Johnnie Walker Black Label Vs Jack Daniels

This depends entirely on your tastes and purposes for the liquor. First, it's not a fair comparison at all - Jack Daniels is a traditional Tennesee sour mash Whiskey; Johnnie Walker Black is a deluxe Scotch whisky. Johnnie Walker is one of the best selling whiskey brands in the world, and its iconic bottle design is recognized everywhere. It’s blended Scotch whiskey and made with a concoction of malt and grain whiskey, and the taste is unique. One of the more recognizable aspects of Johnnie Walker are its different colors or labels. Overall, the Jack Daniels Old No. 7 and the Johnnie Walker Black Label, both have their respective strengths, and drawbacks, although when it comes to making an educated choice, we would opt for the Jack Daniels Old No.

History

Johnnie Walker Black Label 12

Jack Daniel's

Jasper Newton 'Jack' Daniel founded the distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee in 1866. In 1907, due to failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to his nephew Lem Motlow. Tennessee passed a state-wide prohibition law in 1910. So Lem Motlow moved the distillery to St. Louis, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama. But the new distilleries had quality problems. Production resumed in Lynchburg when in 1938 - 5 years after the federal prohibition laws were repealed - Tennessee state repealed their prohibition laws. Production of whiskey was banned again during World War II - from 1942 to 1946. Motlow resumed production in 1947 but died soon and passed the distillery on to his children, Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner, and Mary. The Brown-Forman Corporation bought the distillery in 1956.

Johnnie Walker

John 'Johnnie' Walker started selling whisky in his grocer’s shop in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1820. The brand became popular, but after Walker's death in 1857 it was his son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing Johnnie Walker scotch as a popular brand. From 1906–1909 John’s grandsons George and Alexander II expanded the line and introduced the color names (Red Label, Black Label etc.). The company joined Distillers Company in 1925. Distillers was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997.

Branding and Label

The Jack Daniel's label was trademarked in the early 1960s. At that time Lynchburg had only 361 people; so that is the number still mentioned on the label. The slogan is 'every day we make it, we’ll make it the best we can.'

In 1908, the iconic Striding Man logo for Johnnie Walker was created with the slogan, 'Born 1820 – Still going Strong!'. The slogan has since been changed to 'Keep Walking'. The Johnnie Walker label is slanted and angled at 24 degree. It was so designed by Alexander Walker who thought that this would make it possible to have larger text on the label and make it stand out on the shelves.

Manufacturing Process and Blend

Jack Daniels

Johnnie Walker Black Label Vs Jack Daniels 1.75

Tennessee whiskey is made from at least 51% corn; it is filtered through maple charcoal in large wooden vats before setting to age in new, charred oak barrels. This process imparts it a distinctive flavor. Traditionally Jack Daniel’s was bottled at 90 proof (45% alcohol by volume). In October 2004, it was announced that all generally-available Jack Daniel's products would be bottled at 80 proof. Video that explains how Jack Daniel's is manufactured.

Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker offers several blends, identified by the Label color:

• Black Label - It is a blend of about 40 whiskies, each aged at least 12 years. 80 proof (40% ABV).
• Gold Label - a blend of over 15 single malts commonly bottled at 15 or 18 years. 80 proof (40% ABV).
• Green Label - a rich blend using only malts drawn from the four corners of Scotland –Each malt whisky is matured for a minimum of 15 years.
• Blue Label - Johnnie Walker's premium blend. Every bottle is serial numbered and sold in a silk-lined box, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. There is no age declaration for Blue Label. 80 proof (40% ABV). It is one of the most expensive $200 a bottle.
• Red Label - a blend of around 35 grain and malt whiskies. It is intended for making mixed drinks. 80 proof (40% ABV). This was the favorite Scotch of Winston Churchill and is the favorite of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
• Red & Cola - a premix of Red Label and cola, sold in cans and bottles similar to beer.
• Johnnie Walker Swing – This bottle is shaped specially, allows it to rock back and forth.

Sponsorships

Jack Daniel's sponsored the following racing teams:

• 2005 to 2009: Richard Childress Racing the number 07 car (numbered after the 'Old No. 7') now driven by Casey Mears.
• 2006 to 2008: the Perkins Engineering team in the Australian V8 Supercar series.
• From 2009 their sponsorship moved to the newly formed Kelly Racing team, formed from the remnants of Perkins Engineering and now defunct HSV Dealer Team.

Johnnie Walker Black Label Vs Jack Daniels

Johnnie Walker is a sponsor of the following events:

• The Johnnie Walker Classic, an Asia-Pacific golf tournament
• The Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, a golf tournament in Scotland
• The McLaren-Mercedes F1 team.
• The Ashes, a cricket series between Australia and England
• The New York Yankees baseball team

References

We’re not talking boring whiskey trivia like “Oh hey guys, whiskey in Gaelic is known as ‘Uisge Beatha’ which means “water of life.” (That factoid is all true, but it’s pedestrian because everyone knows it).

We’re talking the fun stuff.

Let’s first talk about some of the most famous names in whiskey — Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Johnnie Walker.

Jack Daniels is named after its founder, Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel. When Jack was a young boy, he ran away from home and was taken in by a preacher and moonshine distiller named Dan Call, where Jack learned the distillation trade. He would later found a legally registered distilling business and the “Old No. 7” referred to his government registration number (No. 7 in district 4). Districts were later redrawn and Jack Daniel’s became Number 16 in district 5, so he kept the Old No. 7 label instead.

Jim Beam is named after James Beauregard Beam and he was not the founder of Jim Beam Bourbon. It was actually started several generations earlier by the Böhm family, which would later change their surname to Beam, in the late 18th century (1795 to be exact). The James B. Beam Distilling Company would be founded later, built off the work of the family business in distilling, and take on the name Jim Beam.

Johnnie Walker was first known as Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky and was created by John “Johnnie” Walker, a grocer in Ayrshire, Scotland who sold whisky in his store. The Johnnie Walker name wouldn’t become famous until Johnnie’s son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II made it famous – that’s why you often see John Walker & Sons on box sets and some bottles.

The Chivas Brothers weren’t actually brothers. Ha, just kidding, they started off as a grocer in Aberdeen in 1801, selling luxury goods and would eventually supply the royal family at Balmoral Castle. Eventually, James Chivas started to blend whiskies for wealthier clients and a brand was born. John just came along for the ride. 🙂

Did you know that Bourbon County in Kentucky is a “dry” county? You can’t sell any liquor there!

It’s believed that whiskey originated in Ireland where monks began distillation as far back as the 5th century, not Scotland. This is based on tax records where the Exchequer recorded that in 1495 an allowance was made to a friar for “aqua vitae.”

What’s your favorite bit of whisky trivia?