The story behind limited-edition savoury Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami

As Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami hits the Indian market, with only 2,000 bottles, the brand’s first female master blender Emma Walker talks about its inception, notes and ingredients

To be honest, Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami is best savoured neat. After a dollop of caviar.

Launched last weekend at the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, the Scotch, which has been curated by the brand’s first female master blender Emma Walker and Chef Kei Kobayashi, features delicate but unmistakable savoury notes. 

Talking about the idea of finding umami in whisky, Emma explains, “Chef Kei and I met in June 2022 at chef’s restaurant — Restaurant Kei — in Paris. The initial challenge was to bring together our expertise in whisky making and creative gastronomy. We handpicked whiskies like they were ingredients — from salty, smoky notes to savoury and meaty flavours. Sipping and nosing, we went back and forth making sure we knew the ingredients but leaving space for recommendations and commentary based on our expertise.”

Select casks from inland and coastal distilleries were handpicked for their unique umami profile. The whisky at 43% ABV (amount of alcohol per volume of the spirit) is a juxtaposition of sweet and savoury on the nose, with hints of fresh green apples balancing salt brine.

At the launch, Ruchira Jaitly, chief marketing officer, Diageo India, says the spirit speaks to a new Scotch audience, “Earlier there was more conservative, closed enjoyment. Now it is more inclusive, accommodating, catering to a young, affluent and adventurous audience that wants to savour rare Scotch with friends, instead of saving it only for big occasions.”  

There are just 2,000 bottles of the umami-rich Scotch available in India (price on request). The spirit, “is luscious, with notes of apple and white peach first,“ says Emma. Notes of mandarins, blood oranges and red berries add a complexity, with a lingering finish of sweet wood spice, a touch of smoked meat, warming salt and pepper with a long, sweet fruit finish. 

The master blender adds, “We worked to create a whisky that transported you to a forest at dawn, when the air of the night slowly transitions to the warmth of the day, reflecting chef Kei’s memories of walking amongst the stunning Japanese mountains in Nagano in the early morning. For the chef, cuisine is created from two things: earth and sea, and he thinks of Johnnie Walker Blue Label as an ocean of flavour.”