The eagerly awaited 2017 Edition of John Walker and Sons Private Collection. This is the fourth annual release of this series which tests the skills of the company’s Master Blenders to the maximum. This particular release was devised by Jim Beveridge, Master Blender, and his colleague Aimée Gibson, to showcase the effects of different casks on the spirit. The Private Collection 2017 is a blend of three different vattings. One of these vattings is made up of single malts from the Highlands and Speyside, matured in refill casks to showcase the different distilleries’ characters. The second vatting uses a mix of several grain whiskies and malt aged in first-fill American Oak casks and some “rejuvenated casks” to give “the overt flavours of American oak”. For the third vatting, Beveridge and Gibson selected whisky from some of the most unusual and experimental casks in the Johnnie Walker reserves, before blending it together. These casks were taste trialed in complex process known as the “matrix” programme, which involved 400 different casks split into small groups of five. Intriguingly, this group of mostly American oak casks with differing char levels also included some “salt cured” oak casks, which have been seasoned with a salt to change the wood’s reaction to casking. This is why this expression has been called “Mastery of Oak”. The result of this hard is a delectable blended whisky with a rich intensity, and a silky, alluring mouthfeel. Notes of apples, pears and dried fruits shine through. This truly is one of the best blends that Johnnie Walker have produced, and with its oak-themed presentation box and splendid decanter style bottle, it would take pride of place in any collection. Only 5,588 bottles were released, so drinkers should move fast if they want to try this cracking dram.

• Product type
  Blended
• Distillery / brand
  Johnnie Walker
• Country
  Scotland
• Bottling date
  2017
• Non-chillfiltered
  No
• Natural colour
  No
• SKU
  026113