The whisky boom has had an interesting effect on dead and delinquent brands. Soaring whisky interest and demand has led to old, defunct, abandoned, or simply languishing brand names and trademarks to be reinvigorated or downright resurrected in an effort to grasp at some of that overt demand. This has lead to extinct American whisky brands like Bomberger’s Declaration and Michter’s to be re-launched (although under different ownership and without access to the original distillery). It’s also led to the rebuilding and relaunching of closed Scottish distilleries, such as the recently-announced Brora, Port Ellen, and Rosebank projects. Other brands, once relegated to the dustbin of consumer apathy, are being dusted off and re-launched with much fanfare. John Barr, once a DCL (Diageo) underperformer and now a Whyte and Mackay label, is one of those.
Created in 1978 to compensate for a legal skirmish that took Johnnie Walker Red Label off of UK store shelves, it failed to recapture even a portion of that lost market share. The label was quickly sold off during the Guinness acquisition of DCL that created Diageo in 1986, to Whyte & Mackay (via Invergordon Distillers) of Dalmore fame. Whyte & Mackay master blender and celebrity whisky personality Richard Paterson re-formulated the recipe, likely a necessity since the blend now needed to be composed of whiskies available to W&M instead of the full Diageo stable. In early 2017 the brand was re-launched with new packaging, under two expressions: John Barr Finest and a premium blend containing older malt and a smokier profile called John Barr Reserve. These are still intended to compete directly against Johnnie Walker Red Label and Black Label, respectively.
This review was suggested by a reader. I apologize in advance if I didn’t like this as much as you did… if I had not noticed the specific off-note on the finish, I probably would have appreciated the whisky a lot more considering its excellent price-point.
NOTE! This review is of the “old label” (pictured). I can’t find solid information online about whether the 2017 relaunch and new labeling is accompanied by a different blend recipe or not. If anyone has tried the old and new labels side-by-side, I’d be interested to hear your impressions!
Nose: Very slight peat (more fungal than smoky), over a mildly sweet vanilla malt. Faint rock candy and a touch of caramel. Not obviously grainy.
Palate: Mildly syrupy body. Sweet and malt-forward, with loads of baked goods (scones), caramel, and a hint of black pepper. On the tongue the grain elements are revealed, with a twinge of young grain that comes across as glue (rubber cement).
Finish: An ugly twist of industrial solvent (acetone) ruins an otherwise middling experience. The whole of the finish is swallowed up in shudder-inducing paint thinner and charcoal. Blech.
With Water: A few drops of water muddle the aroma, releasing some nondescript fruit notes but confusing the rest. No real change on the palate or finish. I would avoid the water with this one. (Also avoid ice – it does NOT help.)
Overall: Apologies to the reader who suggested this one. It has a mild, promisingly inoffensive aroma and a middling palate marred by a very common (for this price-point) grain-whisky-induced glue (or vodka-like) note. The whole thing goes down the proverbial tubes on the finish, which is entirely overwhelmed by raw grain alcohol notes and acetone. One really shouldn’t expect very much from a $23 scotch, even one blended by legendary blender Richard Paterson, but a side-by-side comparison with Bank Note (which has an actual age statement) leaves no doubt about what can be achieved even at this market segment of razor-thin margins. Maybe the $50+ “Blue Label” from John Barr is better, but I cannot in conscience recommend this one when Bank Note and even Johnnie Walker Black Label exist.
No offense taken. I had not actually tried John Barr when I recommended it in the comments here. A friend of mine got a bottle of this, and spoke favorably of it. But he’s something of a tightwad, so the price point probably influenced his report more than it would have for other people.
Once I did get to try a dram, my impression was much the same as yours, with the exception that I found the experience significantly improved by the addition of water. My dram was the last one from my friend’s bottle, so perhaps some exposure to oxygen softened it to a degree.
It had an interesting back story anyway…
Thanks for the suggestion, either way! I find there’s as much to be learned from a “bad” bottle of whisky as there is from a good one. Cheers!
We actually like the Scotch and quite drinking Dewers and Chevis
Blended scotches present a conundrum for the liquor connoisseur/reviewer. The grain whisky component makes most of them basically undrinkable neat, except for in the very highest price ranges (at which point most of us are NOT going to be shopping for blended scotch). It’s not an apples to apples comparison.
Nonetheless, they are so popular and ubiquitous that you can’t really ignore them either – since that prized single malt you fell in love with may not always be available (or affordable). So you have to at least be familiar with the major offerings. And it looks like Whyte & Mackay are betting heavily on John Barr, since it’s become so widely available in so many places so quickly.
I think Jamie’s first paragraph (“Blended scotches present…) is very well put, and I think it puts the lie to the idea that most blends “aren’t worse, just different” – which is one of the few areas where I have serious disagreement with Ralfy. I guess I understand “blend marks vs. malt marks” in the sense that the two are different products, and differently constituted, but so are Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig and we compare them all the time. I think it’s pretty telling that you can easily improve most blends by adding single malt, but that improvement is seldom even attempted the other way around. I’ve tasted many a blend and thought “this needs more malt” but no malts and thought “this needs more blend”.
I really wish it were possible to know the ratio of malt/grain in blends. My hunch is the Johnnie Walker Black is around 40/60 at most. I’d be surprised if John Barr Reserve was greater than 20/80.
We agree on this point. I’ve had a number of really very good single-grain whiskies, but they were all “old” (for grain), ditto for blended-grain whiskies (like Hedonism). I’ve also had a number of very good blends, but the vast majority of them are either high in malt percentage, or contain old grain. Even my “go to” example of a good blend: Bank Note 5-year likely has a higher-than-normal-for-the-price malt percentage. The rule of thumb seems to be: If you need to add young (cheap) grain whisky to your blend in order to hit your target price-point, you’re necessarily reducing the quality of your product.
Ah, so that’s the story with this thing! I was wondering why it was suddenly on the shelves everywhere.
I tried to order a JW Black at a tavern the other day, thinking it’d be the best whisky I could expect them to have. Their answer: “We don’t have that, but we have another one that’s equivalent. John Barr.” My decision: “Thanks, but I’ll just have an IPA.” Sounds like that was a good decision.
I predict that W&M will sell a lot of this, since they’re making a lot of it and pricing it competitively. Will be interesting to see if they actually succeed in taking a significant bite out of Johnnie Walker’s enormous global sales volume.
I was given a bottle of John Barr recently. I would have to say that Chivas Regal has always been a go to. Johnny walker hasn’t ever grew on me.
The longer the bottle was open, the more horrific the finish. this whiskey sucks at any price. Even some cheap whiskys like grants or even dewars for example, have never given me this bitter fungal solvent tase that really ruins the finish. The rest of the experience is like any standard blend decent aroma, oily mouth feel, some smoking some peat actually mimicking Johnny Walker Black. However the finish on this one is really really nasty and therefore makes it undrinkable. Passport or Cutty are smoother lol.
I spent several years in the service. During my time in, I tried a great deal of alcohols. I was young and it was a good time and opportunity to sample what the big world had to offer. I’ve had many good drinks in many great places. I’ve had some truly horrendous beverages as well. And then there is John Barr. There truly is no redeeming quality to this product. It’s harsh, vile, muddy and possibly worse than chiseling off my own toes and using that to spice up my next cocktail.
Had my first taste of John Barr scotch this evening and here’s my take…. Its not bad scotch and neither is it good scotch. I would call it “Just There” scotch…. Its not complex on the nose and the the flavor is a bit thin…… Its not offensive at all…. Just there !… I noticed some other reviewers tried to compare it to JW Black ?… This John Barr scotch isn’t in the same league as the JW Black is more superior…. Dewars White label (which I’m not a fan of) is far superior than John Barr…. John Barr is best served neat… The flavor is too smooth to use it as a mixer or on ice…. Yes if your at a party and its the only scotch available then surely have it… To purchase it?… Pass and get something else….
John Barry reserve is 100 times better than JW blue, I’ll keep the rest of the bottle of blue for guests, ugh!
I AM NO EXPERT, BUT THIS IS SO EASY TO SIP AND ENJOY!! MY TASTE BUDS, AND THROAT APPRECIATE HOW SMOOTH THIS IS!! THANK YOU, JOHN BARR. SAD, BUT NOT LISTED ON MY LOCAL LIQUOR STORE WEB SITE! I APPRECIATE JOHN BARR BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKEY AND WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE!!!
I have a John Barr with a touch of water every night and love it. It is super smooth and I would recommend it to anyone who is a true scotch lover. I love Johnny Walker Black and I enjoy my John Barr as much!
I have to say that looking at some of the reviews i was left in awe as i did not not experience any of the nastyness. I’ve been a scotch drinker for quite some time now and can honestly agree with Mr DeVito on his comments as I also enjoy both
Many of the comments are on the pre-2017 reformulation. I actually enjoyed that as a cheap Scotch named after my grandfather. The new blend compares well with Johnny Walker Black at a lower price point.
I have seen a lot of John Barr in Kenya of late and its slowly gaining momentum. I have a group of friends who appreciate it on a whole other level and they would be very disappointed to read this negative review. Ouch!
Seriously, you can’t compare an old, no longer available formulation to a new one composed by someone who’s at least competent in the field (and actually esteemed by some). Either hunt down the new formulation, or pull this review. It’s not like you can still purchase it.
Barr is not the surname, it’s Cummings.
I’m a retired life long single malt drinker on Vancouver Island in Canada and just today decided to economize for a bit and bought a bottle of John Barr Reserve for under $30.00Cdn. I’d never seen it before, mostly because I haven’t looked at the blends shelves for years.
Normally my whisky cost is more like $75.00 to $85.00Cdn.
I’m astonished at how good this whisky is, especially at this price point. Its leagues better than anything else at that cost. I can see myself saving 40 or 50 bucks at the jar store now.
You need to retaste it now or maybe just admit you’re an unbearable snob.
Wow. This comment had all the makings of a good comment. Background context, an example from personal experience, details, and then went entirely off the rails when you decided to insult me at the end. Why do presumably otherwise rational people behave like this on the Internet? Do you feel better about yourself, commenter, having disparaged the totally subjective tastes of another human being for absolutely no reason? You, dear commenter, are of course entitled to your own opinion. I request you recognized that I am, as well.
You have my full support. I have have no doubt you have a much more refined palette to my own, and even though I agree with the commentators opinion on the whiskey am saddened by the unnecessary personal swipe at the end. Blame it on the anonymity of the internet and the worst of human traits laid bare.
I love this stuff for an everyday tipple (so perhaps have no taste) but it saves money as discovered I prefer it to Johnnie Walker red (my go-to scotch) after that inexplicably disappeared off the shelves in BC Canada for a time. I had no Idea there was a Red Label skirmish in the UK, from where I originate, whatever that means!
I really enjoy drinking the John Barr Reserve. I think it is more enjoyable than its price point would lead one to expect. (about $30 US for a 1.75 liter bottle.) I have tasted and still own many of the Top Whiskys you list. You can’t compare this product to the various single malts but for everyday pleasure it would be difficult to find better.