Diwali has barely cooled and Christmas is already shouting from every shop window. Johnnie Walker, ever the opportunist, has slipped a Blue Label between the two…
Diwali was last week, which means the lamps are back in the drawer, the mithai has been dispatched with only mild regret, and Britain has done what it always does: leapt, without so much as a backward glance, into the other festive season. The Christmas adverts have been running since roughly the autumn equinox. The mince pies predate the clocks going back. We are, as of this writing, forty-odd days from the big day and already weary of it.
Which makes this a canny moment for Johnnie Walker to arrive with the Blue Label Indian Festive Blend, a bottle conceived for one festive season and landing, just in time for gifting, in another. Master Blender Dr Emma Walker has drawn on the brand’s reserves of more than ten million ageing whiskies, from which, we’re told, only one cask in every 10,000 is deemed good enough for Blue Label. That makes getting a Glastonbury ticket look like a doddle.
The brief was to complement the richness of Indian cuisine, a task Walker says left her ‘captivated by the artistry’ of the chefs and their balancing of bold spice with elegance. On paper, that translates to cardamom, clove and cinnamon, plus saffron, rosewater and bright citrus, then honeyed richness and chocolate-dipped fruit, with a gentle wisp of smoke at the end. Whether Scotch and a proper curry make happy dining companions is a debate best conducted at the next office takeaway, but we admire the ambition. It reads rather like a dessert trolley that’s been to finishing school.
Should you wish to dilute fine scotch with vermouth (we couldn’t possibly judge), the brand suggests a Festive Blue Manhattan: aged sweet vermouth, saffron-infused honey syrup and a pinch of saffron by way of garnish.
Then there’s the couture. Now in its second year, the collaboration with designer Rahul Mishra has changed tack: having dressed the bottle last time, he has stepped back from bottle design to co-create a gifting accessory, limited to just 100 units. That makes the whisky itself look positively mass-market. Mishra speaks of ‘mindful luxury’, and the box, a riot of florals and paisley in teal, blue and red, is certainly mindful of colour.
At £230, this is no impulse buy, but then neither is a sari or a Savile Row suit. A gift that works for Diwali, Christmas, or simply a Tuesday on which you’ve been unusually good: that’s value of a sort.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Indian Festive Blend, Limited Edition, RRP £230, is available from The Whisky Exchange, Master of Malt, Selfridges and Harrods. For more information, please visit www.johnniewalker.com.
