John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2015 Edition blended scotch whisky

Revealed on 9th December 2014 for release in 2015, the John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2015 Edition was blended from 29 bespoke and experimental casks and is limited to 8,888 individually numbered deep red glass decanters worldwide. It does not carry an age statement.

Jim Beveridge has described the Private Collection as “a series of flavour studies” and unlike Johnnie Walker blends where the blenders are restricted by a need for future continuity, this series will be blended from irreplaceable finite stocks, including from Diageo’s Calculus trial.

Back in the early 80s, Calculus was established to test the effects of maturation with hundreds of experimental casks laid down with five casks representing each permutation of wood and style of distillate available from the company’s large number of distilleries. Although the trial quickly showed results which affect Diageo’s cask management policies to this day, the casks were left forgotten for years. Over 30 years on the Calculus casks contain some of the most exceptional whiskies held by Diageo.

Talking about the 2015 release, Jim said “The 2015 Edition is a unique blend of mature expressions of fruit character from the heart of Scotland. The wonderful lightness of fresh and exotic Speyside fruits deepens into the warm, autumnal fruits of Highland malts, finishing with a lift from the spicy, West Highland fruit character.”