Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Hibiki Japanese Harmony vs Johnnie Walker Blue Label
No flavour axis separates these two, so the choice is price and occasion.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Hibiki Japanese Harmony | Johnnie Walker Blue Label | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Blended scotch |
| Origin | Japan | Scotland |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | Not published | 40% ABV |
| Cask | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £75 | £149 |
| Per 10cl | £11 | £21 |
| Per litre of alcohol | — | £532 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Hibiki Japanese Harmony from Japan, Johnnie Walker Blue Label from Scotland.
Neither carries an age statement, so neither discloses its youngest spirit.
Neither producer publishes cask types.
Neither states chill filtration.
Hibiki Japanese Harmony: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is £74 dearer a bottle than Hibiki Japanese Harmony.
Hibiki Japanese Harmony publishes no strength, so we will not cost it per litre of alcohol.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Hibiki Japanese Harmony | Johnnie Walker Blue Label |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 1 | 3 |
| Sweet | 7 | 7 |
| Fruity | 7 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 4 | 5 |
| Sherried | 3 | 5 |
| Cereal | 4 | 5 |
| Oily | 5 | 7 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is peaty, 1 against 3.
Level only on sweet, 7 each.
Each bottle in its own right
Hibiki Japanese Harmony
Honey, orange blossom and a whisper of incense. Delicate to the point of shy.
We cannot publish an ABV. Suntory's Japanese Harmony page states none, and the Japanese site renders its specs via JavaScript, so the widely repeated 43% is not something we can source. Suntory also names Mizunara only as a tasting note, not a declared cask type — so the common 'partly matured in Mizunara' claim is not supported by the producer's own wording.
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 →Both listed for gift; only Hibiki Japanese Harmony for highball; only Johnnie Walker Blue Label for occasion bottle.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Hibiki Japanese Harmony and Johnnie Walker Blue Label: house.suntory.com, thebar.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.