TAKE A BOW if you were part of the “popular demand” that’s prompted Johnnie Walker to reintroduce its Green Label blended malt Scotch whisky to Thailand.
First available here in 2005, Green Label is crafted in venerable distilleries across Scotland. It’s malt whisky that’s matured for at least 15 years.
Johnnie Walker revised its range in 2012 with the launch of Gold Label Reserve and Platinum Label, and Green Label vanished from the market everywhere except in Taiwan, where the fans must be particularly tenacious.
Now the Green is back, though, rejoining the global line. To celebrate, Attico at the Radisson Blu Plaza hosted a launch party last week at which Green Label was paired with a multiple-course feast.
The place was decked out in green for the occasion, suave jazz music played and the Italian cuisine was impeccable.
Green Label blends only malt whiskies – there’s no grain whisky in it. Speyside, highland, lowland and island malts from the distilleries Talisker, Linkwood, Cragganmore and Caol Ila share their virtues in a tipple of greater depth and broader flavour.
Talisker malt whisky from the Isle of Skye has a woody, smoky tang and tastes of pepper, oak and rich fruit, giving the blend power and character. Linkwood from Speyside adds finesse with its flavours of light garden fruit, flowers and cedar.
Cragganmore, a sweet and fragrant Speyside malt, gives the blend its heart along with sweet wood smoke and sandalwood. And Caol Ila from the Isle of Islay offers an element of maritime mystery with notes of rich fruit, drying sea salt and peat smoke.
“Johnnie Walker Green Label is an exceptional whisky that’s a tribute to the craftsmanship of our blenders and their great skill in selecting and blending malt whiskies to deliver a rich, multi-dimensional and balanced flavour profile,” says global brand director Guy Escolme.
“We’ve listened to our consumers and we are responding to popular demand and reintroducing it. Green Label has always had a following, and releasing limited volumes in the US and Australia this year to mark its 10th anniversary revealed how much consumers missed it and wanted to see it back.”
Master blender Jim Beveridge says the challenge in making Green Label is capturing the broad flavour spectrum from malts matured for at least 15 years in American and European oak.
“You have to ensure that those flavours really complement each other and work in harmony to create a blend of great complexity, which, at its heart, is true to the Johnnie Walker style of big and bold flavours with a signature smokiness.
“Crafting this blend is all about making the aromas more pronounced and vibrant,” Beveridge says, “allowing us to shape a blend that has the depth of character which just isn’t possible from one malt whisky alone.”
Green Label has won several international awards, including Double Gold and Best Blended Scotch at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, both in 2006 and 2007.
Johnnie Walker Green Label will be available again in Thailand any day now.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.