JOHNNIE WALKER ‘MASTER’S CUT’ TOASTS THE INCREDIBLE LEGACY OF A WHISKY ICON
The most appropriately named man in whisky, Dr. Jim Beveridge, hung up his master distiller’s hat a couple of years ago, but as a last hurrah, Jim has gifted the world one final blend. Released to coincide with World Whisky Day, which just passed us by on May 20th, ‘Master’s Cut’ is Jim’s final Legacy Blend for Johnnie Walker, the encore of a career spanning over four decades.
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Former master blender Dr. Jim Beveridge | Image: Johnnie Walker
The latest release comes not long after Johnnie Walker unveiled the Masters of Flavour 48-Year-Old, a AUD$35,500 tribute to Dr. Jim Beveridge that stunned the whisky world. This time around, the price point is a little more subdued, but that’s not to say the whisky icon has dialled anything back.
“It is my final Johnnie Walker blend, made at a turning point in the Johnnie Walker journey when the baton is passed from one master blender to another,” Jim said regarding the Master’s Cut. “The whisky looks to the future, while also recognising the achievements of the past.’ That baton was passed in late 2021, as Dr. Emma Walker (the most appropriately named Woman in Whisky) ascended from her apprenticeship under Jim to become Johnnie Walker’s first female master blender in the company’s 200+ year history.
Blending just two whiskies from iconic distilleries Cameronbridge and Roseisle, the Master’s Cut celebrates the very essence of both blending and Scotch whisky, resulting in a perfectly balanced yet deceptively simple final product. Jim expands on this notion of simplicity, accentuating the positive virtues of a process that yields something far from basic.
‘It’s doing more with less to create something which has a uniquely complex character. Ultimately, we take great whiskies and combine them in ways which create new, amazing new expressions of blended Scotch.”
Image: Johnnie Walker
The two distilleries in question are a part of that journey towards complexity. Cameronbridge in Fife is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, founded in 1824 and the first to start using the column still method in 1830. A familiar component in many a Johnnie Walker blend, the single grain whisky that Jim chose for Master’s Cut brings lightness and top notes of vanilla.
Conversely, the Speyside distillery Roseisle is one of the youngest in Diageo’s (Johnnie Walker’s parent company) possession, having opened in 2009 with an eye to the future. The single malt Jim selected is a fuller-flavoured fruit-driven whisky that is, as we noted in our guide to whisky, discernibly Speyside. As with all Johnnie Walker’s blends, it’s the whole that outshines the parts on their own, with a spectacularly rich and luscious whisky being the end result, one that embodies the craft of blending, much like Dr. Beveridge himself has come to.
If a trip to Edinburgh is locked in for the coming months, make sure you stop off at the Johnnie Walker Princes Street store to try and nab yourself one of the 1,000 bottles that have been allocated. The £1,000 price tag shouldn’t be a deterrent either, with this one sure to transcend the descriptions given.
Former master blender Dr. Jim Beveridge | Image: Johnnie Walker
Former master blender Dr. Jim Beveridge | Image: Johnnie Walker