFO Int'l airport

anyone have any idea how this compares to green label? thats one of my fav's

I most definitely do. I have a few bottles of each. Green Label, IMO, resembles a good highland blend, very smooth without any distinctive notes, but very pleasing and absent the rough spots customary in lesser blends. Green is my fallback if I am short of Double Black or good Islay.

Double Black is very similar to Islay, quite peaty and with a distinctive earthy scent and taste. Wherever I find Double Black in Duty Free I buy what I can because it is my new favorite everyday tipple.

I like Scotch and have a decent collection but I am no expert so my descriptions are not great. My favorites generally are various Bowmore and Balvenie, mostly older ones and my all time preference is Port Ellen when I can find any, meaning I have only my diminishing stock since there is no more being produced.

cool, sounds like its more of what you're in the mood for vs which is better then. Because i absolutely hate the standard black label, which i think is over rated and only suitable as a mixer. based on what you said, i can assume that the double black is superior to the standard black? if thats the case, i may pick up a pair of double black+green on my next flight

They have nothing to do with each other. Bad choice of name IMO. Double Black is a pure malt with a strong implication of Islay taste. if you like Balvenie or Bowmore you'll like this. If you're a fan of Black you'll think this stuff taste like mud. That is fine for me, leaves more of it for us. :)