Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Ellen

About the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Ellen

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Ellen is a blended Scotch whisky from Scotland. It is built around lost distilleries by the blenders at Johnnie Walker. The heart of it is Port Ellen, an Islay distillery that closed in 1983. Whisky like this can never be made again. A distillery that shuts its doors is known in the trade as a ghost. Johnnie Walker holds small, precious reserves of these ghost whiskies. For this release the blenders drew on Port Ellen. They added the closed grain distilleries Caledonian and Carsebridge. Rare malts from Mortlach, Dailuaine, Cragganmore, Blair Athol and Oban join the blend. Each bottle is individually numbered. The flavour leans sweet and approachable before the smoke arrives. Expect creamy vanilla and soft apple at the start. There is caramel and a touch of salted caramel too. Fresh fruit notes brighten the middle. Then waxy citrus and gentle maritime smoke take over. Oak from long maturation gives a woody, warming backbone. The finish is long and quietly smoky. It stays elegant rather than heavy. This is the second edition in the Ghost and Rare series. It sits among the most collectable Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottlings. The smoke is a tribute to a distillery the world has lost. That story is part of what makes it so sought after. Pour Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Ellen neat. Give it a few minutes in the glass. The layers slowly open as it breathes. It rewards careful, unhurried sipping more than anything else.