Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Johnnie Walker Blue Label vs Redbreast 12 Year Old
These two are not in the same bracket: £532 a litre of pure alcohol for Johnnie Walker Blue Label against £196 for Redbreast 12 Year Old.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Johnnie Walker Blue Label | Redbreast 12 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Single pot still |
| Origin | Scotland | Ireland |
| Age | No age statement | 12 years |
| Strength | 40% ABV | 40% ABV |
| Cask | Not disclosed | Ex-bourbon, Oloroso sherry |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £149 | £55 |
| Per 10cl | £21 | £7.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £532 | £196 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Johnnie Walker Blue Label from Scotland, Redbreast 12 Year Old from Ireland.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is a blended scotch, Redbreast 12 Year Old a single pot still.
Redbreast 12 Year Old states 12 years; Johnnie Walker Blue Label states none.
Redbreast 12 Year Old lists ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry. Johnnie Walker Blue Label publishes no cask detail at all.
Neither states chill filtration.
Redbreast 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is £94 dearer a bottle than Redbreast 12 Year Old.
Strength keeps that ordering: £196 a litre of pure alcohol for Redbreast 12 Year Old against £532.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is 31st cheapest and Redbreast 12 Year Old 27th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Johnnie Walker Blue Label | Redbreast 12 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 3 | 0 |
| Sweet | 7 | 6 |
| Fruity | 6 | 7 |
| Spicy | 5 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 5 | 6 |
| Cereal | 5 | 7 |
| Oily | 7 | 7 |
Furthest apart on peaty, 3 against 0. 1 of the eight axes clears 3 points: peaty.
Identical on spicy, woody and oily.
Each bottle in its own right
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 →Redbreast 12 Year Old
Thick, oily pot-still spice with sherried fruit. The style Ireland nearly lost.
Single pot still requires a mash of both malted and unmalted barley — an Irish style that came close to extinction.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Johnnie Walker Blue Label for gift and occasion bottle, Redbreast 12 Year Old for something different and after dinner.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Redbreast 12 Year Old: thebar.com, redbreastwhiskey.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.