That's your clue that it's not made with 100 percent malted barley. You'll notice that on most bottles of Johnnie Walker Blended Scotch Whisky, the word "malt" is missing. In order to be called a Scotch, the malt or grain-based whiskies (or the combination) must be matured on Scottish soil for a minimum of three years in oak barrels and bottled at a minimum of 40 percent abv (alcohol by volume).
Grain whisky in Scotland may include barley, but can involve other cereals such as corn, wheat, or rye. If a Scotch is bottled from more than one distillery, we'll use the word "blended." The players are:ĭistillers in Scotland who produce whisky using 100 percent malted barley may call it a malt whisky. Rather, it means that the whisky comes from one single distillery. The word "single" in single-malt Scotch does not signify the amount of grain used. Each one of these five categories is made from malt whisky, grain whisky, or a combination of both. You read that correctly: There are five categories of Scotch whisky. The Johnnie Walker range falls under the category of what's called blended Scotch whisky, one of five categories of Scotch. And that's kind of pleasant, don't you agree?" "It's in part because of how you perceive the context - people buy things for an experience and to be a part of something, knowing that other people are experiencing it in the same way. When we evaluate things, we evaluate them holistically," says Andrew Gershoff, associate professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. "Research shows that it's hard to separate out the different sensory experiences going on around us when we're engaged with a product. Both the Blue buyer and I know that this symbolic act of serving me a high-cost liquid means something.
But my connection to the brand moves beyond mere aromatic and taste discernment and into a grander experience: I'm probably pre-gaming in terminal C at Newark Airport with a friend when I order Black, and the Blue is one I'm drinking because someone kindly bought me the expensive dram to enjoy. I like Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky - especially the Black and the Blue. I leave the possibility open that even a "douche" might have a perfectly educated palate and know exactly what he wants to drink and why. (It's the world's most-distributed brand of whiskey, with its parent company claiming that six bottles of Johnnie Walker are sold throughout the world every second.) I serve it whenever I can, hoping to knock out the new whisky fan's bad habit of dismissing big-brand powerhouses like Johnnie Walker without enough data to make an informed opinion. The symbolic act of serving a high-cost liquid means something.Īlmost 90 percent of the seminars I conduct land on the topic of Johnnie Walker and stay there.