While travel retail stores—also known as duty-free—are never short on interesting whiskies, there are two new sets of scotch that whisky lovers might want to seek out. Johnnie Walker is releasing four limited-edition Black Label offerings: three blended malts and a blend of malt and grain. Each one uses only whiskies from a specific region of origin—Speyside, Highlands, Lowlands, and Islay—in order to showcase the flavors of those areas’ distilleries. Meanwhile, Chivas Brothers is rolling out the Secret Speyside Collection, a range of 15 whiskies mostly from distilleries whose single malts are rarely bottled. While Johnnie Walker’s offerings are priced under $50 each, the Chivas Secret Speyside Collection starts at $100. Get all the details on both ranges below.
Johnnie Walker Black Label Origin Series will showcase different regions’ distillery flavors.
Johnnie Walker Black Label Origin Series
This set of four whiskies aims to highlight the different flavor profiles that go into Johnnie Walker Black Label, organized by region: fruity (Speyside), rich (Highlands), sweet (Lowlands), and smoky (Islay). Three of the whiskies are blended malts, while the fourth is a blend of malt and grain. The packaging for each of the whiskies provides additional information about its respective region of origin. The series is available at travel retail starting this month.
Johnnie Walker Black Label Speyside Origin—42% ABV, $46
Made with only Speyside single malts, including Cardhu and Glendullan
Johnnie Walker Black Label Highlands Origin—42% ABV, $46
Made with only Highland single malts, including Clynelish and Teaninich
Johnnie Walker Black Label Islay Origin—42% ABV, $46
Made with only Islay single malts, including Lagavulin and Caol Ila
Johnnie Walker Black Label Lowlands Origin—42% ABV, $46
Made with only Lowlands whiskies, including Cameronbridge (grain) and Glenkinchie (single malt)
Chivas Secret Speyside Collection
This set of 15 single malt whiskies comes from four distilleries—Glen Keith, Longmorn, Braes of Glenlivet, and the shuttered Caperdonich—owned by Chivas Brothers, part of international drinks conglomerate Pernod Ricard. The whiskies range in age from 18 to 30 years old and in price from $100 to $990. Most of the whiskies are rolling out this month, with a couple of the Caperdonichs launching in the fall. The Secret Speyside Collection is available at travel retail only until summer 2020, when it will be more widely available.
What’s exciting about this set of whiskies is that, other than Longmorn, they are so infrequently bottled, usually being used in blends like Chivas Regal. Moreover, Caperdonich is in ever-diminishing supply. The distillery shut down in 2002 and was dismantled nine years later; it made both peated and unpeated whisky, with several expressions of each available in this collection.
Caperdonich 18 year old Peated—48% ABV, $130
Matured in American oak barrels
Caperdonich 21 year old Peated—48% ABV, $290
Matured in American oak barrels
Caperdonich 21 year old Unpeated—48% ABV, $250
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels
Caperdonich 25 year old Peated—cask strength, $550
Matured in oak hogsheads; the cask-strength ABV will be determined when the whisky is bottled in September.
Caperdonich 25 year old Unpeated—48% ABV, $480
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels
Caperdonich 30 year old Unpeated—cask strength, $990
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels; the cask-strength ABV will be determined when the whisky is bottled in September.
Longmorn 18 year old—48% ABV, $100
Matured in American oak barrels and hogsheads
Longmorn 23 year old—48% ABV, $290
Matured in American oak barrels and hogsheads
Longmorn 25 year old—52.2% ABV, $450
Matured in American oak barrels, hogsheads, and butts; the ABV is cask strength.
Glen Keith 21 year old—43% ABV, $180
Matured in barrels and butts
Glen Keith 25 year old—43% ABV, $380
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels
Glen Kieth 28 year old—43% ABV, $500
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels
Braes of Glenlivet 25 year old—48% ABV, $400
Matured in first-fill American oak barrels
Braes of Glenlivet 27 year old—48% ABV, $450
Matured in first-ill American oak barrels
Braes of Glenlivet 30 year old—50.3% ABV, $600
Matured in American oak barrels and hogsheads
