John Walker & Sons Bicentenary Blend 28 Years Old

This is the Bicentenary Blend from John Walker and Sons, a 28 year old blended Scotch released to mark two hundred years of the firm and bottled at 46%. As a blend it draws together aged malt and grain whiskies rather than the make of a single distillery, built for balance and depth, an anniversary piece pitched well above the everyday Walker range.

A blended Scotch marries malt whiskies for character with grain whisky for a smoother, lighter frame. At twenty eight years every component has spent decades in oak, the older malt stock lending an oxidative, dried fruit weight while the grain whisky keeps the whole rounded and approachable rather than heavy, the blender balancing age against drinkability.

At 46% it is soft and layered. The aged malts bring honey, dried fruit and orchard sweetness, the grain a creamy vanilla, and a thread of older smoke runs quietly underneath. The finish is long and polished, a prestige anniversary bottling built to show the Walker house style carried to a grand age. Long aged blends of this kind are increasingly rare, the mature stock that fills them growing harder to source with every passing year.