HOW MANY KINDS OF JOHNNIE WALKER WHISKIES ARE THERE?

    From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

   DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14         4142     15512       1151        189      712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194

April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786     59 

June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411

Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 

Sept  22       2228     9326          839        279      124

        29         2190      8859         643        309      108

Oct    6         2102       8255         543        315       59

        19          2005      7528         401       160        80 

        27          1594      8671         433        734        62 

Nov   3          1436      7830         186        458        23

        24          1594      8270         176        396        22 

Dec    1          1633      8475         266        477        28

          8          1324      7894         231        159         36

        17          1653      7359         126        289         35 

        22          1634      7686         137        434         99

        23          1149       6942        100        374         75

        29          1777       7393         147        268         81

        30         1354       6758          154        220       126 

Jan    7          2025       6729          148        285       140

        12          2283       8425          138        380       181        

        13          1969       7704          190        315        159

        14          2303       7872          238        430       128

Summary:

• Increase in new deaths for all the above, except for South Africa.
• The U.S. had 827,132 new cases yesterday.  #2 with 329,371 was France, while #3 was India with 268,833.

In a way, I grew up with Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky.  It was the bottle served at all Chinese banquets in Hawaii.  No more because of drinking laws.

It was my first regular scotch.  

• I remember joining the Hawaiian sugar industry 60 years ago and being asked at my first dinner for a bunch of people at the Hawaiian Agriculture Sugar Company in Pahala on the Big Island, what do you want to drink?  

• 
  I was a recent hire at the next door Hutchinson Sugar Company, also owned by C. Brewer, in Naalehu.  I could feel people around me curious as to what this newcomer from Stanford would be having.  So I thought I had to make a solid first impression.  
• I really never before, even in college, had scotch, which I deemed was the most distinguished of all alcoholic drinks.  But I remembered those Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles from my youth.  
• So I responded, Johnnie Walker Black over rocks.  Everyone was impressed.

• 
  Took my first sip and almost choked.
• After that, this became my drink.  Until Lagavulin became my favorite.

Here are a few interesting facts about this company:

• John Walker was born in 1805 near Kilmarnock and was a teetotaller, but began to sell spirits in 1825.  Thus, the official 200th anniversary is yet to come.
• His son, Alexander, took over, and invented the square bottle still used. 
• Purchased Cardhu distillery in 1893, which went into their Red and Black.

• 
  In 1908 Tom Browne came up with the Striding Man logo in honor of the founder.  The only three colors used became white, red and black.
• The White was dropped during World War 1.
• Note that Bacardi sells Dewar's White Label, lauded as America's favorite bottle of scotch.

• 
  Swing, the bottle that rocks back and forth, was added in 1932.  This is the only name not a color.
• The company never used the term scotch until 1939.
• After World War II, Johnnie Walker invaded the United States, sparking their international reputation.

• 
  Guinness bought the company in 1986, and merged it with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in
  1997.  Yes, the company owns all of them to the right, including Crown Royal, Smirnoff, Ciroc, Ketel, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.
• That year, they introduced Johnnie Walker Pure Malt 15-year old, a blend of single malts, which was renamed Green Label, but it was discontinued in 2012, except for limited sales to Taiwan.  Then reappeared in 2016.

• 

  A lot of controversy, but Diageo in 2012 closed the original facility in Kilmarnock.
• Johnnie Walker only makes whisky blends, and they are (prices are approximate to show relativity):
• Red Label, 40%, $23, which includes Cardhu and a few others, and has been the largest selling scotch whiskey in the world since 1945.  Why?  Possible because it is the cheapest.  Today, Cardhu has been replaced by Roseisle.  Said to be mostly used for making mixed drinks, like a Rusty nail, with Drambuie.  Apparantly, Ballantine's and Grant's is closely challenging Red Label.
• 
  Black Label, 40%, $31, is a blend of 35 whiskies, dominated by Cardhu, but also including Lagavulin (now my favorite scotch), with each at least 12 years old.
• Double Black Label, 40%,  $43, came in 2011 and is peaty.
• Green Label, 43%, $64, with all malt whiskies at least 15 years old.  Discontinued, then reintroduced in 2016.
• Island Green Label, 43%, originally only for Southeast Asia, but now available globally.
• Gold Label, 40%, $85, 15 single malts, at one time all 15 years old, but no longer, so now there is no age statement and called Gold Label Reserve.

• 
  Platinum Label ($200), 40%, 18 year blend, but discontinued in 2017, now called Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years blended Scotch whisky. ($200).  I now have only a little bit left, so kept the bottle.  I must have thrown away at least half a dozen other JW names not mentioned above.
• Blue Label, 40%, $165, no age statement, and sells from $175-$450 per 700 ml bottle.  Each has a serial number with a certificate of authenticity.
• Johnny Walker Swing, 80%, $60, featuring a high proportion of Speyside malts.

Here are the Johnnie Walkers currently in my apartment collection:

Unfortunately, during the past month I finished off a Green Label and Double Black, and threw those bottles away.  Looks modest, but that Quest between the Swing box and Blue Label, costs more than $500/bottle:

• Also:
• Red & Cola:  Red Label and cola in cans and bottles.
• Celebrity, with a Swing bottle and around $1000.
• Rare Mortlach Black Jug for $4950.  Mostly in Japan with only 2000 bottled.
• There is a whole host of these special bottlings.  Click here for full list.
• 
  There is now Jane Walker, a U.S. woman, making an initial appearance in 2018 on the Black Label bottle, coinciding with Women's History Month and International Women's Day.  Diageo will donate up to $150,000 for She Should Run, an organization registering females to run for elected office.
• Johnnie Walker's Sweet Peat, 40.8, $40, launched in 2019, is caramel sweet.

• 
  The White Walker is a 2018 Limited Edition featuring the Game of Thrones.  You are supposed to freeze the bottle.
• Blue Label Guam Special Edition, $250.
• Jude Law has become a kind of ambassador.  Watch The Gentleman's Wager.

Where best to get the Johnny Walker experience?  I've been to Edinburgh more than half a dozen times.  Usually in August for the Festival Fringe, where over 25 days there are 55,000 performances of 3,548 shows in 317 venues...or so.  Only the Summer/Winter Olympics and World Cup surpasses the FF as a global ticket event.  Much more than theatric shows, there is an enormous book fair, film festival and a full assortment of free outdoor activities.  Linked is the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and this is not what you think.  Tattoo means a kind of Scottish band festival held within Edinburgh Castle grounds.  Rain or shine it goes on and on, with fireworks each time.  The St. Andrews golf courses are 50 miles away and I also get to golf.

That was a lengthy introduction to the recently opened Johnnie Walker Princes Street 1820 Rooftop Bar in Edinburgh.  I have yet to join this experience.

More traditionally, their Kilmarnock facility, where this all started, was abandoned.  Among the sites to visit include: 

• 
  Four Corners of Scotland Distilleries
• Cardhu distillery, the Speyside home of Johnnie Walker.
• Glenkinchie, Edinburgh:  visited the site.  Nice.
• Caol Ila, Islay.
• Clynelish, Highland.

• 
  There are 8 Johnnie Walker House locations outside of Scotland:  Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Seoul Taiwan and Mumbai, (this is the one at the Mumbai Airport) with retail boutiques at Changi Airport in Singapore and Schiphol Netherlands Airport.

Finally, what to look for in the future.  In view of the environment, last year there was supposed to be a Johnnie Black Label in a paper-based bottle.  I have not yet seen it:

Last night I enjoyed a takeout from Assaggio of Osso Buco, with a spot of Johnnie Walker Black.  Their loaf of bread is fabulous:

Monday is a Federal holiday.  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day began in 2000 as the third Monday in January, close to his birth date of January 15.  MLK, a Baptist minister, gave his I Have a Dream speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, addressing a crowd of 250,000.  He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and was assassinated in 1968.  Alas, voting rights legislation will not be passed this year.

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