Blue Label Ghost & Rare Exclusive Tasting

I had the honour of attending the Blue Label Ghost & Rare Exclusive Tasting with Jamie Walker from Diageo.

Upon arrival at Wakaniu Grill – known for their delicious steaks, we were greeting with a Blue Label High Ball. A refreshing start for the evening! I turned and was greeted by a familiar Scottish accent – Jamie is from Glasgow.

Historically, blended whisky has been a more common way of drinking whisky due to single malts being inconsistent. Blending the whisky gave the master blender a way to produce a more balanced whisky. John Walker was one of the families involved in blending in the early days as they owned a grocer store.

Johnnie Walker came up with the iconic square bottles because their whiskies were one of the first to be shipped to an international market. The square bottles helped maximize space when they were being shipped and also resulted in much less breakage as they were transported. Genius!

The Blue Label pairing menu was stunning and we started with my favourite dish of the night – amazing Wakanui Spring Lamb Chop!

The Blue Label is so balanced, it goes well and does not overwhelm the foods we had. With only the rarest and best of casks going into this blend, it’s difficult for anyone not to love this dram!

Bring on more character with the Brora. This was my favourite whisky of the night!

 

Tasting Notes:

Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora Edition Paired with Line-caught Hot Smoked King Salmon 

Blended with Brora, Pittyvaich (closed distillery), and Cambus (grain). The other five distilleries are Clynelish, Royal Lochnagar, Glenlossie, Glenkinchie, with Cameronbridge rounding out the grain.

• Amazing nose
• Fruity green apples goes perfectly with the oily smoked salmon
• Buttery and waxy
• Vanilla and toffee
• Raisins

 

Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Ellen Edition Paired with Canterbury Grass Fed Fillet Steak 

Blended with Silent Carsebridge and Caledonian distilleries, as well as malt from Mortlach, Daliune, Cragganmore, Blair Athol and Oban.

• Peppery bourbon barrels
• Honey lots of honey

The finale: 70% Valrhona Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Johnnie Walker Blue Label Infused Sponge Cake

 

Casks are running out fast with only 1500 bottles in the world.

There will be a third Ghost and Rare Whisky coming soon…

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A few more fun snippets from the night:

Jamie shared that there’s no “correct” way to drink your whisky,  you could drink it however way you like!

We asked:

How do you drink your whisky?

It depends who I’m with and where I am. I usually have it neat after dinner when I was in Scotland but since living in India and Singapore, I prefer having it as a highball because its too hot!

What is your favourite whisky?

Talisker/ Lagavulin – something rich and smoky. I prefer something lighter like Oban/Singleton at 7pm in the evening otherwise I’d fall over.