Scotland’s most famous whisky brand has opened a new eight-floor visitor experience in the heart of Edinburgh. Nearly five years in the making, Johnnie Walker Princes Street in the Scottish capital is the centrepiece of an £185 ($314.6) million investment in Scotch whisky tourism in Scotland by owner Diageo and represents the largest single investment program of its kind ever seen in Scotch whisky tourism.

The venue opened in September, two hundred years plus one after company founder John Walker opened a grocery store in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1820, where he sold whisky that he uniquely blended from multiple single malts to produce a more consistent quality.

Walker’s innovative and soon-to-be popular concept launched a spirits empire that grew into the world’s largest by the 1950s, featuring the brand’s distinctive square bottles with a slanting label and striding man logo, the latter devised in 1908. (The bottle was designed even earlier when Walker, who utilized ship captains to spread his brand around the globe, sought a more durable vessel for his liquor than traditional, and breakable, round bottles).

And over the years, JW’s ubiquitous Red and Black vintages expanded to include a wide range of colours, from Green to Gold and Double Black, plus Blue, which is considered the absolute “top of the pyramid” best.

Now owned by London-based multi-national owner Diageo (interesting fact: the company was born from a merger of the Guinness Brewery and Grand Metropolitan in 1997), Johnnie Walker is a key contributor to a burgeoning Scotch Whisky industry that in 2019 attracted record 2.16 million visitors to the country.

Besides Johnnie Walker Princes Street, Diageo’s tourism investment program includes the transformation of distillery visitor experiences around Scotland, including Glenkinchie, Clynelish, Cardhu and Caol Ila – the Lowland, Highland, Speyside, and Islay homes of Johnnie Walker – all linked to the Edinburgh venue to form a top network of attractions across Scotland.

At the Princes Street opening, managing director Barbara Smith said, “The story of the world’s best-selling whisky has been brought to life with flair and imagination and… we are now ready to begin telling the next chapter of how we are woven into the fabric of Scotland’s history and communities.”

Set in a century-old former department store, Johnnie Walker Princes Street is crowned by two world-class rooftop bars and a terrace with breath-taking views of the Edinburgh skyline: The Explorers’ Bothy whisky bar is stocked with 150 different whiskies, and the 1820 cocktail bar, where drinks are paired with a carefully curated menu sourced from, and representing in culinary form, the four corners of Scotland.

The guided 90-minute “Journey of Flavour” tour includes three Scotch whisky samples (non-alcoholic alternatives are available to all guests) for which tour participants will have their personal flavour preferences mapped with drinks tailored to their palate.

Other experience facts and features include:

• With more than 800 flavour combinations available in the innovative dispensation systems, one person could visit Johnnie Walker Princes Street every day for more than two years and not have the same experience twice.

• A staff of 150 speak 23 languages between them.

• The cellar has become a true whisky treasury with some of the most unique whisky casks in the world gently maturing and waiting to be sampled by guests.

• The building contains state-of-the-art experiential retail space where shoppers can select from rare and exclusive whiskies, fill their own bottles and have them personalised.

• Johnnie Walker Princes Street opens its doors with a Green Tourism Gold Award – the highest sustainability accolade for a visitor attraction. The building includes roof terrace planters to provide herbs for garnishes and infusions for drinks, a sedum roof covering and bird boxes to encourage biodiversity.

• The building can also host events in its 200-capacity space.

The Johnnie Walker Princes Street experience is located at 145 Princes St. in the heart of the city’s west end, a 15-minute walk from both Haymarket Station and Edinburgh Waverley Station. Priced from £25 p.p., tour tickets are based on timed entry (from 1 to 6 p.m.) and should be booked in advance online. The 1820 bar is open 9.30 a.m.-midnight; Explorers’ Bothy bar 6 p.m.-midnight; and retail shop, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

With glass purposefully in hand, we at Travel Industry Today continue our series on some of the planet’s best bars, patios and rooftop venues.

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