How do you celebrate a 200th anniversary?
If you’ve made it that long, you do it with Scotch. Really, really expensive Scotch.
Leading whisky maker Johnnie Walker is celebrating its bicentennial with four new limited-edition releases.
The whiskies, arriving in limited numbers starting in October, include:
- The Blue Label gets a redesign featuring illustrations that “bring to life the 200-year journey of John Walker & Sons and Johnnie Walker, paying homage to some of the great cities and countries that have been part of this inspiring story since 1820.”
- Blue Label Legendary Eight is new and crafted using whisky hand selected from eight distilleries that all existed in 1820, including long-closed “ghost” distilleries. This bottle will retail for $350.
- John Walker & Sons Celebratory Brand is a Scotch inspired by the flavors found in the Walker family’s grocery store during the mid-19th century and crafted with whiskies from distilleries operating at the time.
- John Walker & Sons Bicentenary Blend is made with rare whiskies aged for at least 28 years, including whiskies from long-closed distilleries such as Pittyvaich, Cambus and (soon to be re-opened) Port Ellen.
The 200-year celebration marks the time since Johnnie Walker founder John Walker opened a grocer’s shop in Scotland and began to sell a smooth whisky blend of single malts, which became the most popular form of Scotch. The name of the brand, now owned by drinks giant Diageo, was formally changed to its current moniker in 1908.
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