Johnnie Walker - Blue Label

Originally known as Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky, the Johnnie Walker brand is a legacy left by John "Johnnie" Walker after he started to sell whisky in his grocer's shop in Kilmarnock, Scotland. The brand became popular, but after Walker's death it was his son Alexander ‘Alec’ Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing the whisky as a favoured brand. The Spirits Act of 1860 legalised the blending of grain whiskies with malt whiskies and ushered in the modern era of what is known as blended Scotch whisky. Surprisingly, the Johnnie Walker brands of whisky did not use the term Scotch till as late as 1939.

In 1893, the Walker family purchased the Cardhu Distillery to reinforce the stocks of one of their key ingredients. Cardhu’s output became the heart of their “Old Highland Whisky.”

In 1915 and 1916, the company purchased an interest in a number of other distilleries. In 1925, the company joined the Distillers Company Limited, which was later bought by Guinness and then Diageo in 1997. In 2009, Diageo decided to close its operations at Kilmarnock and in March 2012, the Johnnie Walker plant at Kilmarnock was closed, and its buildings demolished. The Cardhu Distillery near Archiestown, Moray, Scotland, owned by Diageo is now the home to Jonnie Walker Whisky.