Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Bowmore 12 Year Old vs Johnnie Walker Blue Label
These two are not in the same bracket: £532 a litre of pure alcohol for Johnnie Walker Blue Label against £136 for Bowmore 12 Year Old.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Bowmore 12 Year Old | Johnnie Walker Blue Label | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Blended scotch |
| Origin | Islay, Scotland | Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | 40% ABV | 40% ABV |
| Cask | American oak ex-bourbon cask, European oak Oloroso sherry cask | Not disclosed |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £38 | £149 |
| Per 10cl | £5.43 | £21 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £136 | £532 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland.
Bowmore 12 Year Old is a single malt, Johnnie Walker Blue Label a blended scotch.
Bowmore 12 Year Old states 12 years; Johnnie Walker Blue Label states none.
Bowmore 12 Year Old lists american oak ex-bourbon cask and european oak oloroso sherry cask. Johnnie Walker Blue Label publishes no cask detail at all.
Neither states chill filtration.
Bowmore 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is £111 dearer a bottle than Bowmore 12 Year Old.
Strength keeps that ordering: £136 a litre of pure alcohol for Bowmore 12 Year Old against £532.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Bowmore 12 Year Old is 16th cheapest and Johnnie Walker Blue Label 31st cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Bowmore 12 Year Old | Johnnie Walker Blue Label |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 6 | 3 |
| Sweet | 6 | 7 |
| Fruity | 5 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 5 | 5 |
| Cereal | 5 | 5 |
| Oily | 6 | 7 |
Furthest apart on peaty, 6 against 3. 1 of the eight axes clears 3 points: peaty.
Identical on woody, sherried and cereal.
Each bottle in its own right
Bowmore 12 Year Old
Sea salt, lemon and gentle smoke over sherried fruit. The most balanced entry-level Islay.
Bowmore is precise about wood and silent on strength — its page specifies hand-selected ex-bourbon and Oloroso casks while stating no ABV anywhere. Not to be confused with the separate Bowmore 12 Sherry Oak Cask SKU.
Full record →Johnnie Walker Blue Label
Silky, honeyed and faintly smoky. Immaculately made, and priced for the box as much as the liquid.
Diageo's own page states no age at all, framing selection by rejection rate instead — only one cask in 10,000 qualifies — with some components from closed 'ghost' distilleries.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Bowmore 12 Year Old for peat curious and all-rounder, Johnnie Walker Blue Label for gift and occasion bottle.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Bowmore 12 Year Old and Johnnie Walker Blue Label: bowmore.com, thebar.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.