Greater than 1,000,000 individuals have visited Johnnie Walker Princes Avenue, Edinburgh because it opened in 2021, however most guests are most likely unaware of a secret vault hidden beneath the constructing, lined with 500 cask samples of a few of Diageo’s most valuable single malt and grain whiskies. Entrance to this atelier is by invitation solely.
That is the Johnnie Walker Vault, a part of a brand new international platform for bespoke blends and luxurious experiences tailor-made to the consumer’s wishes and pursuits, in addition to a brand new line of ultra-luxury whiskies created by collaborations with numerous cultural figures. Packages begin at £50,000 (round $66,500), and solely about 10 invites can be found every year.
On the finish of all of it, your bespoke mix is introduced in a Baccarat crystal decanter, and the recipe is chronicled within the Johnnie Walker Vault archive.
Most of us gained’t be capable of partake, however a current go to to the vault confirmed the way it all works. Forward of arriving at Johnnie Walker Princes Avenue, you might be requested to fill out a questionnaire inquiring about your whisky preferences and favourite season, journey vacation spot, music, and most popular culinary flavors. Grasp blender Dr. Emma Walker then interprets these solutions right into a taste transient, extrapolating how she is going to replicate these taste and texture preferences within the bespoke mix. The entire expertise would possibly embrace an in a single day keep on the world-famous Gleneagles Resort in Scotland, a non-public tour of a distillery or the Diageo archive at Menstrie, or a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant; this can be a bespoke expertise, it will likely be tailor-made to the wishes and pursuits of every visitor. Then it’s on to the vault.
This house, a former financial institution vault, is lined with 4 ranges of shelving wrapped across the partitions of its lengthy, slender dimensions, displaying 500 glass-stoppered sq. bottles with handwritten labels. Every bottle comprises 250 ml of whisky and collectively, they cowl each hue from the palest primrose to the darkest mahogany. Dr. Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker’s grasp distiller, explains that these whiskies are curated from 37 distilleries, together with ghost distilleries, although oddly, a number of the rarest examples are the youngest. The oldest is a Cameronbridge 56 12 months previous single grain, whereas the youngest is a whisky from the experimental Leven pilot distillery in Fife. (Walker is already anticipating the day when she will be able to add younger whiskies from the reopened Brora Distillery.) All these samples are drawn from casks which can be nonetheless maturing, so after they’re replenished from the identical barrel, the profile could properly have modified over time.
Walker likes to share what she does. She describes how this place informs not solely her mixing for Johnnie Walker but in addition her method to creating single malts. It’s a strategy to discover distillery character, completely different wooden influences, and the affect of various ages on whisky. The method is invaluable to constructing the neural pathways important for making nice blends, she says.
Walker explains how she approaches a bespoke mix from a parcel of whisky referred to as the “coronary heart of the mix.” It was created with Johnnie Walker grasp blender emeritus Jim Beveridge, and its recipe is secret. “It’s obtained a stunning steadiness,” she notes. “It’s fairly mild and delicate, but it surely provides us an important base and has a stunning creaminess. There’s some Port Dundas in there and many different issues.”
From this cornerstone, Walker could make very completely different whiskies, her creativity invigorated by drawing on a small set of the five hundred samples on provide. After her selections are made, it’s all about ratios, steadiness, and assessing the affect of various selections on the mix by contemplating how completely different congeners, acids, and esters play out among the many different elements. Usually, Walker works at a scale of 100 ml for a bench pattern, which retains the calculations simple, although when she is making remaining changes, she typically creates a number of variants in 10 ml samples utilizing a pipette. There’s a yin and yang between the blender’s inventive and scientific sides as she builds every prototype whisky. Walker additionally finds the vault liberating, as she will be able to consider making a bespoke one-off mix, and never fear about the right way to make 10,000 circumstances with the identical recipe. For the bespoke blends, Walker works from a handwritten taste transient in her pocket book, with the consumer’s solutions to their questionnaire written in black ink amid shiny splashes of purple exhibiting the place she has discovered inspiration to steer the flavour in several instructions. Every observe culminates in a diagram of the mix’s character, indicating the depth of taste in six completely different domains which can be acquainted to the Johnnie Walker mixing staff: creamy vanilla, recent fruit, malty/tropical, smoke, wealthy fruit, and spicy.
Johnnie Walker Couture: A Associated Luxurious Whisky Line
Shortly after unveiling the Johnnie Walker Vault, the model introduced French designer Olivier Rousteing, the Balmain inventive director, as their first cultural collaborator. The inaugural launch is the Johnnie Walker Couture Expression, a sequence of 4 distinct blends co-created by Walker and Rousteing to evoke the heightened sensory experiences of various instances of the 12 months, themed across the seasons like a trend assortment. “We selected to make use of the identical whiskies throughout a number of of the seasons, taking part in with proportions, textures, and seasonal notes to create 4 distinct expressions,” says Walker, beginning with the guts of the mix for each. All are housed in a sq. Baccarat decanter cradled in gold, silver, rose gold, and metallic black, designed as a visible expression of cloth draped over the contents. Every bottle is topped with a winged stopper, representing the Johnnie Walker striding man brand in flight, and considerably harking back to the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot on the hood of a Rolls-Royce. Solely 25 decanters of every expression have been produced for this primary international launch, with every bottle priced at $20,000. The total set of all 4 decanters labelled No.1 is on sale at Harrods, London.
Johnnie Walker Couture Expressions:
- Spring is refreshing and floral, drawn from a choice of uncommon whiskies together with a Cragganmore 1985, Caledonian 1977, and Port Ellen 1978.
- Summer time affords tropical fruit notes and contains an experimental Cardhu wine cask end, Clynelish 1990, and Benrinnes 1988.
- Fall is textured and daring, and the mix consists round an experimental Teaninich chocolate malt layered with smoke from a Port Ellen 1978.
- Winter is deep, wealthy, and contemplative, and dials up the Port Ellen, Brora, and Benrinnes 1988.
