About John Walker & Sons XR 21 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky
Upon his father's death in 1820, a young grocer named Johnnie Walker invested his £417 inheritance into a grocery and spirits shop on High Street in Scotland. While Walker himself was a teetotaller, he sold a popular single malt whisky under the name Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky (at the time, it was common for each store to have its own unique spirits). Walker's store was moderately successful, but by the time he retired in the 1850s, whisky sales represented just 8% of his business.
In 1857, Alexander Walker — John Walker's eldest son — inherited the store and began improving its selection of single malt Scotch whiskies. Alexander had previously apprenticed with a tea merchant in Glasgow and there, had learned the art of blending tea. Under his stewardship, the House of Walker began blending whisky and bottling it in an iconic, square bottle adorned with a slanted label.
Alexander Walker II was a master blender like his father and his grandfather before him, who devoted his life to making exceptional whiskies. In 1920, he received a knighthood from King George V for his services to the nation.
This John Walker & Sons XR 21 is inspired by this very special occasion. Inspired by Sir Alexander’s own hand-written notes, it is blended from the exclusive Johnnie Walker reserve of rare whiskies, all of which have been matured for a full 21 years. You can expect intriguing layers of intensity that are both surprising and delightful.
Pick up your bottle today!
About Scotch
Scotch is the most popular whisky in the world and is considered the king of them all! There are five whisky regions in Scotland (six if you count the not officially recognized Islands), and each of them produces spirits with unique properties and distinct tasting notes. (The type of grain used determents the type of the scotch.)
Malt whisky is made of malted barley, and grain whisky uses other grains like corn or wheat. Most of the time, a whisky is blended from different distilleries hence the name blended scotch, but if a malt whisky is produced in a single distillery, we get something extraordinary called a single malt.
Check out our impressive selection of scotch whiskies, find your new favorite in the Top 10 scotch whiskies, or explore our treasury of rare & hard to find scotch whiskies.