johnnie walker

Johnnie Walker Princes Street

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Words by Colin Hampden-White

It is hard to describe what the new Johnnie Walker experience is on Princes Street in Edinburgh. One word sums it up though, incredible, but why it is incredible takes a little longer.

In essence, it is a full whisky experience, involving, bars, tastings, shops and shows which both entertain and educate in equal measure. There is the use of light, projections, actors and educators, aromas and flavours, and architecture all coming together to create an immersive experience which I certainly won’t forget. I will be coming back with friends and family who want to learn more about Scotch and blended Scotch, but also to convert those who haven’t yet caught the bug.

With all this pizazz, the best bit of the whole experience is that the star of the show is you. From the moment you walk through the door, it is all bout you. Initially, you are asked what flavours you like in your life and the answers build up a picture of the type of whisky you might like. This is where the blending starts and continues throughout the experience. Introducing you to cocktails and highballs and if you would like to, the neat whisky.

It’s not only the whisky and cocktails which are exquisite. The food is fabulous too, with Michelin standards providing refined food to go with the drinks, without the experience being formal. All visitors would be at home in shorts as much as suits.

All the senses are catered for, taste and smell are covered by wonderful drinks and food, but the sights and sounds are wonderful too. Not only the shows along the whisky journey, but the building itself and the views. There are views from the rooftop bar reaching all the way along Princes Street, and from another cocktail bar, a large single pane window offers views across north Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and into Fife.

One of the most initiative decisions the Walkers made was to have a 20° slant to their label to allow for a larger font and logo. This angle is reflected all over the building in subtle ways. Even the stair banisters are at a 20° angle. It is the brilliant attention to detail like this that is so impressive.

This is the new way to experience whisky, it is beyond any other brand experience I have been through, and at the heart of it, it explains whisky in a way that is memorable and fun. It is said that if you tell someone many things, they will remember very few of them. Yet this experience manages to give you so much information in a way that involves the customer on so many levels, meaning one manages to take away a great deal rather than a few small nuggets of information.

Such is the level of enjoyment with this experience, one wouldn’t even have to enjoy whisky to have been happy to have been. But I might suggest you would find it hard not to once you’ve been.

For a more in-depth look at the different Johnnie Walker expressions, have a look at Colin’s article The Many Colours of Johnnie Walker.

The colours of Johnnie Walker

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Johnnie Walker is synonymous with blended Scotch whisky. Being the worlds best selling blend, it takes up quite a bit of space on the shelves. There are many different expressions depending on where it is being sold, for example the Voyager series can be found in Travel Retail. There have been additions to the core range such as Double Black and Island Green. But all of these have been born from red and black label born in 1909. The whisky had Cardhu as the main malt component. Today these whiskies are a complex blend of grain and up to around forty single malts to give them there signature flavour profiles. The colored labels are a flavour code which has held strong and remained consistent for many years.

Red label has always been a whisky made to either be drunk by itself, but more often than not with a simple mixer such as soda water or ginger ale. The whisky has a spicy flavour profile which is well matched for long satisfying and freshly flavoured drinks.

ABV: 40%
Size:
UK 700ml // US 1.75L
Find here: UK £19.49 // US $32.99

Black label has always been a hugely complex whisky, with lots of caramel, vanilla mixed with soft spices and a little wood smoke in the background. It’s not a peaty whisky, but has enough smoke to keep it interesting and lively on the palate. Black label can be drunk any way you want, and is certainly of a quality to be drunk on its own. The whiskies inside the bottle are all at least twelve years old.

ABV: 40%
Size:
UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £26.89 // US $33.99

Green label was added to the fold in 1997. Originally called Pure Malt, it was renamed Green Label in 2004. There is very little smoke at all in Green label. It is made with malt whisky only and has a sweeter more honied flavour profile and is exceptionally smooth.

ABV: 43%
Size:
UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £37.95 // US $64.89

Gold label was also introduced in 1997, and although had no age statement, the whiskies are around the eighteen year mark. Like Green, Gold has a sweeter flavour profile, with vanilla and caramel being dominant, but there are also more complex and subtle flavours of heather honey and blossom.

ABV: 40%
Size:
UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £42.85 // $69.99

Blue label was introduced In 1992 and is Johnnie Walker’s premium blend. Having no age statement, it is blended to recreate the character of blends made at the turn of the 20th century, and although the whisky has some young whisky in the blend, there are also some very old whiskies in the blend too, giving flavours of sandalwood, and linseed oil which are often present in older whiskies.

ABV: 40%
Size:
UK 700ml // US 750ml
Find here: UK £179.95 // US $299.99

These five whiskies are the core of the Johnnie Walker range, and additions to this series started to evolve in 2011 with Double Black and Platinum and from then the other variations began to be produced.

Black label is the go-to whisky for many whisky professionals, myself included. It is complex and smooth and extremely versatile. It makes fabulous highballs, is great in an Old Fashioned, and is still excellent on its own, with water or ice.

By Colin Hampden-White