The Ultimate Whisky Investment: Johnnie Walker Black Label Extra Special Bottled in 1970
The Johnnie Walker Black Label Extra Special is an amazing whisky to drink, but above all to collect. Its price will only go up.
One night, I was a guest of the legendary Valentino Zagatti, Mr. Sigle Malt, one of the most daring and smart Scotch whisky experts. The subject of Johnnie Walker black label, came up. I was a bit cocky and thought that the black label was a simple and commercial whisky.
The legendary Valentino laughed and put a bottle of Johnnie Walker black label extra special bottled in the 1970s on the table, saying to me, “This one was born before you…
It was an epic drink; we are light years away from the black label they sell today. The taste is dry, very tight, and pungent, with meandering peat that is never stylized, and then there is a splendid herbaceous-malty undertone.
The difference is abysmal, thanks to the malt. Once upon a time, it was different; it had a fuller taste. Or at least this is what Valentino Zagatti told us, who has tasted many single malts.
The Johnnie Walker Black Label has an extra-special bouquet
The symphony that emerges from the glass is imaginative but with incredible precision. Despite being a blend, it has character and its own precise direction: the fruit is sweet, enveloping, and ripe.
The peat is a saber surrounded by splendid medicinal scents of herbs, artemisia, almost absinthe, but everything is declined with incredible cleanliness. There are spices and coffee, but they are not overbearing, letting the unmistakable call of the sea of the Talisker escape.
The taste
Johnnie Walker Black Label Extra Special Review Bottled 1970s In the mouth, it is pungent; the peat permeates the whole sip without ever becoming too smoky. The style is that of Caol Ila; it does not have the dark fury of Ardbeg 10. It has body and warmth, but the years of aging in the bottle have tamed it: it flows like velvet, is juicy, with alternating flavors of licorice and candied oranges creating a wonderful fresco, and has sharp notes of pepper to give breath.
Incredible persistence, perfect drinkability, and absolute balance It is not in the least comparable to the Johnnie Walker black label that you find on the market now; it is not so stylized or neutered, but this one, in addition to being a particular version, was bottled in 1970, so it has 50 years behind it.
The price
There are still bottles that you can find for sale on the internet, but the cost is high. It is perhaps one of the most interesting bottles of whiskey in the whiskey collecting market. But that’s normal; it was produced in generous quantities, it’s an excellent whiskey, and the cost was very affordable at the time. After 50 years, you can find it for 150 euros. It’s not a gift, but it’s money well invested.
If you find it at 130, it’s a must-buy now.
If you are a whiskey collector or if you want to make an investment for the future, the Johnnie Walker Black Label Extra Special bottled in 1970 is one of the best whiskeys to buy for your collection, with excellent price growth potential but also a very approachable price.
