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The Whisky Exchange
Imagine you were asked to take one of the world’s most famous blended whiskies and create a limited edition that paid homage to one of the world’s most revered lost distilleries. Where would you start? How would you do it justice? And how many times would you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat?
It all sounds impossibly daunting, unless, in a masterpiece of nominative determinism, your name is Beveridge, Jim Beveridge, and you’ve spent almost 40 years immersed in the world of whisky making. Here, Johnnie Walker’s talented master blender tells us about how he crafted the latest in the Ghost & Rare series: the magnificent Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost & Rare Port Ellen
Did you have a clear idea of what the finished whisky would be when you started, or is it a more experimental process?
I think it is a bit of both. You’re dealing with rare whiskies – there’s not much of them, there’s not much choice. That’s the reality of it. But you take what you’ve got and say ‘how am I going to express those flavours?’ That’s very much around having a sense of what you want the blend to be like, and then using what you’ve got in a particular direction.
The preparation for that point is to understand the whiskies themselves, and then from that you begin to think, okay, how am I going to use them to create this flavour and style that I’m looking for?
The blend style for Johnnie Walker Ghost & Rare: Port Ellen is quite different to Blue Label, and that’s deliberate. The idea of the blend is to showcase the individual whiskies, which is not the purpose of Blue Label – Blue Label is more a complete picture, the profusion of flavour that comes from complexity.
Do you have access to all the remaining Port Ellen stock, or were you given specific casks?
For this blend I had freedom to choose. We obviously have a deep understanding of the stock available, and from that we knew which ones we wanted to use for the blend.
How do you approach creating a blend like this?
There are some basic rules. One is about the balance of flavours, so you assess the whiskies first – and I think it’s fair to say with Port Ellen that you know that its flavour is going to come in at the end. So in the thinking you know you’re creating something that will be complemented by the smokiness of Port Ellen, that’s really where it starts from.
So then you start thinking about the flavours of the malts; the sum of all those flavours and the best ways to express them individually. The big part of the puzzle is about the balance of these flavours, this idea of the light and accessible sweetness versus the more intense fruitiness that comes with the individual malts. So one of the big decisions is – how important is that balance?
Having worked out that balance is a bit of a watershed. Once that’s been solved you’ve essentially got the core essence of the blend and you’re then adding top notes to it, to bring in additional flavour without compromising the balance that was created.
How much Port Ellen went into the blend?
Anyone who knows and understands smokiness in blends knows that you don’t need a lot of smoke in there to have that overt smokiness, The amount of Port Ellen we added to this blend is in that place – the level you need to add to a blend to make it smoky.
How long did it take you to go from start to finish?
A project like this can take quite a long time, there are a lot of conversations that go around it. The first week’ll be spent just basically pulling things together and seeing what the options are, then after that – I’ll go back to this point around the watershed moment about the balance – there’s a lot of iterative work around getting to that watershed.
That can take days, it can take weeks, depends where you are with it – sometimes it means not being comfortable with what you’ve got and getting other expressions of those malts brought in. If you’ve got an idea set of malts, it can take a couple of weeks, if you’re needing to re-sample and reassess it can take much longer.
How did it compare to creating the Ghost & Rare: Brora edition?
In a way the challenge here was that because it was going to be called Port Ellen, the expectation was that it was going to be smoky – so it was then around how we make that smokiness work in a blend style that emulates that of the Brora. The styles are connected, it’s like a family: these are individual expressions trying to showcase the malts that you find in Blue Label, and to do that we take a lighter more accessible approach.
Ghost & Rare: Port Ellen is memorably light and fruity – is that something that will come as a surprise to fans of the range?
It was deliberate – we lead with sweetness and layer the fruit on top of that, using that sweetness to bring out the flavours of those individual malts. The lighter style helps to express that fruitiness – that estery tropical fruit aspect that comes through – and using the sweet vanilla flavours to bring that out is an important part of it.
Would you hope that Ghost & Rare: Port Ellen will be drunk by people who’ve never tried Port Ellen before? How would you like people to approach it for the first time?
I think at the end of the day my target is the blend, and in a way Port Ellen is part of the story of the blend, rather than this is the story of Port Ellen. Of course, as part of the story is that Port Ellen’s in there, clearly you need to reflect the flavour you’d expect from Port Ellen. If you turn that angle it on its head, then this is an expression of Port Ellen in a different way – you’ve never really experienced Port Ellen like this.
Still searching for the perfect gift? Left your shopping to the last minute?
Don’t worry, Wemyss Malts has you covered!
There are only a few days left to get your orders in for shipping in time for Christmas, order by the 12pm on the 20th December to ensure delivery!
Not only are we offering free shipping till the 20th December, but we have also discounted one of our ‘From the Wemyss Archive’ collections!
Head over to our web-store on the Kingsbarns Distillery Website to purchase now!
We have taken a huge £100 off our Single Cask Collection ‘Smokey Treats’!
Six smokey bottlings, five from Islay and one from the Highlands unveil the complexities and multiples styles of peated whisky. Containing; Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Croftengea and Bowmore this really is a special collection of treats!>
Personalise Your Bottle
Personalise a bottle of their favourite whisky with a thoughtful, heartfelt message, engraved by a member of our team to ensure the bottle lasts much longer than the whisky!
Next day UK delivery available
International shipping
Shackleton Engraved
with free Limited Edition Glass & Ice Mould
Inspired by the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and the whisky discovered under the ice of his Antarctic base camp, Richard Paterson has recreated this lost whisky in a personal and deeply felt project. Combining the best Highland malt whiskies and allowing them to marry over a long period, Paterson has created an enigmatic blended malt with a dash of body and a whisper of smoke. With complex notes of vanilla, honey and orchard fruits, the whisky has real warmth and depth, much like Shackleton himself.
Glenmorangie
18 Year Old Engraved with Free Glass
Glenmorangie 18 Years Old is a single malt Scotch whisky of serious distinction. Once it has spent fifteen years maturing in American white oak casks approximately 30% is transferred into Spanish Oloroso casks to spend a further three years maturing. Then, when both elements have reached 18 years, they are blended back together to create a whisky with a rich bouquet and full, rounded flavour. A living legacy, rare in its complexity, yet perfectly balanced.
An award winning 10 year old release from Benromach distillery, created from 80% bourbon barrels, 20% sherry hogsheads, with the final year spent in first fill Oloroso casks.
To guarantee your whiskies are delivered in time for the Holidays, order now!
Last Order Dates for Festive Whisky
Europe: Monday 17 December
Rest of World inc. USA: Wednesday 19 December
UK & Scotland: Thursday 20 December.
Here are a few of our favourite single malts this festive season…
Don’t miss these great single malts which are brimming with Christmas cheer! Flavours of chocolate raisins, nougat, sherry, gingerbread, candle wax and peat smoke.
Benromach 40 Year Old – 1978
A 1978 vintage Benromach, matured for over 40 years in a single refill sherry hogshead. Released as part of The Heritage Collection by Benromach – an exquisite bottling, one of only 184 bottles filled from cask #2608.
1996 Tobermory 22 Year Old “Old Malt Cask” K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) $89.99 View
Oban 18 Year Old “Limited Edition” West Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) $119.99 View
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
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Time is running out to avoid a cold, dark, Smokehead-less Christmas.
Nobody wants that. Get your finger out.
To get yours in time for Christmas…
International Smokeheads order by 17th December
Northern Ireland & remote UK Smokeheads order by 19th December
(Channel Islands, Scottish Highlands, Offshore Islands)
Mainland UK Smokeheads order by 20th December
Hibiki Japanese Harmony, 43%
An incredibly sought after whisky, Hibiki Harmony is made with malt whiskies from the Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries, as well as grain whisky from the Chita distillery. The whiskies are drawn from 5 different types of cask, including American white oak casks, Sherry casks and Mizunara oak casks.
