Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami

The year was 1819 and John Walker’s father had just died. Within the year, the family farm had been sold and the money used to set him up with his own grocer’s shop in the thriving local town of Kilmarnock. John had a natural gift for business. He also had a genius for whisky. In those days, most grocers stocked a line of single malts, but they were never all that consistent. This wasn’t good enough for John, who started blending them together, so his whisky tasted just as good every time. When John finally passed away after a full and prosperous life in 1857, he left his son, Alexander, with a very healthy business. In 1867, he launched Johnnie Walker’s first commercial blend and called it ‘Old Highland Whisky’. Soon afterward, Alexander began using the famous square bottle to reduce breakages and made sure much more of his whisky arrived intact at its destination. He also added the distinctive label, slanted at precisely 20 degrees, to make it stand out even further from the crowd. I