JAYPLAY
entertainment news
October 5,2000
For comments, contact BriAnne Hess at 864 4810 or email jayplay@kansan.com/arts
At $22 a shot, $155 a bottle,
Johnnie Walker Blue Label whiskey is ...
top-notch scotch
By Katie Hollar
writer@kansan.com
Kansan senior staff writer
Throughout his bartending career, Jesse Stanley has only poured it eight times.
The first two pours of Johnnie Walker Blue Label went to a pair of local scotch fanatics and regulars. The next five went to some ritzy Chicago visitors.
A Blue Label bottle goes for $155 at Cork and Barrel, 2000 W. 23rd St.
The eighth? To a reporter seeking the most expensive drink in Lawrence. Sales and specials aside, this blended Scotch whisky takes the honor — it sells for $21.90 a shot at Teller's. 746 Massachusetts St.
"I probably sell five or six bottles a year," said Jeff Krug, the store's manager. "It's just expensive scotch." To give some context, one cou-
to give some context, one枕ncle buy eight gallons of Viaka vodka for the price of one bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
But for some serious scotch drinkers, it's well worth the price.
"I love it," said Stanley, a Wichita graduate student. "It's a nice, hearty scotch."
According to Johnnie Walker representatives, John Walker first established his business in 1820 in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Malt whiskies and grain whiskies were bottled one at a time, and a market for them barely existed beyond Scotland.
However, as the years progressed, whisky's popularity spread.
Singly bottled whiskies, like wine, can vary from one year to the next. Walker wanted to develop a consistent recipe that would produce the same flavor and quality every time. As he experimented, he discovered that blending produced a richer, more complex flavor.
Later, Walker's son, Alexander, continued the scotch
Jesse Stanley, Wichita graduate student, pours a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch whiskey at Teller's, 746 Massachusetts St. Stanley has served the drink only eight times during his bartending career. Photo by Craig Bennett/Kansas
alchemy, aiming to make the company's whisky the very highest quality available.
Blue Label, developed this century by a Walker master blender, serves as a tribute to the Walker family tradition. Even the square blue bottle bottle was designed with a 19th century feel.
Poured into a snifter, the light-brown liquor has a smoky smell. It tastes sweet on the tongue at first, then tingly and warm as the flavor expands. With the next six, one's lips are pleasantly warmed.
The Beverage Testing Institute offers a more formal description: "Bright orange-amber hue. Medium-bodied with elegant floral and high-toned peaty flavors that persist through the salty-tinged finish. A complex and flavorful whisky."
Behind the bar at Teller's, Stanley does have some rules for serving Blue Label: You won't get it chilled, and you certainly won't get it mixed with Coke.
No $1.50 well can compare to this.
The institute gave the whisky a rating of 93 on a 100-point scale.
"An ice cube or two doesn't hurt," he said, "but you have to be careful not to insult the whisky."
JAYPLAY inside
Horoscopes ..2B
Crossword ..6B
Music ..3B
Fine Arts ... 7B
Movies ... 4, 5B
Classifieds ... 8B
From Top 40 to techno ...
Radiohead's Kid A makes the transition smoothly and successfully.
See page 3B
The Girls go up ...
A Kansas critic like the first-hand professional insight from a prostitute, a basketball coach and more.
See page 68
If Do Niro were your dad ...
A great cast and director can't save Meet the Parents from mediciarity.
See page 4B