Contrary to some belief the Diageo owned Johnnie Walker is not a distiller but a blender, who blends whiskies purchased from 27 different distilleries located in Scotland, thus giving the blenders the resources to create Johnnie Walker Green Label Blended Malt, which consists of single malts from these distilleries, the key components being a minimum of 15 year old single malts from Talisker, Linkwood, Cragganmore and Caol Ila which all bring their own unique characteristics to Johnnie Walker Green Label.
Blended malt or vatted malt or pure malt, how Green Label was previously known, means that the blend contains no grain whisky and it consists of single malt whiskies only. In 2004 the latter two descriptors were reclassified as "blended malt" by the Scotch Whisky Association to standardise Scotch whisky descriptors and to avoid confusion.
Tasting Notes johnnie walker is one of the most recognized and most widely distributed scotch whisky brands in the world. originally sold by john walker in 1820 at his grocery store under the name walker's kilmarnock whisky, it was not until his death in 1857 when his son alexander walker and grandson alexander walker ii made the brand popular.
in 1906-1909 under the control of john's grandson alexander ii and his other grandson george paterson walker the brand expanded and obtained its current name and look.
alexander walker had previously introduced the signature square bottle and the angled label in 1870 but it was alexander ii and george who introduced the colored labels and in 1908 the managing director james stevenson suggested renaming the brand from walker's kilmarnock to johnnie walker.
this was also the time when the iconic striding man figure, designed by tom browne and modelled after the founder john walker, was introduced as the johnnie walker logo.
Technical Notes 40% alcohol