THE JOHN WALKER STORY

THE EARLY DAYS OF JOHNNIE WALKER WHISKY

Johnnie Walker is the world's best-selling Scotch whisky brand by a virtually unbridgeable margin. Now part of the British behemoth Diageo plc, the story of the success of its founder, John 'Johnnie' Walker, is narrated with a fair amount of poetic licence and therefore deserves a more accurate reading.

John Walker (1805-1857) was a well off farmer's lad thrust into maturity too early in life. His father died in 1819, leaving him an orphan when he was just 14 years old and the family relocated from their farm on the outskirts of Kilmarnock town in East Ayrshire to the town centre itself in the Scottish Lowlands by 1820, having decided to invest the proceeds of the sale of their farm (reported variously as £417 and £537) in a grocery-cum-winery. His education truncated, the teenaged new Head of the family’s primary aim was to ensure their investment would succeed and their wealth proliferate, with all remaining family members also pitching in. The unfortunate turn of family events and concomitant revised focus deprived him of the best five formative years of his youth.

Parsimonious by nature—a not uncommon Scottish trait—he worked 16-hour days, six days a week. Of those 16 hours, two were spent learning how to manage ledgers and balance books, leaving him no leisurely moments to think about and chart their future. He had no time for foresight—his thought processes revolved solely around establishing and then growing his business, having started from ground zero. He was scrupulously honest, an endearing quality, which helped him with his plans. He was fortunate to have the services of an ex-East India Company retired tea plantation official from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Assam (NE India) as an assistant for a couple of years, who also proved to be a good teacher, and his initial gains were in the lucrative blended tea business. In an era when people married early, he had to perforce wait till the company was well settled before he wed in 1833, at the age of 28. He had five children, Margaret (1836-67); Alexander (1837-89); Robert (1840—); Elizabeth (1842—) and John (1845-75). His children entered this world with an advantage over their father. They were town-bred and went on to be better educated and it was his ambitious son Alexander ‘Alec’ Walker and his sons—John's grandsons—who actually created the Johnnie Walker legend and empire.

John's intense lifestyle caught up with him and he died relatively early, aged 52, in 1857. The others members of his family would, no doubt, have helped him manage the expanding grocery and ancillary services. There is, surprisingly, no mention of his other sons in the whisky trade. Apparently his genes did not contribute much to longevity, as all his children, where known, died young. His wife, Elizabeth, may well have outlived them all, reaching a grand 83 (1807-1890) !

Although lucrative, the expensive tea market was restricted to landed gentry and limited in scope. A teetotaller by choice, basic marketing sense saw him realise that the money lay in the liquor business and he rearranged his priorities accordingly. He traded in all spirits, including rum, brandy, gin and whisky manufactured by others. Once wed and fully established, he gradually drifted into mainly selling legally distilled whisky. These included whiskies from distilleries in booming Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula; the Inner Hebridean Island of Islay with its pungent smoky flavour; Glenlivet, Cardhu and other Highland distilleries. Once the Stein and Coffey Stills became legal apparatus circa 1830, grain whiskies became very easy to distill in rather short timeframes and were easily available. He sold these whiskies as well, but as an entirely separate category as demanded by law. As spirit off the stills, these were undrinkable in their early years and had to be blended with softening syrups, juices, honey and botanicals and also watered down to proof and just under (57-52% ABV.) He, however, guaranteed quality, thereby retaining and expanding his customer base.

By 1852, grain whiskies had improved with advancements in technology to a high standard, so much so that they proved to be quite mild in taste, if somewhat thin. But they were found to be a good host spirit in which to marry the relatively strong and multifaceted malt whiskies and polish the rough edges. The Irish whisky industry, then the dominant force in global whisky production, considered the spirit to be dismissively inferior in taste profile to their own triple-distilled and smooth pot whiskies and not worthy of the appellation 'whisky'.

Of the spirits he dealt with, malt whisky was the most popular, sold at a staggering 11 over proof or higher, (111+ proof, equivalent to 63.5-65% ABV), to be cut half and half with Schweppes soda or water. By then, he had picked up the nuances of blending and started selling blended malts-but only made to order. He relied on Cardhu and Glenlivet (Speyside) whiskies to make his blends far smoother than the ‘fiery’ Islay, Campbeltown, Lowland and other whiskies also in the market.

16 and 8 oz Bottles

He minimised the use of high-volume glass bottles for his whisky; they were far too expensive. Glass bottles were charged an inordinately high tax; his regulars thus used their own glass bottles, having bought them first-hand as new bottles of whisky of their choice, usually in convenient 8oz (230ml) and 16 oz (460ml) volumes, to be refilled on an as-required basis. The largest size in the days when glass-blowers created bottles was usually 28oz (800ml), but these were extremely flimsy and fragile. Mishandling would result in breakage and serious loss in a cost-conscious environment. All his bottles carried his authorised stamp on their bases, as was the prevailing custom then.

He used ewers and ceramic containers instead for his well to do patrons, with volumes in gallons and quarts thereof (1.12L). He also used small casks known as ankers (~8 gallons) to transport whisky to and from local dealers and traders, but not to mature or store it. The arrival of the railway in 1843 would help him in the years ahead to expand, while the proximity of the sea and seaports would help his future generations to attain yet unforeseeable global popularity and leadership.

The railway connected him with Glasgow, London, and beyond, taking his whisky to the many that developed a taste for it, but, equally importantly, bringing in oak casks of all pedigrees he so desperately required to increase transaction volumes and consequent additional storage, apart from routine victuals for his grocery.

When he felt he had become prosperous enough to afford glass bottles, he decided to blend his own whisky, circa 1850, with a rather plebian name-Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky. By then, his name had spread to nearby cities and he started to sell his brand of whisky on a reciprocal basis with other prominent grocers in those cities. A member of the freemasons and the local traders' associations, he also became a member of a loose and informal Grocer’s association in Scotland. They felt lucky to be associated — though long distance and infrequently — with an Edinburgh Blender and Wine Merchant, Andrew Usher, the principal sales agent of George Smith’s Glenlivet whisky, who would soon become a distiller of grain whisky and a blender. Usher had an outreach into the corridors of power in London through Glenlivet owner George Smith’s landowner and financer, the Duke of Gordon. 

An Old Kilmarnock Bottle 1867

  

In 1853, he received exciting news through the grapevine about happenings in London. An Act named the Forbes-Mackenzie Act had been passed easing blending, but in Bond. Though the Hansard (the official record of Parliamentary debates) was introduced in 1803, it remained a selective record of debates until it became the Official Report in 1909 and was often misquoted or misunderstood. All grocers were disappointed when actual details came across months later in print.

The Forbes-Mackenzie Act 1853, as The Licensing (Scotland) Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c.67) came to be known, when read with An Act to Impose Additional Duties on Spirits in Scotland and Ireland…(16 & 17 Vict. c. 37) of 1853, imposed regulatory timings on licenced liquor sales premises and defined the taxes to be paid on the full quantity of spirits contained in any one or more casks in any warehouse, while allowing the distiller or proprietor of such spirits… ‘from time to time to rack or draw off such spirits into any other cask or casks, provided that no less a quantity than ten gallons shall be racked into any one of the last-mentioned casks…’ But only distilleries and breweries could take advantage of this Act.

Thus, in 1853 vatting under Bond was legally permitted for the first time, and Andrew Usher’s firm launched Usher’s Old Vatted Glenlivet (OVG)– the first ever commercial vatting to be marketed, a mix of several malt and grain whiskies, none of which had an age statement. It was possible to vat in order to obtain consistency between casks, but whiskies of different ages could also be vatted, raising interesting possibilities for altering whisky profiles (Gavin Smith, Whisky Magazine 16 Nov 2002.) After 1823, Bond houses could be located within the distillery/ brewery, provided the premises were no further than a quarter of a mile from the town perimeter.

In 1957, Usher informed them that a Spirits Act had been approved in principle by then Prime Minister H Temple and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gladstone was under pressure from distillers of grain whisky, principally from the Lowlands, to allow blending of Grain whiskies with Malt whiskies in Bond. What he didn’t tell them was that there was severe counter-pressure from the five-times larger Irish whisky industry not to pass the Act. Some grocers, but not John Walker, started blending their malt and grain whiskies in their stores then. John Walker died in 1857 and Alexander 'Alec' assumed charge. That year, profits from wines and spirits represented just 8 percent of the firm's income. The Spirits Act permitting blending of grain and malt whiskies in Bond was finally passed in 1860 with Irish disapproval and resentment but limited such vatting to distillers and brewers only. In an unusual quirk of fate, both John and Alec died at the age of 52.

Alexander had been sent to formally study the blending of tea as an apprentice with a tea merchant in Glasgow, developing—aided by his father—a complete sense of blending and extended it to the spirit industry. He was keen on moving on from a grocery to a wholesale whisky dealer. Now that he was no longer restrained by his less ambitious father, he started blending whisky in storage in 1860, as he was still registered as a grocer. Grocers were finally permitted in 1863 to blend whiskies in Bond under an extension to the Chevalier-Cobden Act of 1860. Alec moved out of the grocery trade and began his shift to whisky, gradually exiting other spirits.

Alexander Walker pulled off a marketing coup when he was able to convince Captains of sea-going vessels to sell his Old Kilmarnock whisky in their bars, for a commission. The increased movement of his dumpy 28oz bottles by rail and by sea confirmed his major fear—his bottles were proving short-lived and breaking enroute, causing considerable loss. His first attempt to make their bases square with each side equal to the diameter of his rounded bottles made the already dumpy and shabby bottles look squat and positively ugly in dim lighting in bars. This led to his first masterstroke as designer. He slimmed the bottles down to stand elegantly tall. They could now be tightly packed in less space, reducing the threat of breakages by over 75% and also the storage space per carton of twelve bottles, equating to more bottles per cargo. As the art of manufacturing bottles improved with time, he found he could both increase volume to quart bottles (1.12L) and thicken each side by a minuscule amount to strengthen them further, reducing breakages to near zero. These bottles cost him more than the average but proved to be extremely cost-effective improvements that improved his return on investment markedly.

Even so, there was an unforeseen consequence to their standing tall. They obscured the bottles in the rows behind them, so they were moved to the rearmost row of shelves in bars. This meant that their names could not be seen. This major drawback led to the birth of the second label on his bottles, albeit small. It carried only the name in legible size of letters and was pasted on the neck of the bottle where it was prominently visible. The first ever label was white in colour, a harbinger of things to come. In five years, the Old Kilmarnock crossed the 100,000 gallon per year sales mark, a testament to Alec’s business acumen and creativity.

Alexander Walker was finally able to blend his stocks of grain and malt whiskies and, starting 1865, bottle them for sale as a five-year-old blended whisky, now named Walker’s Old Highland Whisky, copyrighted as such in 1867. The introduction of grain whisky into the blend of malts reduced the fierce strength of the whisky and was accepted as a welcome feature. His whiskies were bottled at proof, equivalent to 57.1% ABV.

The five-year waiting period was to prove a blessing in disguise. He was able to convince captains of naval vessels to use his stocks in transit overseas to new markets as ballast and serve them as good quality whisky in their bars, for a commission. Once his whisky gained popularity, some bottles were brought back to the front shelf in bars everywhere.

Competition was fierce with every seller smartening up their bottles and Alec once again used his fertile imagination to bring his bottles into the public eye. He invested in visual promotion by increasing the size of his main label to accommodate much larger bright golden bronze colour lettering encased in an equally prominent golden border. Since it no longer fitted one face of his square bottle, he had no option but to tilt the label to fit it on one face stylishly without appearing to do so and display its contents on one face of the bottle and found 24° exactly right and aesthetically pleasing. This tilt was upwards L > R,  signalling strength, stamina and determination. He trademarked this design in 1877. What is important to note is that the significance of the oak used in the creating of casks was still unknown.

Alec wanted to create even older whiskies and started experimenting on a primary scale, intending to increase bottling age in steps of one year. He started by selecting the whiskies that made up his Old Highland Whisky at five and a half years of age or slightly more. Unfortunately, when married for six to eight months in their final casks, the quality of the output was not superior to the 5 YO. Evidently the casks used for the last stage of their blending were not of the requisite class. Specific-to-task cask management was in its infancy.

Three unrelated factors were to help the industry. Firstly, fresh oak barrels were lying abandoned in France between 1860-1900 because of the Phylloxera devastation and could be used freely in the industry, particularly for grain whisky. Secondly, the Scots, Irish and other settlers in America, including English, Welsh, German and Frenchmen, began to distill their own whisky, using corn as the basic grain. The best of these whiskies came from the distillers using water from the Ohio River. The principal port on the Ohio River was Maysville, in present day Kentucky, from where whisky and other products were shipped within America and overseas. Thirdly, the use of Sherry in Great Britain also diminished, leaving their butts stranded around the country.

Fortunately for Alec, that export of American whiskies overseas was in the same ships that Walker had used for his exports. He and his team located barrels of whisky that had come from America and Spain and bought them off once their contents had been bottled or sold. They were told that the coopers in America would deep-char and toast the casks before using them, a factor that would influence decisions in the next generation of Walkers. Alec found that the freshly imported barrels were a good choice to restart his failed experiment and he was thus able to create a 6-year-old whisky of premium quality. Sadly, he died in 1889, aged 52, leaving his sons Alexander II and George in charge. By now, distillers and whisky blenders were beginning to understand the difference between the types of casks used and the importance of the cooper.

The acquisition of Cardhu distillery in 1893 changed the Johnnie Walker trajectory to the best possible. When added to the blends in use, it changed the overall profile markedly. The Special Old Highland, featuring a red label was born in 1896. An exceptionally smooth and mellow whisky, it allowed Alex to reduce the strength to 25 under proof, equivalent to 42.8% ABV. The whisky could now be drunk neat, with a few drops of water or soda or with a cube or two of ice. The aroma of the 9 YO was overpowering, able to fill a room with its enticing qualities. It could not, however, be aged further.

It was only after the introduction of freshly charred second-fill European Oak barrels that the 9YO whisky could be aged further, again by one full year. But Alex went a step further. Instead of European Oak, he used American Oak barrels for the flourish and was able put together malt and grain whiskies aged eleven and a half years or more and let them marry in that Oak cask for eight months to get a final blended whisky aged 12 years. The age stated on the bottle was equal to or more than the age of the youngest component whisky. By 1906, the company could boast three main brands: Old Highland White Label 5 YO, Special Old Highland Red Label 9 YO and Extra Special Old Highland Black Label 12 YO. In 1909, the company carried out its final rebranding, bringing out the Johnnie Walker 6 YO White Label, 10 YO Red Label and 12 YO Black Label. The 'Old Highland' was laid to rest. Surprisingly, the Johnnie Walker brands of whisky did not use the term ‘Scotch’ till as late as 1939.

A year earlier, in 1908, the slogan "Born 1820—Still going Strong!" was created. That done, the Walkers next wanted to convey the brand’s unique point of view visually. They held a competition for suitable artwork in anticipation of the renaming of their brands, but nothing quite fit the bill. A cartoonist named Tom Browne eventually came up with the Striding Man logo, a figure used in their advertisements to this day in honour of the founder and given the same name.

The Striding Man: Browne reportedly sketched his 'Striding Man' on the back of a menu card; Alexander and George adopted the concept of the ‘Striding Man’ immediately. The Striding Man was critical because it differentiated Walker from other Scotch purveyors, which tended to play on Scotland’s traditions of bearded men in kilts playing bagpipes, an image that lacked universality. Here was a gentleman on the move. With one stroke, John Walker the Victorian grocer became Johnnie Walker, the Edwardian dandy.

ADDENDA

We have a conundrum here. The Johnnie Walker Special Old Highland bottle and carton: The term 'Red Label' is visible on the neck mini-label, but missing from the main label, even though it is coloured Red. There is no age statement visible anywhere. The Striding Man, sketched in 1909, is more than visible. The 1937 bottle of Red Label carried an age statement of 8 years. Well, well...

 HONOURING THE 52 YEAR OLD WALKERS

 Johnnie Walker has released a limited edition 52-year-old blended whisky that contains spirits mainly from closed distilleries, in honour of both John 'Johnnie' Walker and Alexander 'Alec' Walker, who both lived for 52 years. Limited to 200 bottles, Johnnie Walker Aged 52 Years blends six rare malt whiskies and two grain whiskies from some of the oldest casks in the brand’s reserves.

Johnnie Walker master blender, Dr Emma Walker, and her team of experts selected some of their oldest and most precious casks of Highland single malt and Lowland single grain whiskies for this ultra-rare release, also a first for Emma.

The malt whiskies used are from Glenury Royal, Glenlochy, Glen Albyn (all closed), Brora (closed 1983, reopened 2021) and the working Blair Athol &Dalwhinnie distilleries; the grain whiskies come from Cambus and Carsebridge distilleries, both closed. Six of these distilleries operated during either John or Alexander Walker’s lifetimes, with only Dalwhinnie and Glenlochy opening shortly after Alexander died in 1889. Every whisky was distilled in 1972 or earlier, making it one of the oldest ever age-stated Johnnie Walker releases.

What is not really understood is that in such aged whiskies, the grain whiskies play a critical role. They need to be extremely fine in and by themselves, with distinguishable and subtle individual characteristics yet remain flexible to accept distinctly differently styled malt whiskies and blend with them to accentuate their individual strengths without displaying any grainy texture during their consumption.

In its heyday, the now-demolished Lowland Cambus distillery’s grain whisky was highly regarded by blenders. In an advertisement placed by DCL in The Daily Mail in 1906, Cambus Pure Grain Whisky was described as ‘the whisky with an individuality – notably different to all others in peculiar delicacy and charm of flavour – mild and mellow.

Carsebridge, closed in 1983, has only ever been bottled as a single grain with high age statements by independent bottlers. Its 52 year old release in 2018, bottled under the “Sovereign” label for K&L Wines, is described as amazing, dried flowers and Makassar oil with dark brandied raisins, dark plum, caramel, smooth, warming…Patience in a barrel.

Together, the single grain whiskies from Cambus and Carsebridge introduce rich vanilla, butterscotch, dark dried fruit and spice to the blend, while tea leaves and menthol add layers of depth.

Blair Athol, the heart and soul of Bell’s blended whiskies, provides intensity with fruit-forward notes of raisins, currants, and orange peel, balanced by wood spice and tropical fruit.

The addition of Glenury Royal and Glenlochy spirit to the blend results in the whisky gaining richness and texture, with flavours of berries, confectionery fruits, and oiliness. Glen Albyn and Dalwhinnie contribute salinity, cured meat, and cacao, while Brora imparts soft smoke, blue cheese, and deep complexity.

Put together in a homogenous mix, the rare aromas, flavours, and character in this blend, combined with their shared age and small number, make this super-limited edition of 200 bottles a testament to the art of whisky blending.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A soft note of rich clotted cream and plump blackcurrants, accompanied by redcurrant and more biscuity, almost leather-like notes.
Palate: The rich oiliness of the texture is luxurious — borderline decadent — with stone fruit, spice, and lingering menthol notes akin to after dinner chocolate mints. Through it all is the gentle wisp of smoke that is the backbone of the Johnnie Walker family.
Finish: Long with a pleasant dryness, notes of freshly cracked black pepper, and a light, comforting warmth, reminiscent of dying embers.

Bottled at 41.2% ABV, evidence of how much the Angel’s have imbibed as their Share over half a century, the 52-year-old blend retails for £23,500 (US$25,000) and can be purchased through Diageo private client teams and selected luxury retail outlets.

200 YEARS OF GLENLIVET

THE GLENLIVET CELEBRATES 200 YEARS
Launches 12 yo and Eternal Collection First Edition

Glenlivet it has castles three
Drumin, Blairfeldy, and Deskie
And also one distillery
More famous than the castles three

The Glenlivet can rightly claim to be the single malt that started it all. Such was the reputation of illegal whisky from the Glenlivet area that King George IV would drink nothing else during his 1822 visit to Edinburgh. In 1823, the Excise Act was issued to encourage legal distilling. One man seized this opportunity to achieve his vision of perfect whisky. George Smith took the first legal distilling license in his distillery in the Upper Drumin farm in Glenlivet, the bucolic Banffshire district in the parish of Glenlivet, Speyside in 1824.

What made The Glenlivet the definitive single malt as early as 1822 is still true today: mineral-rich water; taller, wider stills; careful, slower, more gradual maturation; and a perfect location. These particularities have made it the benchmark by which all other single malts are judged. 2024 marked the 200th anniversary of The Glenlivet.

January 2024 saw the kicking-off of The Glenlivet’s 200^th anniversary festivities, with the launch of a 12 Year Old Special Edition expression. This celebratory single malt comprises 100% American Oak Matured first fill casks, hand-picked to celebrate the anniversary, and is presented at 43% ABV. A unique take on their classic 12 Year Old, this Glenlivet whisky is a celebration of Glenlivet’s journey forever forwards.

Owned by Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard’s dedicated Scotch business arm, Glenlivet sells over 20 million bottles annually. The brand has grown consistently, with value ahead of volume, because they have listened to what whisky fans are looking for when considering a dram. In response to consumer demand, they are delivering ever more innovative styles of whisky and more engagement. Glenlivet has been the largest-selling Scotch single malt brand in the United States for over four decades and is reportedly among the best selling single malt in high-end bars across Asia. The Russian market has been closed off due the ongoing war and sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.

The Glenlivet Eternal Collection First Edition, a 55 Year Old expression, their oldest to date, made its debut in October 2024. This remarkable whisky is a testament to the craftsmanship and originality that has defined The Glenlivet since inception in 1824. Only 100 exquisitely crafted bottles are available of this ambitious single malt, ABV 42.2%, priced at $55,000.

Kevin Balmforth, The Glenlivet Cask Master at Chivas Brothers, worked for a lustrum to create the outstanding expression, first aged for over fifty years in Bourbon and Sherry barrels and ultimately finished in a custom-made Sherry cask.

In 2019, Balmforth, along with Director of Blending Sandy Hyslop, began selecting a limited batch of ultra-aged casks, including bourbon barrels and sherry butts, tabbing them for this eventual 200th anniversary release. The task was to take those parcels, combine them, and turn them into something truly extraordinary and memorable. The question that remained was how, if at all, they could elevate it further.

The answer was in finishing the whisky in a sherry butt unlike any other extant—thus Balmforth and his crew created a specific blend of sherry to season the cask, imparting the exact flavours and characteristics they were seeking. Any ordinary sherry cask wouldn’t do. They wanted the perfect note to complement this 50 YO-plus whisky.

The distillery team received a shipment of sample Sherries from its partner bodega in Spain, and after much taste testing, settled on a specific ratio of Oloroso, PX, and Palo Cortado before sending the blend back to Spain.

Given the tight regulations on Sherry and Sherry casks in Spain, he and his team went to their partner Spanish bodega to create the bespoke single sherry cask at their cooperage. He focussed on the cask while his team of blenders checked out the pre-defined blend of sherry to condition the cask to provide them with its indrink that would round off the aged whisky, armed with the knowledge that only 100 bottles of exquisite Scotch would be created as the first edition for the occasion. They conditioned the individual cask with the sherries selected and created it just for this release.

Once the seasoned cask arrived in Scotland, the team poured in the barrels earmarked for this project, and let it finish for more than two years. They ensured that it didn't overpower the incredible intensity and richness that was already there. It was more about adding subtle spice notes from the sherry casks to elevate it up another notch.

Balmforth also points out signature flavours representing Glenlivet's house style, such as stewed pears, zesty orange, tropical fruits and toffee, embellished with dark chocolate, and cinnamon, ginger spice and a touch of home in the form of plum jam.

This complex 55 YO single malt comes presented in a sculpture made from jesmonite with rose-gold plating designed by computational architect Michael Hansmeyer. The artist took his inspiration from the distillery's environs, a tribute to the rugged Scottish landscape surrounding the distillery including the flow of the River Livet, when modelling the design via computer programming, a stunning sculpture reflecting the intersection of whisky craftsmanship and technology. A special edition with a one-of-a-kind Hansmeyer sculpture will be auctioned in partnership with Sotheby's starting on October 18th, with proceeds benefiting the National Trust for Scotland.

The release is the first expression in a planned annual series. Each forthcoming edition will consist of stock from the same sherry cask the 55 year old was drawn from, aged for one further year until the liquid is all released.

The Glenlivet Eternal Collection will thus be a new range of highly collectable precious whiskies. Released annually, each future release – all taken from a single, extraordinary cask – will be aged for one additional year and will be accompanied by an original art form crafted by a visionary artist, a collection to cherish. At least four more editions are expected from this cask.

Official Tasting Notes:

Nose: A gentle sweetness of poached pears is harmonised with the heady citrus notes of ripe, sun-drenched Seville oranges whilst a deeper note of sticky dates ground the trio. These are matched in the deep warmth of toasted hazelnut and the indulgent richness of dark chocolate, finishing with the spiced warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Palate: Deep and warming flavours of homemade blackcurrant jam, vanilla fudge, and dark chocolate, balanced with zesty orange and crystallised ginger before closing with a touch of warming clove spice.

Finish: Incredibly long, the finish is distinct and complex, evolving through fruit and spices to culminate with a subtle warming dry and spicy finish.

TRAVEL RETAIL

Newly released expressions that have limited credentials or have no previous antecedents are invariably tested first in the travel retail arena for public response before making it into the mainstream market. More often than not, these expressions are of 1 Litre bottlings at 40% ABV and NAS, based on an traveller's limited availability of time to indulge in a detailed review before buying. A large number of Glenmorangie expressions have seen the light of day in Duty Free Shops, never to appear again. In November of their 200th year, The Glenlivet launched a new series of limited edition whiskies, exclusively for travellers, The Glenlivet Groundbreaker Collection. It will comprise expressions called Chapters. Each Chapter will celebrate original artists who, through travel, have set new standards in their artistic craft.

In their first release – Chapter One: The Journey Inward – they’ve partnered with renowned artist Red Hong Yi, known as ‘The Artist Who Paints Without A Brush’, to design their limited edition packaging. Trailblazing Malaysian-Chinese contemporary artist Red Hong Yi cites both her extraordinary travels and inspiration taken from meaningful places around the world, from Borneo to Scotland, as the influence behind her unique style. In Chapter One; The Journey Inward, Red has reflected upon unique travel experiences and how they can shape who we become. Red has been inspired by locations which have impacted her life, and have led her to her groundbreaking artist style of painting. Their first sale was at Changi Airport Singapore, at Singapore $ 356, three times as much as originally publicised by Glenfiddich(US$100/S$134.)

Eschewing a brush, Hong Yi’s unconventional methods include using fire to char parchment to paint using traditional red Chinese pigments – the technique used to create the artwork housing Chapter One of The Glenlivet Groundbreaker Collection. This innovative choice of finish delivers a subtle red-amber hue in honour of Red Hong Yi’s original artistry and her favourite colour – which gave rise to her nickname, Red. Red’s art takes us on a journey from the mountains of Borneo to the bustling streets of Shanghai, onto the shores of Los Angeles and finally to the Livet Valley in Scotland.

Chapter One marks the first time The Glenlivet has selectively finished whisky in red wine casks. Inside the bottle, the single malt Scotch whisky was carefully matured in specially selected European and American Oak casks. The Glenlivet Cask Master Kevin Balmforth then oversaw the finishing of a portion of the whisky in charred American Oak and European Red Wine Casks. The journey taken by this Single Malt Whisky mirrors that of the Red’s own journey – one of inner and outer transformation.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Subtle red-amber.

Nose: Fresh blueberries, juicy red apple, caramelised pears, glazed cherries, vanilla custard, orange peel, sweet oak char and crystallised ginger.

Palate: Juicy plums, ripe banana, raspberry jam, charred pineapple, creamy butterscotch, warm gingerbread, caramel wafer and nutmeg spice.

Finish: Warming, spicy and slightly dry.

                       

AI IN THE WORLD OF WHISKY

 The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Whisky Production

The use of AI within beverage alcohol has grown out of its infancy and the technology, mostly used in new product formulation, often linked to marketing activity and driving increased efficiency across company operations, is now seen as a research tool and an aid to new product development with the potential to deliver additional benefits across company operations, from revenue and real time supply chain management to production efficiency.

How Will AI Impact Spirits?

A June 2023 seminar ‘The Nature of Sensorial AI’ held in partnership with Preferabli, a prominent B2B2C discovery and recommendation software for the wine, spirits and food product industry, looked at how AI was being used in the wine and spirits industry and how the technology might develop, given its propensity for rapid self-multiplication. As its use spread, artificial intelligence (AI) was found marching into various industries to help with new product development, marketing and in the improvement of business operations. It wouldn’t be too difficult to assess how it could benefit companies in the alcohol sector. The unasked question was: Would it a pose a risk to creativity and jobs?

Labelled food and drink have a specification linking the product to the experience. Vodka or water was defined by being tasteless, and if a premium experience was to be delivered there, it had to be connected to a sort of physical seasoning or some other kind of multi-sensory experience that went beyond the drink. Only then would one deliver more, building a differentiated product while more tastes converged.

The prevailing ambience was another important element in a service setting, as it influenced the obtaining mood greatly. Simply changing the lighting or playing music had a profound impact on taste. One had to go beyond the normal range of experience to deliver extraordinary tasting experiences. For instance, Glenmorangie had created three short films some time back which focussed on three frontline whiskies, The Original, Lasanta and Signet and 'communicated the sensorial nature of whisky' using 'pioneering online techniques' to test extraordinary tasting experiences with whisky using Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)* triggers, so that consumers could ‘feel’ the taste of Glenmorangie. Evidently, the world was redefining what constituted a luxurious experience.

Generative AI, which can produce text, images, or video, could be applied in the industry. Brand owners could use generative AI to market their products, using several AI opportunities in the market like customisation to take personalisation to the next level to an unprecedented scale. Creativity followed suit. When humans worked with AI, benefits increased and made the interactor more creative. Soon there would be AI tools that would do a task themselves, doing away with the current need of a lot of human input and building increased context windows… tools that could actually keep much more in their memory.

The role that AI plays in informal gatherings like Cocktails led to a consensus that the aim should be the widest reach and diversity as possible. It was for the players concerned to think about how AI could be employed in a way that didn’t lead to AI writing the menu. That would be self-defeating because that meant the replacement of the players by AI; what was required was implementation in a way that was both satiating and interesting. Thus the AI platform was to be given menus based on core ingredients and allow the AI generating software to generate the imagery for applicable menus and coasters. Ideally, this would be interactive, examining the AI- created imagery and punching in a few more ingredients to just see what the software visualised - a neat playful way of integrating [AI] without it taking away our agency creativity. 

Diageo’s recent collaboration with AI Palette had revealed key flavour trends for 2024 including umami, spicy, tropical and ‘bloom harvest’. Creativity was essential in gathering the ingredients, flavours and drinks, at a time where everyone had access to just about every ingredient on the planet. Trends were usually manated by macrocultural events like movies, art or fashion. In 2023,  Barbiemania saw everyone going to pink drinks; this year Starbucks collaborated with Pantone, an iconic brand in fashion and design, to introduce an exclusive Pantone-inspired merchandise collection available at select Starbucks stores across Asia Pacific. Quite evidently, drink trends follow macrocultural movements.

Software Development

Besides Preferabli, another software tool Proofworks was included in the discussions. The response to the query whether AI could replace roles in the industry met with the response that the AI kits were not replacing anyone, but broadly optimisation of production and supply chain in the wine and spirits industry while combating counterfeiting. There are elements of software that are replacing some jobs but at the same time creating others, but in the narrow field of wine and spirits software machine learning, there is no eradication of jobs. This is all amplification and expansion.

From a consumer perspective, not everyone has access to go to a whisky tasting or visit a distillery or be guided on their wine journey. Digital tools can thus be used to do the switching and re-scaling, leaving them more accessible to bigger audiences. In terms of actual distilleries themselves, the processes there are being optimised. But it’s to free up distillers to do things that they’re great at: creating new recipes, innovating in other ways.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in whisky production marks a bold step into the future while respecting and preserving the past. Distilleries, both venerable and new, harness AI to refine their craft, ensuring consistency, enhancing flavours, and even creating new blends that challenge the very notion of what whisky can be. To begin with, the most significant impact of AI in whisky production is in the creation of flavour profiles. Traditional whisky making relies heavily on human expertise and intuition to develop flavours. However, AI introduces a new dimension to this process using historical recipes, sales data, and customer preferences to generate a recipe that promises to be both popular and innovative.

Next, AI is also playing a critical role in ensuring consistency and quality in whisky production. Distilleries like Macallan take advantage of AI-driven sensors and data analytics to monitor and control every stage of the whisky-making process. From fermentation to ageing, AI tools help in maintaining the optimal conditions needed for producing consistent, high-quality whisky. Moreover, to maximise the value from this enhanced process, Macallan is also leveraging AI to train its staff in optimised distilling processes, thereby embracing the people, process and technology aspects of any good innovation.

AI is being used to advise new product development and guide subsequent marketing campaigns; for instance, online drinks retailer The Whisky Exchange used AI to design labels for a luxury collection of 12 bottles of The Glenlivet 50-year-old single malt, sold for €40,000 a bottle to mark the distillery’s bicentenary in 2024.

Sustainability stands out as a crucial area where AI is making great strides. Distilleries are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance resource efficiency and cut down on waste. Take Glenfiddich, for instance; they've begun implementing AI to reduce energy consumption and streamline the management of by-products, ultimately fostering a more sustainable whisky production process. Amazingly enough, this has allowed them to even fuel their trucks with whisky waste.

The Art and Science of AI-Blended Whisky

AI-created spirit reflects the potential of AI in crafting unique flavour profiles to boost quality enhancement. Distilleries like Jameson are exploring AI to monitor the ageing process. Sensor-equipped AI systems can analyse the chemical composition of the whisky as it ages, thereby guaranteeing batch standards as projected. The next step could well be customised whisky, wherein a batch of whisky is specifically tailored for the tastebuds of a specific customer. This goes a step beyond flavour profiles, which is essentially matching new make output to historic profiles. With AI, whisky producers can now manage whisky making at nanoscales without incurring a cost penalty, enabling an entirely new brand of premiumised services within the industry. Such an approach will offer a markedly personal and taste-specific experience, transforming consumer interaction with whisky brands radically.

Enhancing the Digital Distillation Era

The constants in whisky production were easily digitised, leaving only the imponderables, like weather, olfactory and sensory inputs, mash bill variations to human intervention. However, this was one area Artificial Intelligence (AI) could play a major role, the very prospect of which could be both exhilarating and profound. The combination of AI with traditional distilling methods is not just about creating better whisky; it's about re-imagining the entire whisky experience. For whisky enthusiasts, distillers, and innovators, AI is an invitation to join a journey that respects tradition while boldly embracing the future. For whisky producers, AI unlocks product efficiencies, a new set of blends, and level of precision flavour that distillers only dreamed about.

Proponents of AI maintain the spirits industry can enhance operations efficiency, innovate with new products and recipes, improve customer experiences, and stay competitive in a dynamic market.

* ASMR is a tingling sensation that some people experience in response to audiovisual stimuli. The response usually starts as tingling or warmth in the head and moves throughout the body. Some people report feelings of well-being and relaxation when experiencing this.

NAS WHISKY: A RETHINK

THE RETURN OF THE AGE STATED WHISKY BOTTLE

Why Did NAS Whisky Become Popular In The First Place?

Whisky as a whole has seen a surge in popularity in the last 10 to 15 years. As a result, once-plentiful supplies of aged whiskies have dwindled. Moreover, numerous distilleries have started up in the past decade and are now rolling out their brands, from young (3 YO) to not so young (7+YO).Because fewer aged whiskies can be found on the shelves, NAS whisky has become more common.

At the very beginning of Scotch whisky when there were farm distilleries, people didn’t put an age on their whisky. There are some extraordinarily fine whiskies that don’t carry an age statement, and just because one doesn’t have an age label doesn’t mean there aren’t some old and rare whiskies in the bottle. What it means is that one has greater scope and a bigger palette – like an artist, there is a broader canvas to play on.

Second, it’s very much about maturity, not age. If one is using the very finest wood, some casks will reach a peak at different times from others. Macallan, with their 1824 Series and 1824 Collection, really took the shackles off their Whisky Maker Bob Dalgarno. He could pick any whisky out there and use it at the peak of perfection, just like picking an apple off a tree when it’s perfectly ripe and not on some given date.

Given carte blanche, he did so. For instance, the Macallan Rare Cask is about extremely rare whiskies chosen from 256 casks a year for a specific character or colour, irrespective of age. It’s about changing the paradigm and opening up endless possibilities for whisky makers to make beautiful whiskies.

Scotch whisky must be about supreme quality. It must be about the producers, as guardians of that facet, making sure that the right quality goes into the right bottle. It’s in everybody's best interests to have superlative whiskies on offer, whether they carry an age statement or not, and there is genuinely no indication people in the industry are trying to hoodwink the consumer in any way.

On the contrary, everybody is trying to make the best use of their stocks to produce interesting, innovative new products at a very high quality across a broader spectrum than hitherto. “Non-age” does not equate to young whiskies. Some of the whiskies may be incredibly old and rare, and some may be more youthful to give vitality and zest to the whisky. It is taking the category back to its roots. It is another innovation to make sure Scotch remains relevant, interesting and the best spirit in the world. And, above all, it’s about maturity, not age.

That may sound like a letdown to those who are accustomed to drinking aged whisky, but there’s no need to blame whisky newcomers for depleting supply. NAS whisky can be every bit as tasteful and sophisticated as aged whisky, and it has opened the floodgates for whisky distillers to experiment with new blends that can revolutionise the whisky-drinking experience!

Although NAS whisky has experienced a popularity boom in recent years, it’s actually been around for a long time. Glenmorangie, Ardbeg, Kilchoman, Glenfiddich, Laphroaig, Johnnie Walker and a host of Blended Scotch in the 3-8 YO Whisky group are well-known examples of an NAS whisky that has been around for a good while. None of these have suffered a loss of reputation as being among the world’s popular whiskies.

How Is NAS Whisky Different From The Standard?

When people see a NAS whisky available for sale, they often assume that it hasn’t aged at all. Well, when it comes to whisky, matters of age are a little more complicated than may be thought of. It is very likely that a bottle of NAS whisky actually contains a blend of multiple different whiskies of different ages. Variety can inject the perfect amount of flavour into the glass. The increase in the popularity of NAS whiskies has given distillers and mixologists more liberty to innovate in creating different blends. While the lack of emphasis on the age of the whisky may get some of the most stringent purists worked up, it’s an opportunity for whisky fans to move beyond age as the sole indicator of quality. Why be constrained by a traditionalist mindset that doesn’t actually reflect the quality of the drink?

The Problem Of Marketing

Ultimately the issue is one of marketing. Having spent decades convincing drinkers to opt for older bottlings over younger ones made consumers favour older expressions; a change of tune understandably concerned those very consumers that a young age was unfavourable. To overcome this disadvantage, many distillers have opted to forego the age indication in favour of a memorable name such as Talisker Port Ruighe, Ardbeg Uigeadail, Ledaig Sinclair Series, Glenmorangie Nectar D'or, Laphroaig PX Cask, Glenfiddich XX or Glenlivet Alpha. Coined “flavour-led expressions” by the marketing departments, distilleries argue that the benefits of NAS outweigh the risks:

• More leeway for the master blender

• More variety and more choice

• Younger whiskies are given a chance

• Prices are lower than longer matured equivalents

Advantages Of NAS Whisky

How have distillers used the rise of NAS whisky to their advantage, you may ask? Blending whiskies of different ages enable them to focus on other aspects of a quality spirit. These special elements include relevant issues like colour, flavour, and technique. Increased attention to flavour never goes unnoticed by discerning drinkers. Moreover, a wider range of colour possibilities opens up new aesthetic avenues for distillers and bartenders. If one has ever wanted to see how two or more of one’s favourite whiskies taste when blended together, the movement toward NAS provides more opportunities than ever to do just that.

Removing the age statement from whisky labels is proving controversial, not least because it goes against received wisdom. For decades the industry promoted an 'older the better' mentality and backed it up with pricing. It became set in stone that single malts and posh blends begin at around 12 years old, and steadily improve further thereafter.

There has been an explosion in demand for premium aged whiskies that few in the industry were able to predict. Malts like Macallan have become a victim of their own success. So it has been slowly erasing the digits from its labels to become a NAS whisky, with its 1824 Series based on colour – starting with 'Gold' from where you can trade up to 'Amber', 'Sienna' and 'Ruby'.

The official line is that it's not about any shortage of whisky stocks, but about releasing the creativity of Macallan's whisky maker from the shackles of age. And it is perfectly true that age is no guarantee of quality, because that depends on the quality of the wood used during maturation. Spirit filled into a knackered barrel with nothing left to give will never properly mature. A barrel fresh from Kentucky after two years full of Bourbon, in contrast, will age a Scotch whisky much better and faster.

Today most single malts have NAS variants, from Jura to Talisker. In some duty-free shops they apparently account for half the sales. Macallan's colour-coded approach feels more mainstream in its home market too. So much so, that today the cheapest age-statement Macallan left in the UK is the 18 year-old retailing at £135.

Yet in Asia and America, most bottles still carry a number. There are dark mutterings on the whisky panoply about 'age drift' – where a premium blend or malt will gradually reduce the average age of its whiskies while retaining the same label and price. There's an obvious incentive to bottle younger, with those pesky 'angels' at Scotland's cask warehouses hoovering up the equivalent of 150 million bottles of Scotch a year through evaporation. But how far distillers can push it will depend on the strength of their brands. There are certainly reservations in the industry about all this. To abandon the well-accepted, if imperfect, benchmark of age demands huge trust amongst consumers.

ARE WE IN AN ERA OF AGE STATED SCOTCH?

Following a flurry of no-age-statement releases a decade ago, the past 12 months have produced multiple age-statement bottlings – and significant ones at that. Ten years back, many brands peddled the ‘flavour-forward’ message as a good thing in regard to the development of NAS bottlings. Removing age statements, they argued, afforded blenders greater flavour potential. However, more cynical drinkers loudly lamented the lack of double digits adorning their favourite bottles.

Consider the popular single malt, Talisker. This dram has always been great value. Usually bottled at 45.8%, it offered more bang for a buck in the old days. Back then, it was offered as an 8- or 12-year-old for the trade. But that was before the sales of single malts took off. Effectively, as of now, there are 16 ‘standard’ expressions, 12 bottlings with age statements, and four with NAS.

Of these 16 expressions, however, only three meet my personal expense ceiling and of these, two are NAS malts: Talisker Skye and Talisker Storm. Only the 10-year-old trade bottling exists in this group. The other bottlings are priced from just below £50 (another NAS) to £699 for a 35-year-old distilled in 1977. And the portentous news that Talisker is to undergo a complete transformation, from the floor upwards! Clearly the average buyer cannot figure greatly in the future marketing plans for Talisker, but many other distillers are not adopting NAS for their core ranges. Arran is a great example.

Avid fans will likely recall the uproar that surrounded the discontinuation of The Glenlivet 12 in 2015 in Germany and the UK, which was replaced by a permanent NAS whisky, Founder’s Reserve, to alleviate pressure on the distillery’s dwindling aged stock. It was several years before the 12-year-old made a reappearance, with a limited number of bottles reintroduced in the UK in summer 2018, ahead of other markets, an example of the long-running age versus no-age predicament.

One school of thought feels that industry moved into NAS because it didn’t have enough 10-year-old, 12-year-old, or 15-year-old whisky to supply those sorts of brands. The move wasn’t quality driven or specifically on purpose; it was need-driven and time would sort matters out.

But change has been afoot in the past six to 12 months. A plethora of aged whiskies – starting from the high teens and climbing up to 50-plus years – have joined portfolios, not just as limited releases, but as permanent additions. First, Speyside distiller Longmorn committed to only bottling whiskies aged for 18 years or more as it introduced two new single malts: Longmorn 18 Years Old, and Longmorn 22 Years Old. Then, Islay’s Bruichladdich launched its first high-age-statement whiskies as the first bottlings in its Luxury Redefined range: an 18-year-old Bruichladdich and a 30-year-old, the latter priced at £1,500 (US$1,935), along with the fully sustainable recycled paper outer wrap-can Bruichladdich Twenty One. In April, William Grant & Sons debuted blended Scotch brand Wildmoor, a seven-strong set of whiskies aged between 21 and 40 years, before The Glen Grant unveiled The Glasshouse Collection in June, comprising 21-, 25-, and 30-year-old whiskies. 2024 has welcomed age statements galore.

This recent development is an indication that stock management has improved across the board. There is a reservoir of aged stock now so The Glenlivets of this world can move back to the 12, Glenmorangie can move from 10 to 12 years, indeed move back to a little older stock. Pernod Ricard’s release of an 18- and a 22-year-old Longmorn was quite unusual when they didn’t even have a 10 or 12 on the shelves already.

Longmorn’s higher-aged releases appeal to the collector. The collectors are experts and epicureans, established professionals who are interested in learning more about rare spirits and love to be seen as ‘in the know’. They have high standards and expectations, and want to keep exploring their passions – arguably cementing that this is a new era of whisky appreciation where age statements are more understood and appreciated than ever, while reinforcing the fact that age is not the only marker of quality.

While older Scotch whiskies do spell good news for consumers, they present their own challenges, too. Stock inventories have, perhaps, tipped too far into a surplus, which could present problems for producers. Owners have full warehouses and are not able to sell. As the stock gets older, there’s always the drive or potential to increase the price. But if there is excess stock, some 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds may have to be used in 10-year-old or 12-year-old releases, and that’s not realising the full value of that stock. It’s a balancing act in how far one can go to realise the potential of one’s stock.

There is also the risk that the category’s work to democratise Scotch – by dispelling past narratives about who a Scotch whisky drinker is, and rules about how it should be enjoyed – could come undone. It is widely agreed that age is no indication of quality. However, age does, understandably, command a higher price tag. With a strong focus on older, aged whiskies, Scotch brands must be careful not to confuse consumers away from their core message that Scotch is a spirit for everyone. 

The Glen Grant camp is a great example that there is a whisky for everyone. They offer a permanent collection of six exceptional age-statement whiskies that range from a 10-year-old to a 30-year-old. They are committed to maintaining a strong core range, and, at the same time, expanding their luxury offerings, which helps to ensure that they have an offering for the collector’s and luxury market, while also providing high-quality options that are accessible to a wider range of whisky enthusiasts. Their Gift Packs with the Glen Grant 18 are excellent, with either a crystal decanter or two whisky glasses added.

With the rising interest and growth coming from newer whisky-producing regions, age is currently Scotch whisky’s ace card. Distillers want to introduce products with higher age statements because it’s their current advantage in Scotch. This has forced new products to be introduced at greater age statements. That also hopefully has a halo effect down to younger expressions too, but it does differentiate them from all the upstarts in America, Australia, or [the rest of] the UK.

That is one heck of a racist statement. India is the largest producer and consumer of whisky, importing the largest quantity of Scotch whisky. Taiwan and Japan are major players, with better products, albeit at higher prices. The Scotch industry is trying to stay ahead of the rest of the world. Quality products are coming out of other countries. Scotch whisky cannot live off history and tradition, which they’re great at; they need to have a premium product that is quality, and, to do so, they have to manage their stocks well. But if you look at the world today, you don’t know what’s going to happen. Another Covid? Another Ukraine war? Can anyone predict two days ahead, let alone plan for 10 or 12 years?

The years will tell whether producers can, and will, produce age-statement whiskies at pace. I carry an age statement and would like my whiskies to carry their too. But, answering the original question: are we in a new era of age-statement Scotch whisky? Yes, we are.