Johnnie Walker Platinum Label?

Yup! And it’s great stuff.

Had some at Moet Hennessy Diageo’s media night at Vertigo recently. This is a super-premium 18-year-old blend, to be launched soon.

Session on at the media nite

The Platinum is primarily for the Asian market. It’s also time to say goodbye to the Green Label.

I tried a glass of this Scotch neat, and it was silky, sweet-ish, with a tinge of smoke. The finish was easy and pleasant, with an urge to have another sip almost immediately. That’s how nice it feels.

Jim Beveridge has outdone himself.

Cant wait. Stay tuned for the post-launch post.

 

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JW Double Black arrives, officially

Johnnie Walker’s limited edition Double Black blend that has taken the travel retail market by storm launched in Malaysia Thursday at 21, BSC.

Sudah mari

It’s been available since Nov last year at duty-free, and was meant to be exclusive to that segment, but not anymore.

Should be enough for our table

“Overwhelming demand dictated that it should be introduced to a wider audience but still as a limited edition targeting key gifting occasions,” says Charles Wright, JW brand manager.

Charles, a major fan of the DB

It uses whiskies from Scotland’s west coast, thus making it peatier, smokier and more intense. I enjoy it with water. Anyway i reviewed it a few months back here.

The bottle is nice – shape-wise, the same at the Black Label, with a charcoal tint. Labelling is a lil different. ABV is unchanged at 40%.

We also enjoyed a guided tasting session

U can get your thirsty throats satisfied with this award-winner at Cold  Storage, Jusco, Sunshine and other retailers. Recommended retail price is about $209.

U want it, get it, coz it’s estimated to run locally until CNY 2012.

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New Johnnie Walker Limited Edition

Black Label has released what i feel is their coolest bottle yet!

It’s large, dark and stylish. And it comes in a awesome box. This is the  Jasper Goodall Limited Edition (only 1,000 bottles worldwide), launched at an art gallery in Bukit Bandaraya recently.

An old picture of an ad

The new bottle has a smoky, dark hue, which fades out at the bottom to reveal the whisky, on a thick base.

At 1750ml, it’s even larger than a magnum. And i especially love how Jasper, a renowned illustrator, has redesigned the legendary Striding Man into a fiery version.

Bottle-autographing in process

Jasper’s inspiration for the limited edition design came from a visit to a whisky distillery years ago when the tour guide explained that over time, a small amount of whisky evaporates and escapes every barrel, and how this process is known as the “angel’s share”.

I wouldn’t light up a cigarette in there.

On fire

The Striding Man, a Johnnie Walker icon, was first drawn by cartoonist Tom Browne on the back of a menu card in 1908.

According to Jasper,  “I wanted to try to visually capture the taste of Black Label, its smoothness, its softness and its golden warmth. Twisting, nebulous forms build together to create images from abstraction; illustrating the entire flavour spectrum.”

Good job

Johnnie Walker’s brand manager Charles Wright feels that this limited edition bottle is a rare piece of JW heritage, and would just as easily find its way into the home of the whisky connoisseur, as it would the home of an art lover.

Same contents - good ol JW Black

Or maybe eBay. Only 1,000 has been produced for the world. Considering  170 million bottles of JW are sold each year, one thousand is only …%, ..well u can do the math.

I wouldnt mess with that guy in a dark alley

I’ve got bottle number 480. You can score yourself a piece directly from Moet Hennessy Diageo (email Daphene.Dunn@mhdm.com.my), with a reasonable RRP of RM788. It definitely has gifting potential.

When ur in trouble, fire-up the Batman spotlight. But thirsty? Striding Man!

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Will new laws affect drinking industry?

A couple of major new laws by the Ministry of Domestic Trade might have an impact on drinkers.

The Competition Act 2010, which will be enforced from January 1st next year, is meant to protect free competition and promote a level playing field for businesses, primarily to benefit consumers, and make this country more open and competitive. More details in a feature by The Star.

Provisions include those against price-fixing, tie-ins and price-discrimination. One that is of interest is entitled “Exclusive Dealing”, which prohibits unfair trading terms such as exclusivity. Will that affect the main players here such as the Malaysian beer industry?

Right now, most bars are forced to sell either GAB or Carlsberg Malaysia’s brands on tap. So if an outlet serves drafts such as Carlsberg or Hoegaarden, there cant be Guinness or Tiger draft.

Draft beers are getting more popular, but limited in variety due to allegiance to particular breweries

Which limits a consumer’s outlet choice according to which beer he prefers. And bar owners too have to agree to those terms and shut out the competitor, and in return get rewarded by the brewery in various ways.

It doesnt affect the liquor guys so much i guess. Moet Hennessy Diageo and Pernod Ricard Malaysia are the biggest, so this law might help the little guys.

The other relevant law is the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2010, which has already kicked in this month. Besides making sure all outlets display prices for all products prominently, there is a new provision, which makes it illegal to make unreasonably high profits, or profiteer.

The law also controls prices increases. Say the tax on booze or whatever product is increased by 5%. If the retailer then increases price disproportionately, he can be guilty of an offence, with massive fines up to 100k for individuals and 500k for companies. Consumers themselves are the primary enforcers of this law, and can contact the Malaysian Competition Commission to make a complaint.

This is to control the unjustified price increases by businesses in this country, which has been sending our standard of living downhill.

About time i say.

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