Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Johnnie Walker Blue Label vs Starward Nova
These two are not in the same bracket: £532 a litre of pure alcohol for Johnnie Walker Blue Label against £192 for Starward Nova.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Johnnie Walker Blue Label | Starward Nova | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | World whisky |
| Origin | Scotland | Victoria, Australia |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | 40% ABV | 41% ABV |
| Cask | Not disclosed | Australian red wine barrel |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £149 | £55 |
| Per 10cl | £21 | £7.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £532 | £192 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Johnnie Walker Blue Label from Scotland, Starward Nova from Victoria, Australia.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is a blended scotch, Starward Nova a world whisky.
Neither carries an age statement, so neither discloses its youngest spirit.
Starward Nova lists australian red wine barrel. Johnnie Walker Blue Label publishes no cask detail at all.
Neither states chill filtration.
What the price buys
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is £94 dearer a bottle than Starward Nova.
Strength keeps that ordering: £192 a litre of pure alcohol for Starward Nova against £532.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is 31st cheapest and Starward Nova 26th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Johnnie Walker Blue Label | Starward Nova |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 3 | 0 |
| Sweet | 7 | 6 |
| Fruity | 6 | 8 |
| Spicy | 5 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 5 | 6 |
| Cereal | 5 | 5 |
| Oily | 7 | 7 |
Furthest apart on peaty, 3 against 0. 1 of the eight axes clears 3 points: peaty.
Identical on spicy, woody, cereal 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 →Starward Nova
Red berries and chocolate from full red-wine-cask maturation. Unlike anything Scottish.
Fully matured in red wine barrels, not finished in them — and Starward sources the barrels 'within hours of being emptied', wet-filling new spirit while residual wine is still present. Grape varieties are not disclosed.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Johnnie Walker Blue Label for gift and occasion bottle, Starward Nova for something different and wine drinkers.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Starward Nova: thebar.com, starward.com.au. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.