Johnnie Walker


Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's largest bottling plant, until its closure in 2012, a decision announced by Diageo in 2009 which would bring the 190-year association between the brand and Kilmarnock to an end.
The brand was first established by grocer John Walker, a native of Kilmarnock, who originally established the business as a grocery shop in 1820, with his son Alexander "Alec" Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II, being largely responsible for establishing the whisky as a favoured brand. It is the world's highest selling Scotch whisky, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of the equivalent of over 223.7 million bottles in 2016 or.

History

John Walker, founder

John Walker was born on 25 July 1805. His farmer father died in 1819, and the family sold the farm. Their trustees invested the proceeds, £417, in an Italian warehouse, grocery, and wine and spirits shop on the High Street in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. Walker managed the grocery, wine, and spirits segment as a teenager in 1820. The Excise Act 1823 relaxed strict laws on distillation of whisky and reduced, by a considerable amount, the extremely heavy taxes on the distillation and sale of whisky. By 1825, Walker, a teetotaller, was selling spirits, including rum, brandy, gin, and whisky.
In short order, he switched to dealing mainly in whisky. Since blending of grain whiskies with malt whiskies was still banned, he sold both blended malt whiskies and grain whiskies. They were sold as made-to-order whiskies, blended to meet specific customer requirements, because he did not have any brand of his own. He began using his name on labels years later, selling a blended malt as Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky. John Walker died in 1857.

Death of Walker and takeover by son

The brand became popular, but after Walker's death it was his son Alexander 'Alec' Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing the whisky as a favoured brand. The Spirits Act 1860 legalised the blending of grain whiskies with malt whiskies and ushered in the modern era of blended Scotch whisky. Blended Scotch whisky, lighter and sweeter in character, was more accessible, and much more marketable to a wider audience. Andrew Usher of Edinburgh, was the first to produce a blended whisky, but the Walkers followed in due course.
Alexander Walker had introduced the brand's signature square bottle in 1860. This meant more bottles fitting the same space and fewer broken bottles. The other identifying characteristic of the Johnnie Walker bottle was – and still is – the label, which, since that year, is applied at an angle of 24 degrees upwards left to right and allows text to be made larger and more visible. This also allowed consumers to identify it at a distance. One major factor in his favour was the arrival of a railway in Kilmarnock, carrying goods to merchant ships travelling the world. Thanks to Alec's business acumen, sales of Walker's Kilmarnock reached 100,000 gallons per year by 1862.
In 1865, Alec created Johnnie Walker's first commercial blend and called it Old Highland Whisky, before registering it as such in 1867.
Under John Walker, whisky sales represented eight percent of the firm's income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent.

Expansion and growth

In 1893, Cardhu distillery was purchased by the Walkers to reinforce the stocks of one of the Johnnie Walker blends' key malt whiskies. This move took the Cardhu single malt out of the market and made it the exclusive preserve of the Walkers. Cardhu's output became the heart of the Old Highland Whisky and after the rebranding of 1909, the prime single malt in Johnnie Walker Red and Black Labels.
From 1906 to 1909, John's grandsons George and Alexander II expanded the line and had three blended whiskies in the market, Old Highland at 5 years old, Special Old Highland at 9 years old, and Extra Special Old Highland at 12 years old. These three brands had the standard Johnnie Walker labels, the only difference being their colours: white, red, and black, respectively. They were commonly referred to in public by the colours of their labels. In 1909, as part of a rebranding that saw the introduction of the Striding Man, a mascot used to the present day that was created by cartoonist Tom Browne, the company re-branded their blends to match the common colour names. The Old Highland was renamed Johnnie Walker White Label and made at 6 years old, the Special Old Highland became Johnnie Walker Red Label at 10 years old, and Extra Special Old Highland was renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label, remaining 12 years old.
Sensing an opportunity to expand the scale and variety of their brands, Walker acquired interests in Coleburn distillery in 1915, quickly followed by Clynelish Distillery Co. and Dailuaine-Talisker Co. in 1916. This ensured a steady supply of single-malt whisky from the Cardhu, Coleburn, Clynelish, Talisker, and Dailuaine distilleries. In 1923, Walker bought Mortlach distillery, in furtherance of their strategy. Most of their output was used in Johnnie Walker blends, whose burgeoning popularity required increasingly vast volumes of single malts.
Johnnie Walker White was dropped during World War I. In 1932, Alexander II added Johnnie Walker Swing to the line, the name originating from the unusual shape of the bottle, which allowed it to rock back and forth.
The company joined Distillers Company in 1925. Distillers Company was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997. That year saw the introduction of the blended malt, Johnnie Walker Pure Malt, renamed Johnnie Walker Green Label in 2004.

Closure of Kilmarnock plant

In July 2009, the brand's current owners, Diageo, decided to close all operations in Kilmarnock by 2012. This met with backlash from local people, politicians, and then-First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. Despite petitions, public campaigns, and a large-scale march around Kilmarnock, Diageo proceeded with the closure. The Johnnie Walker plant in Kilmarnock closed its doors in March 2012 and the buildings were subsequently demolished a year later. The site is now occupied by the Kilmarnock campus of Ayrshire College and HALO Urban Regeneration.

Post–Kilmarnock

In 2018, Diageo announced plans to create a flagship whisky visitor experience on Princes Street in Edinburgh, transforming the former House of Fraser building. After extensive renovations costing around £35 million, Johnnie Walker Princes Street opened in September 2021. The venue offers an interactive journey through the heritage and craftsmanship of Johnnie Walker whisky across several floors, featuring tasting rooms and a rooftop bar with views of the city. Since opening, it has welcomed over one million visitors.
In July 2020, Johnnie Walker announced plans to release a new environmentally-friendly paper bottle set to debut in early 2021. By September 2024, the brand had developed a 700ml bottle made from 90% paper, with a thin plastic liner, for its Black Label whisky. This bottle is approximately 60% lighter than traditional glass bottles. It began trialling in the on-trade sector, including bars and restaurants, to assess its viability in real-world settings.
In October 2021, Johnnie Walker announced a new label, Jane Walker, created by the distillery's first female master blender, Dr. Emma Walker.

Blends

For most of its history Johnnie Walker only offered a few blends. Since the turn of the century, there has been a spate of special and limited bottlings.
  • Red Label: A non-age-stated blend. It has been the best selling Scotch whisky in the world since 1945. It is primarily used for making mixed drinks.
  • Black Label: Aged 12 years, it is one of the world's best-selling Scotch whiskies.
  • Double Black: Made available for general release in 2011 after a successful launch in travel retail. The whisky was created taking Black Label as a blueprint, adding more peaty malt whiskies to it, and maturing it in heavily charred old oak casks.
  • Johnnie Walker Swing: Supplied in a distinctive bottle whose irregular bottom allows it to rock back and forth. This type of bottle design was originally used aboard sailing ships. It was Alexander Walker II's last blend: it features a high proportion of Speyside malts, complemented by malts from the northern Highlands and Islay.
  • Green Label: First introduced in 1997 as Johnnie Walker Pure Malt 15 Year Old, it was renamed Johnnie Walker Green Label in 2004. Green Label is a blended malt whisky, meaning it is made by mixing single malts with no grain whisky added. All whiskies used are a minimum of 15 years old. Diageo discontinued Green Label globally in 2012 as part of a reconstruction of the range that saw the introduction of Gold Label Reserve and Platinum Label. The brand was reintroduced in 2016 and is again globally available.
  • Gold Label Reserve: Johnnie Walker Gold Label was introduced in 1995 as a premium blended Scotch whisky. It was inspired by Alexander Walker's Centenary Blend, created in 1920 to commemorate the company's 100th anniversary. This original blend was discontinued during World War II due to depleted whisky stocks. The 1995 Gold Label was crafted using Alexander's original blending notes and was initially bottled as an 18-year-old blend. In 2013, Diageo restructured the Johnnie Walker range, leading to the discontinuation of the 18-year-old Gold Label. It was replaced by Gold Label Reserve, a no-age-statement blend positioned between Black Label and the newly introduced Platinum Label.
  • Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years: Originally launched as Johnnie Walker Platinum Label in 2011 as a travel retail exclusive. It became part of the Johnnie Walker core range in 2012. In 2017, Platinum Label was rebranded as Johnnie Walker 18 Year Old, with a packaging change to a golden-brown color scheme.
  • Blue Label: Johnnie Walker Blue Label first appeared in 1992 under the name Johnnie Walker Oldest. In 1994, it was rebranded as Blue Label to align with the brand’s colour-coded hierarchy and to emphasise its elevated status. Johnnie Walker Blue Label is blended to re-create the character and taste of some of the earliest whisky blends created in the 19th century. It bears no age statement. Bottles are numbered serially and sold in a silk-lined box accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. It is one of the most expensive blended Scotch whiskies on the market, with prices in the range of US$174–450. Over 300 Blue Label–based Limited Editions have been released to date.