Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker traces its roots to John Walker, a grocer in Kilmarnock who began selling whisky in 1820. His son and grandson turned the business into a blending house, and the square bottle and slanted label became familiar around the world. The brand is now owned by Diageo.

Johnnie Walker is a blended Scotch, so it has no single distillery of its own. The blends draw on malt and grain whiskies from across Scotland, with Diageo distilleries such as Cardhu, Caol Ila and Talisker long associated with the brand. The whisky is blended and bottled in Scotland.

The core range follows a colour ladder. Red Label is the everyday blend for mixing, Black Label 12 Year Old is the smoky, rounded classic, Green Label 15 Year Old is a blended malt with no grain whisky, Gold Label sits above it, and Blue Label is the top of the range. Swing, in its rocking bottle, is another long-running blend.

Besides current bottlings, collectors look for older releases such as 1990s Blue Label, the Gold Label 18 Year Old Centenary Blend and earlier Green Label bottlings, alongside limited editions and special bottle designs.