We talk about what sets the Scotch whisky apart, its flavors, and how to enjoy it.

Most good things in life are a culmination of many other good things. Like a bag made only from the most supple leathers, welted together by the most experienced artisans. Like a sumptuous meal prepared by a kitchen of chefs, using ingredients gathered from only the freshest of markets. Or perhaps a fine glass of Scotch whisky, with a symphony of flavors fused together by master blenders and time, emerging only once every 10,000 casks.
That fine glass of Scotch whisky can be found in Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Within each bottle is a deeply layered blend of flavors and aromas, blossoming on your tongue with every sip. First is the smell: waves of spice give way to vanilla and honey. This is followed by its taste: notes of caramel and hazelnuts are underscored by dark chocolate. Finally, it caps off with a luxuriously long, warming, and smoky finish.

Created in 1992, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is meticulously made with a blend of whiskies all hailing from Scotland, even containing &ldquo;ghost whiskies,&rdquo; or whiskies that come from distilleries that no longer produce. This makes Johnnie Walker Blue even more rare, creating a flavor profile that&rsquo;s truly unique.&nbsp;
To further investigate what goes into the creation of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, we traveled to Scotland to see it for ourselves. There, we talked to Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s first woman master blender, and Julie Bramham, Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s Global Brand Director.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES: What makes Johnnie Walker Blue Label a cut above the rest? What about the whisky&rsquo;s flavors and nuances make it stand out?
EMMA WALKER: When Johnnie Walker Blue Label was created, it was the first luxury whisky that was centered on flavor alone. When we talk about Johnnie Walker Blue Label, we talk about depth of flavor, the character, these waves of flavor and aromas that come through from the whisky.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s a few different things that we do to make it so wonderful. We create this wonderful sherry style whisky that&rsquo;s got a lovely depth and texture; we use that, we create a batch of that, and that goes into multiple Johnnie Walker Blue Labels. Having that, and layering the different whiskies that we work with, each brings another vatting. We have rare, old, ghost whiskies like Port Ellen, Brora, Glenury Royal, Pittyvaich. Being able to use that in every batch of Johnnie Walker Blue Label just brings everything to life.
The flavors that we get in there &mdash; you&rsquo;ve got lovely fresh citrusy notes, also hints of apple. But they go more towards dried apricots, plums. There&rsquo;s lovely nutty, hazelnut flavors; might be a little hint of rose petal, almost Turkish delight flavors. They&rsquo;re all wrapped together in this traditional, sort of warm flavor and smoke, with a lovely creamy vanilla flavor with a luxurious finish that&rsquo;s smooth to the taste. Everything just combines and mixes well. It is one of my personal favorites.

As Johnnie Walker Blue Label celebrates its 31st year, what are some of its key milestones, and how do you keep it relevant?
JULIE BRAMHAM: When we launched Blue Label, it was the pinnacle of whisky. There were not really any brands with a whisky that was as premium as Blue Label, so it really led the market in terms of innovating for consumers.&nbsp;
What we&rsquo;ve done to keep Blue Label remain a special liquid is add to our Blue Label range. We&rsquo;ve started really playing and innovating [with a] culture-led lens. We said, &ldquo;How about we look at the lunar calendar, and [look at] what collaborations we could do to bring Blue Label to life in a different way?&rdquo; The latest one [of those] is from James Jean for the Year of the Dragon. What we&rsquo;ve done with Angel Chen last year too was beautiful.

Is there any particular person in your mind when you talk about the Blue Label man or woman, and the people you collaborate with?
JULIE: We have loads of great conversations about this &mdash; I wouldn&rsquo;t name [one particular] person. We look for people who share our values, to start with. We look for people who are pioneers, or boundary pushers. We look for creators, and people who can help us take the brand forward. We can do that ourselves, but it becomes more exciting and it brings different perspectives when we work with other creators.
Emma, as a Master Blender, you of course have your own take on creating what you think is a great whisky. How do you marry that with what you think other people would enjoy?
EMMA: When we&rsquo;re creating a new whisky, we are creating for someone. We&rsquo;re not creating for ourselves. I think if we were just making whiskies and we&rsquo;re left alone to ourselves, [the market] becomes narrower and narrower. It&rsquo;s also one of the reasons why we have 12 people in the team. Because even within the team, you want different viewpoints, different experiences, different memories of whiskies. [We] also try and reflect as much as we can in Scotland, with the different people who will be trying our whiskies.
As a final question, what&rsquo;s your ideal mood, event, or environment to enjoy Johnnie Walker Blue Label? Could you also tell us about Princes Street, and how it opens up the world of whiskey to non-whisky drinkers?
EMMA: Scotch whisky, especially Johnnie Walker, is so flexible. It&rsquo;s got so many great flavors and works for almost any occasion. One of my perfect times to enjoy Johnnie Walker would be at rugby, especially if Scotland&rsquo;s just won. [Laughs].
But if you drink it then, it can taste different too. If you&rsquo;re having a quieter evening, enjoying Johnnie Walker at home, you might have it in a longer serve, something just as luxurious and relaxed. You get different flavors, basically. I always find things in the whisky and the flavor. Each time you have a whisky with lovely people, you&rsquo;re creating a new memory and a new emotion; something that when you think about whisky and try it again later, a smell, a taste could take you back to that new moment.

JULIE: We opened Princes Street back in September 2021, but it was a project that we worked on for four years, actually. And this is all about a stage for Johnnie Walker in Scotland, and having an incredible experience that consumers can enjoy. Interestingly, we see Johnnie Walker experiences being as much a non-whisky drinker&rsquo;s as much as a whisky drinker&rsquo;s.
One of the things we talk about is [that] we also have a lot of consumers who enjoy drinking a long, mixed drink. And so one of the things you&rsquo;ll experience at Princes Street is some different ways on how versatile whisky can be, either as an ingredient in a cocktail, or to be drunk as a long drink.
We&rsquo;ve also got a beautiful bar at Princes Street. We&rsquo;ve invested about 185 million pounds in Princes Street and the distilleries to make them really visitor centers, that people from all over the world can come and enjoy. And now we&rsquo;re out of Covid, we&rsquo;re really seeing people from all around the world come and enjoy being in Scotland and enjoying our whisky.
* * *.&nbsp;
And just as they are doing in Scotland with Princes Street, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is also making waves here in the Philippines. Just last month, L&rsquo;Officiel Philippines and Johnnie Walker Blue Label hosted the second installment of <a href="https://www.lofficielph.com/culture/johnnie-walker-s-conversations-in-deep-blue-sees-what-innovation-means-to-entrepr">Conversations in Deep Blue</a>, where entrepreneurs shared their ideas over glasses of Blue Label. This second installment follows the one held <a href="https://www.lofficielph.com/culture/art-and-culture-trailblazers-come-together-in-johnnie-walker-s-conversations-in-d">last May</a>, which hosted purveyors of art and culture.
There are many more of these conversations to be had, and more experiences for Filipinos to enjoy this special whisky. And just as Johnnie Walker Blue Label&rsquo;s complex flavors unfold in your palette, so will the ideas. As Emma said, Johnnie Walker Blue Label fits just about any occasion &ndash; by yourself, with those closest to you, and even new friends. Because like many good things in life, good conversations are brought by good company and good whisky. Perhaps you&rsquo;ll even discover an idea that, just like Johnnie Walker Blue Label, is one in 10,000.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label is available online at Diageo&rsquo;s official <a href="https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/diageo/custom-1658213810368.htm?wh_weex=trueexlaz=d_2:mm_150100771_51251944_2010201983::20:ph2554253">Lazada store</a>, and in S&amp;R locations nationwide. For more information, visit Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-ph/">website</a>.
Drink responsibly. Visit the <a href="https://www.drinkiq.com/">DrinkIQ.com</a> site to learn more about alcohol facts.

Take a Deep Dive into Johnnie Walker Blue Label with Master Blender Emma Walker

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