Since its founding in 1820, Johnnie Walker has found success by leaning toward innovation and refusing to follow the straight and narrow. The willingness to try something new was baked into the brand’s DNA by its founder, John Walker, who began blending scotch whiskies in his store to suit the tastes of customers. His unique blends quickly found fans, and today, the brand is the world’s best-selling scotch whisky, found in over 180 countries.
The brand’s backbone is its Red and Black label scotch whisky packaged in distinctive square bottles with off-kilter labels. Affordably priced and perfect straight up or blended into cocktails, they are a mainstay in back bars worldwide. However, it was the brand’s release of Blue Label in 1992 that genuinely separated Johnnie Walker from the rest of the pack.
As one of the first high-end luxury label whiskies, Blue Label’s release sent shock waves through the global whisky market. Drinkers went wild for it, and Blue Label helped usher in the luxury spirits market that is booming today. If you love searching out high-end tequila, bourbon, or other spirits, you owe a debt of gratitude to Johnnie Walker.
While the Diageo-owned brand has heavily leaned into limited editions and collaborations with artists for its Blue Label over the last few decades, it has rarely altered the liquid mix inside each bottle. Instead, it has kept the blend, culled and crafted from Diageo’s 11 million barrels of aging whiskey from over 30 distilleries, the same. While that pleased Blue Label aficionados, it seemed to go against the grain of a company that proudly states its goal is to Keep Walking.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami.
Johnnie Walker
So, the brand did what it does best: It pushed against its own boundaries and crafted something entirely different. In 2023, they paired up with Michelin-starred chef Kei Kobayashi to create Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami. Made from a new blend that highlights epicureanism, the limited edition bottle earned rave reviews and showed the brand that its fans were looking for something different. Plans were made to follow up the release with another new blend.
They decided to do something unexpected and unheard of with its latest limited release, which hit the market this October. Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet was created in collaboration with luxury skiwear and lifestyle brand Perfect Moment and Priyanka Chopra to be sipped apres-ski slopeside. Unlike any other high-end whisky, it is designed to be enjoyed ice-cold directly from the freezer or over a large ice cube. Made from whisky selected from approximately one in every 25,000 casks in the Diageo liquid library, it is a rarefied sip.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet.
Johnnie Walker
“To create a whisky for the Blue Hour and Après-Ski, Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet includes whiskies from several distilleries, including whiskies distilled during Scotland’s coldest months over the past 20 years, including whisky from Dalwhinnie – our highest altitude distillery. When the winter temperature is this cold, we distill and condense more complex, viscous new make spirit which when matured and blended works perfectly in the frozen and chilled serve,” says Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker’s Master Blender.
“Additionally, we use an incredible expression from Clynelish, our most Northerly Highland distillery. It is known for its light, fruity, and waxy character, retaining rich, fruity notes and textures even when chilled. Serving Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet cold emphasizes these fresher, floral, refined flavors while building hints of vanilla and spiced orchard fruits.”
If the idea that a scotch brand would recommend that you enjoy one of their most exclusive bottles ice cold seems unnatural, it is. However, that is part of the mindset that has helped Johnnie Walker thrive over the last several decades. Due to the brand being a blending house from day one, they have never been tied down to one place. Instead, it’s been able to shift when needed and follow the direction that it deems best. As one of the crown jewels in the Diageo empire, the brand is encouraged to bend its boundaries.
Blue Label Ice Chalet comes at an important time for the brand. Their Keep Walking marketing campaign, which has led to much success, has just reached its 25th year and has helped create an image of forward progress and positivity around the 205-year-old brand. The brand has announced plans to lean into its messaging moving forward, with a heavy emphasis on introducing its scotch to the Millennial and Gen Z populations.
They recently staged a live commercial during the 2024 Emmy Awards and announced a special release of bottles with Netflix to coincide with the upcoming release of Squid Games season 2. The series, released during the pandemic, was a breakout hit, and anticipation is high for the new season. They have also recently released several new products, including High Rye and Black Ruby, aimed at the global cocktail culture. Plus, they are leaning into sustainability with a lighter bottle design and one of the world’s first paper-based bottles.
Johnnie Walker Princes Street.
Johnnie Walker.
On top of that, the brand opened the Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. As the first “permanent” home for the brand, it offers fans of the whisky a physical location to visit to dive deeper into the story of the brand. Housed in the heart of Edinburgh, the eight-story location offers visitors several interactive tour experiences, retail, and two rooftop bars/restaurants. According to the brand, it has been an overwhelming success, welcoming over one million visitors from 141 countries in the three years since its opening.
They say that for a business to remain successful, or in Johnnie Walker’s case, on top, it can’t rest on its laurels. Well, it seems that they are certainly not doing that and instead aggressively leaning forward with innovations and creative new ways to introduce their centuries-old scotch to the world. As the brand likes to say, it’s always focused on making sure they Keep Walking, and it seems they are doing just that.
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