PEAKLIFE

Johnnie Walker has announced the release Limited edition of the John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2017 Edition.

Johnnie Walker unveils a 2017 edition of its high-end John Walker & Sons Private Collection, which showcases the influence of oak casks on Scotch whisky.

The fourth edition in the range – called Mastery of Oak – has been created by Johnnie Walker master blender Jim Beveridge and blender Aimée Gibson.

As with the previous Private Collection releases since its launch on 2014, Mastery of Oak aims to showcase the Johnnie Walker “house style” through “one-off blends of rare and experimental whiskies”. The whisky is a combination of three unique blends, each selected for their ability to display different oak characteristics.

They began with active American oak, selecting fine examples of ex-bourbon casks that had contributed an abundance of rich, creamy, toffee and spice notes to Malt & Grain Scotch Whiskies as they matured, together with a handful of whiskies aged in rejuvenated casks for balance and clove spiciness. For the second vatting, they focused on finding the most well balanced refill casks in their reserves. The less active oak enables a long, gentle maturation that lets distillery character continue to shine – in this case Highland and Speyside rich fruit distillery character with a mellowness and smoothness brought about by the wood. Finally, they turned to special stocks from a study on the creation of flavour through different cask treatments. They chose solely American oak combinations from these experimental casks, particularly new oak that has created an intensity of vanilla sweetness over time and cured casks for the wealth of flavours from activating deeper layers of oak.

Jim Beveridge commented: “Every whisky starts out full of the promise of its distillery character. Oak casks offer us an astonishing number of ways to differentiate these styles further as they mature, broadening our palette of flavours for blending.”

The 2017 Edition (46.8% ABV) is best served neat, or with a few drops of ice water to accentuate the vibrant, fresh fruit notes of the original Speyside and Highland distillery characters.

The John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2017 Edition Mastery of Oak – bottled in a glass decanter illustrated with rings of oak and an angled cut to reflect the iconic Johnnie Walker slanted label – is presented with the story of the blend in a box decorated with a swirling oak pattern to represent the variety of cask styles and effects in the blend.