Johnnie Walker Ghost and Rare for the fifth time
In the fall of 2017, the owner of the Johnnie Walker brand announced the debut of a special edition super premium blended whisky, Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora. At the same time, it was the announcement of a whole series of blended whiskies, in which distillates from now-defunct distilleries will play first fiddle, accompanied by rare and unique whiskies from other distilleries owned by the corporation.
These days, the release of the fifth whisky in this unique series has been announced, namely Johnnie Walker BL Ghost and Rare Port Dundas. This time, it is the work of Johnnie Walker's new coupé champion, Dr. Amma Walker, who took over the mission of creating this most prestigious blend from Dr. Jim Beveridge OBE. This distinguished veteran of the brand said goodbye and retired at the end of 2021.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Dundas is a blend of only eight ingredients. In addition to the most important, a grain distillate from Port Dundas, the blend included grain whiskies from Cambus and Cameronbidge and single malts from Brora, Auchroisk, Clynelish, Dailuaine and Glenkinchie. So here we have, despite the small number of ingredients, a complete cross-section through all Scotch whisky producing regions, with the exception of Campbeltown, where Diageo does not have its facilities.
Bottled as a 43.8%vol beverage., this whisky in its aroma and flavor offers accents of oak, vanilla, gentle smoke, spiced apples, peaches and berries. Whisky will be available through top retailers in select markets from October 2022. So far, the planned retail price has not been made public.
So far, as part of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare series, blended whiskies have been released, with Brora (2017), Port Ellen (2018), Glenury Royal (2019) and Pittyvach (2021) providing the dominant note. It is worth mentioning that the first two distilleries, Brora and Port Ellen, were included in a project to bring these two legends back into production. Renovation work to meticulously restore the Brora distillery with all its equipment was completed more than a year ago, and the distillery reopened in May 2021. Construction work is currently still underway at Port Ellen on Islay.
Port Dundas is - or rather was - an extremely interesting distillery. Founded in Glasgow in 1811, for many years it was a malt whisky factory with standard copper alembics, and where whisky production was carried out in both double and triple distillation modes. Peatless whisky was produced here, as well as smoky whisky, based on kilned malt with a significant proportion of peat smoke. In the second half of the 19th century, Coffey rectification columns were installed here, and by the end of the century, alcohol production was also being experimented with here, based on corn and rye. At about the same time, Port Dundas merged with Cowlairs, which operated next door, and in the early 20th century absorbed another neighbor, Dundashill. The latter is known as Glasgow's first Scotch whisky distillery and was commemorated by the Glasgow Distillery, which has been in operation since 2015, in that the year of its founding, 1770, was used as the name of the whisky produced there today.
Port Dundas was at one time the largest distillery in Scotland, and its growth was aided by its location on the Forth & Clyde Canal, which gave easy access to the Port of Glasgow and allowed the whisky produced here to be shipped to receptive world markets, including, most notably, the US. Port Dundas was one of the founders of DCL (Distillers Company Limited), founded in 1877 and bringing together producers of grain whisky. Over time, malt whiskey producers also entered DCL's circle of interest, and eventually, as a result of a series of transformations, the company took hold as Diageo, the world's largest liquor tycoon.
Back in the early part of our century, driving through Glasgow on the M8 freeway towards Edinburgh, you could see an industrial complex on the left, with a huge chimney more than a hundred meters above it. Unfortunately, Port Dundas lost out to Diageo's other grain distillery, Cameronbridge, and closed in 2011. Soon its buildings were demolished and the distinctive chimney disappeared from the horizon above Glasgow. Today, the site is still used as a business and industrial center, but no longer has anything to do with the distilling industry.
The Johnnie Walker brand is definitely more than the most popular Red Label or Black Label editions on the market. As part of it, a whole series of editions of rare, interesting, often luxurious. We encourage you to read the entire johnnie Walker collection, featured in the offer of the House of Whisky Online.
[06.09.2022 / photo: Diageo]