Posts Tagged ‘Johnnie Walker’

Whisky trending – what I liked this week

 

 

Whisky trending – what I liked this week

 

 

Competition crazy

The W Club is going competition crazy and frankly it’s my humble view that we’re spoiling our members.

But it’s hard not to be impressed. I’m so keen to win a couple of them that I’ve adopted a couple of pseudonyms and am entering in disguise in the hope no-one will notice. That’ll learn ‘em.

We’ve just sent a lucky club member to Glen Garioch for what was an almost overwhelming trip, and now we’re following that with this little lot:

- a VIP trip to the BenRiach distillery in Speyside to select the cask which will be used for a Whisky Shop exclusive bottling

- a trip for two to the wonderful Gleneagles Hotel

- the chance to be a guest of Glenmorangie at the Open Golf Championship in July

- the chance to join the legend that is Richard Patersopn, master blender at Whyte & Mackay and one of the most charming and witty raconteurs you’ll ever meet, for an afternoon in his blending room

- the chance to attend a major Johnnie Walker launch event in Glasgow

 

Not enough? then what about the chance to win a trip for two to the brand new Mackmyra distillery in Sweden, or a trip for two, amazingly, to the Yamazaki distillery in Japan.

And if for some reason this all sounds like too much like hard work and you’d rather not get off your butt, then you ought to be trying to win a complete set of this year’s Islay Festival special bottlings. The prize is worth £1500 today but one week after the Festival is over that price will start heading upwards rapidly, leaving you with the ultimate dilemma – do you sit back and watch your investment grow, or open some of your special bottles and enjoy some of the finest Islay malt on offer.

what a choice

 

 

A diamond malt

I don’t think it’s any secret that I love Laphroaig, and of all the Laphroaig’s 18 year old is my favourite. In fact if I was really pushed I would put it in to my top three Scottish single malts.

So this special bottling diamond jubilee version of it provides me with the perfect excuse for me to buy another bottle. Mind you, there’s no way it’s going anywhere but very quickly in to my glass.

And before you ask, no I won’t share.

 

 

Boxing clever

Compass Box’s isn’t much to look at from the outside but inside it’s like being in an alchemist’s cave. I was down in London to see John Glaser for a couple of unusual issues – both of which will become clear in the next three or four days – and when I arrived he was working on his latest batch of special releases.

He’s engaging company and he treated me to  lunch at Jamie Oliver’s relatively new and moderatly priced Union Jack outlet -a sort of gastropub with traditional favourites presented with a twist. So does it get better than a chat with our greatest whisky pioneers, a pint of gorgeous Welsh cider, a hot chili pizza made with four different types of chili and covered in green leaf salad and accompanied by a little pot of curd.

not really. Except for the curd.

 

A taste of history

I picked up a parcel from the post office today and it contained a small sample of a 1953 58-year-old Glenfarclas. Wow! As George Grant says in the accompanying letter, he wasn’t born when it was made, his father was a little boy and his grand father was distilling. And just as amazingly, it was distilled the year after the Queen came to the throne.

Yep, that old…

I have decided it’s the perfect special whisky to start the weekend with. Trouble is, it’s my wedding anniversary so I’d have to give some to my wife. So I’ve hidden it.

No not really. She’s not that knowledgeable on whisky so I’m going to tell her it’s the 1953 but actually give her some Glenfarclas 10-year-old.

A bit mean i know, but the 10-year-old is rather good – and certainly good enough for her!!

 

Why the critics are wrong about Johnnie Walker

Dominic Roskrow’s whisky blog

Dominic’s personal take on the wonderful world of whisky

 

If you’re familiar with my writing you’ll know that when it comes to the internet there are two things I believe in very strongly:

One, that the new generation of bloggers is to a large extent a good thing, bringing in new whisky enthusiasts and stimulating the world of whisky in a strong, healthy and positive way.

And two, that nothing gets my goat more than a blogger getting above his station, describing himself – they’re nearly always men – as a whisky journalist and becoming an overnight expert and worst still, making unfounded statements based on little or no research and without proper due care and attention.

Quite often this ‘two plus two equals 22′ approach is just a load of old populist claptrap designed to win the approval of a blogger’s followers and readers. It’s normally of the ‘we’re the little guys fighting the big guys’ variety, and quite often it’s aimed at the like s of Diageo, as it was over the opening of super distillery Roseisle a couple of years back.

And, indeed,  as it has been this week following the company’s announcement that it was to revamp its Johnnie Walker portfolio.

For those of you not aware, Diageo announced that Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 year old and Gold Label 18 year olds were to be scrapped, and were to be replaced by two new whiskies: Johnnie Walker Gold Reserve and Johnnie Walker Platinum Label 18 Year Old.

Unsurprisingly there was a chorus of objection and criticism in hyperspace. And Diageo no doubt knew it was coming, which is probably why it made the announcement just before the Easter break.

The decision to remove a brand from the market place is always going to be an emotive one, but I can’t help that the reaction to the news was a knee-jerk one, and here’s why.

Firstly, I happen to like Green Label, but in the 12 years i’ve been writing about whisky and in all the thousands of tweets I’ve read, not once has anyone said ‘I’m really looking forward to a glass of Green Label tonight.”  or “golly that  Gold Label is a glass of nectar wonderfulness” (for this is how some bloggers write).

For all the protestations, how any people actually drank it, or particularly liked it? I’m only guessing, but if the brand was as popular as, say Talisker, Diageo wouldn’t have scrapped it. It’s like all those people who never use the pub then moan when it shuts down. Making decisions like this is called business.

And that brings me to point two. You’ll struggle to find many people politically to the left of me, but one thing I realised a long, long time ago is that capitalists like to make money. That’s what they do. Why are we surprised at this? Diageo’s management has a fundamental duty to make money for its shareholders. Whisky is a finite product with a limited supply, and it is greatly in demand. The company has a duty to take advantage of that and if that means reshuffling its portfolio, it will. Get over it.

But then there’s point three. Despite all of the pressures above, Diageo, like other whisky producers, makes money from creating a taste experience that people buy in to. It makes great whisky because great whisky commands a premium price, and that in turn makes it money. Everybody’s happy.

And the truth is, these changes make sense, for two reasons. Firstly, because Green Label is an oddball, a blended malt in a range of blends, and it never sat comfortably in the portfolio.

And secondly, because removing an age statement doesn’t have to mean a drop in quality. Not at all.Anybody who believes that it does really has no right to be blogging about whisky in the first place. And if you think older means better, I have two words for you: Blue Label.

Younger whisky can invigorate a whisky and can provide a freshness and balance of vibrant flavours which enhance it.

Does it do so in the case of the new Gold Reserve?

That’s my final point. Nobody has tasted it yet, so any  criticism is premature. But as the company points out, somewhat smugly it has to be said, the Johnnie Walker team has a pretty strong and consistent track record when it comes to this sort of thing, and they’re giving journalists the opportunity to judge for themselves at special tasting events in the coming weeks.

And you know what? I’m prepared to bet that both the new whiskies are worthy of the Johnnie Walker name.

It’s amusing but harmless that the bloggers have appointed themselves as the guardians of good whisky. But it’s risible that they see the likes of Diageo as a big bad wolf.  We all want great whisky. Diageo wants great profits.

Somebody needs to point out that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

*The opinions expressed here are those of Dominic Roskrow and not The W Club

Johnnie Walker’s £6 million gamble

Much is made of the rivalry between England and Scotland, but when it came to looking after some of the world’s rarest whisky, the Scots showed they were prepared to totally put their trust their neighbours to the South. In fact they did so to the tune of £6 million.
To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the owners of the world’s most famous blended Scotch whisky Johnnie Walker decided to pull out all the stops and create something truly special. A team of whisky experts at Diageo sourced the the very best of the  rare whisky they had from The Queen’s Coronation year 1952, to create arguably the finest blended whisky ever made. Then they brought together the world’s finest craftspeople to create a package fit for a Queen.
Only 60 bottles of whisky were created, each one presented in a decanter hand-made by a leading French glass maker. The decanters were individually engraved, and decorated with stunning flourishes and fine diamonds. One hindered and twenty glasses – two per set – were made and then individually engraved so that no two are the same. A special booklet was put together, bound in rare white leather and hand bound on  parchment. A calligrapher was brought in to decorate each of the 60 books and to hand write a personal message to each owner. Everything was meticulously put together to stunning effect. Nothing was left to chance.
Except one thing.
“We took the whiskies out of the cask in 2011 so the whisky is officially 59 years old, not 60 years old, but all from 1952,” says Johnnie Walker’s master blender Jim Beveridge. “Then as a final flourish we put the whisky in to specially made barrels made from oak taken from the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. We finished the whisky in English oak.”
Staves were cut, fresh barrels made, their inside toasted and then seasoned with Pedro Ximenez sherry. the whisky makers took months trying to ensure that everything would go well. Nevertheless, with each of the 60 bottles costing £100, 000 Beveridge and his team were entrusting some of the world’s finest Scotch to an untried oak cask made with, of all things, English oak. It was huge gamble – oak varies massively from region to region, and no-one really knew how English oak would react with the spirit.
“It was the only unknown,” admits Beveridge. “What would we have done if it had gone wrong? Well there was no Plan B.”
Thankfully for everybody the Anglo-Scottish alliance paid off handsomely – despite its old age, the new and very rare blend is stunning – a delightful mix of soft grapefruit marmalade, some pineapple, guava, melon and sherbet fresh fruit on the palate, then a hint of aniseed and liquorice. Finally there’s a soft but spicy and oaky finish which lasts as long as most great single malts. Where often whisky aged for more than 30 years can be sharp, spicy and astringent, the soft vanillas of the grain whisky in the mix has created a velvet carpet of a blend.
It’s a very very impressive total package and for once, the weak link most certainly isn’t the whisky.
Some of the 60 bottles have already been purchased and in the coming weeks selected individuals will be invited to purchase one.