Johnnie Walker Blue Label New York Skyline

The Johnie Walker Blue Label New York limited edition is apart of a seven bottle series called the Cityscape editions, often referred to as Skyline editions, Johnnie Walker released a bottle for seven major city's and each bottle was exclusively to DFS shops around the world. The original set of seven cityscape bottles where San Francisco, Las Angeles, New York City, Auckland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai. Then later on a few extra editions where added such as London,Toronto, Sydney, Paris, Tel Aviv and Moscow. The original set of seven are engraved and numbered from numbers between 1-50 and 1-300 being the highest.

I was lucky enough to be presented the number 1 of 100

The story goes,

When I was traveling to Hong Kong to explore and purchase the Johnnie Walker Hong Kong edition I met the Manager Karl of the DFS store, he was intrigued about the set and after talking for a while I told him that to complete my set of seven all I needed was the Mumbai edition and the New York edition, two of the most desired and hardest editions to obtain, especially for me being from Australia! So he said he knew a few people who travel and offered kindly to help. After enjoying my time in Hong Kong and returning to Australia Karl emailed me a few weeks later as promised and said that he had a Mumbai bottle for me! Egar to complete this amazing set I got on a flight back to Hong Kong! Once back in the amazing city of Hong Kong I met Karl at the DFS store and as promised he had for me a Johnnie Walker Blue Label Mumbai edition! One of the rarest of the seven because there are only 50 ever made! After purchasing the Mumbai edition Karl said he had one more surprise for me.. 

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Mumbai edition 26 of 50

To my amazement Karl and the DFS team presented me with the number 1 of 100 New York skyline bottle complementary for my passion and dedication to acquiring the set!

I will be for ever greatful to receive such a gift and own a piece of Johnnie Walker history. It really does pay to show your passion for what you love and it's great there are still amazing people out there that see it and offer to help, if it wasn't for Johnnie Walker I wouldn't have seen half the cities I have visited or met half the people I now consider friends. 

Thank you again Karl and the Hong Kong DFS team. 

I only know of three complete sets of the original seven, one of those sets being mine in Australia. Another in Australia and one more in San Fransisco. 

Receiving the number 1 of 100 New York Edition 

Left to right - Cammy Wu (Diageo BA) my self Shane Batchler (underdressed for the occasion)

Karl Sutcliffe (GM - HKIA)

And my father Wayne Batchler

The original seven bottles in the cityscape series 

Left to right - New York, San Fransisco, Las Angeles, Hong Kong, Auckland, Mumbai and Singapore.

Xennox Diamonds Japanese Whisky Event

An excellently orchestrated night of fine Japanese Whisky paired with exquisite food at the Xennox Diamond store.

The impressive knowledge from Rowan Prangley provided the the crowd with an in depth review of these beautiful Japanese whiskies.

We commenced the evening by tasting the amazing Yamazaki Distillers Reserve Single Malt Whisky, A beautiful sharp multi layered taste with mild subtle hints of fresh fruit, vanilla, cinnamon and Japanese oak.

Second to taste was my personal favourite of the night, The White Oak Akashi Black Whisky.

The aroma is delicate with its soft notes of spices and vanilla, this whisky comes to life as the liquid gold excites the tastebuds. The White Oak Akashi Black is soft and full on your palate and a real crowd pleaser, A very easy drinking Japanese blend. 

And finally wrapping up this esteemed evening with Mars Twin Alps Blended Whisky, A great blended whisky soft and fruity and very refreshing on the palate with a great long linger.

What an excellent night of Japanese Whisky thanks to Xennox Diamonds and Karl Schwantes,

See you at the next one!

Johnnie Walker Collection 2015

As the year 2015 comes to an end I thought I would share a most recent video of my Johnnie Walker collection, i have been collecting for nine years now and look forward to many more years, if you have any questions about any of the bottles please feel free to contact me. I hope you enjoy.

Shane.

https://youtu.be/MPk_TFjI-Hc 

Johnnie Walker Collecting

It is truly amazing the places you see and people you meet when collecting Johnnie Walker. if it wasn't for my passion in collecting Johnnie Walker, I would have never visited such places as Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau or New Zealand, places I often frequently visit now. Whether it be in person or via the Internet, I often have people asking me if it is safe to trade and buy with different people, and to be honest the majority of Johnnie Walker collectors in the collecting community are amazing.

These are some of the people who are honest and very helpful to deal with in no particular order 

Aviel Perl

Nicolas Mateo

Huang SiHao

Günther Ehrmann

Surasak Jitrittikrai

Dino Bullard

Timothy Bullard

Paul J Mason

Frans Op Den Kamp (John Walker)

Leon Lai

Mark Baynie

Robert Osullivan 

Jim Moore

Deniz Kanmaz

Martin Isaac

Julio Montes Imeri

Mick Best

Karl Sutcliffe

Jessie Chan

Stacy Seymour

Sharene Hicks 

Tom Stretton 

Lewi Lewi 

Ivan Vazquez

Mher Manian

Don Norman

Gavin White

Daniel Kershaw

Sorry if I have forgotten anyone.

Whether it be Aviel Perl inviting me to visit him and showing me around Isreal or Paul J Mason inviting me to try some of his Scotch whisky when in Melbourne or even Martin Isaac inviting me to see his collection when i visit London. Its amazing how through collecting you form friendships without even having met the person. 

Thank you to everyone who has helped me find a bottle or have purchased from me or even for information on bottles I knew nothing about. 

All your help and kindness is much appreciated, my collection wouldn't look like this without everyone's help.

People are often against collectors collecting Johnnie Walker bottles and not opening them for a sample taste, and others are against the ones who do open a rare bottle to sample it, at the end of the day it's personal preference and that's all that matters. You may like your scotch with ice rather than neat or mixing it. Enjoy it how you love to enjoy it and share the moment with close friends who will appreciate it. 

I think every bottle of Johnnie Walker I have is truly amazing, it's not only the taste of the beautiful gold liquid inside, but the story and history about each bottle. Whether it be a limited release or a bottle collaboration with a high end brand, or even how hard it was for me to obtain because of its limited availability to only one certain country! They're all individually amazing and pieces of Johnnie Walker history. 

Keep Walking.

Happy collecting! 

Johnnie Walker Blue Label 1867

For the relaunch of the newly designed Johnnie Walker Blue Label they have released a limited edition at the Johnnie Walker house of only 1867 bottles. 

In commemoration of Alexander Walker's Old Highland Whisky which was released in 1867

It comes standing proud on its own glass plinth.

Each and every bottle is signed by the Johnnie Walker master blender Jim Beveridge. 

It comes with its own certificate of authenticity signed by Jim Beveridge the master blender.

Johnnie Walker Fu Lu Shou Limited Edition

The Johnnie Walker Fu Lu Shou is a three bottle limited edition set of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. 

It is exclusively available at the Johnnie Walker Houses in Beijing and Shanghai China. 

They are worshipped for their charismatic divinity, Fu, Lu, and Shou are three prominent deities believed to bestow fortune, prosperity, and longevity.

Each bottle is individually engraved in gold and shows outstanding craftsmenship and attention to detail. 

 

Prosperity 

Longevity 

Fortune

It is presented in a beautiful brown briefcase with the Johnnie Walker logo embroidered in the velvet lining of the display case. 

Johnnie Walker The Directors Blend 2013

Johnnie Walkers 2013 Directors Blend is a very rare blended scotch whisky only given to the directors who work for Johnnie Walker. 

This prestigious blended scotch whisky is only made in small quantities and hand signed and numbered by Jim Beveridge the master blender of Johnnie Walker and the global brand director Gavin Pike.

There is only 588 bottles of this limited release. 

From 2008 - 2013 Johnnie Walker released very limited bottles of Directors Blends to the directors of Johnnie Walker making it one of the rarest and most sought after bottle series. 

Only a very small amount of privileged people have this complete set of Directors Blends, to my knowledge I only know of five people in the world to have a complete set, from Australia, Taiwan, Holland, Guatemala and the UK, these incredibly lucky people know who they are. 

Since the 2013 bottle was the last released in the Directors Blend series, Johnnie Walker has since continued the same theme with their Private Collection series making it more available to the general market.