Scran Bonus episode - Johnnie Walker Princes Street Harris Tweed Hebrides Collaboration

Name: Scran Bonus episode - Johnnie Walker Princes Street Harris Tweed Hebrides Collaboration
Uploaded: 2023-12-18T11:19:51+00:00
Duration: 29 min 1 s
Channel: The Scotsman

00:00 [Music]

00:04 Hello and welcome to this very special partnership episode of Scran,

00:08 where we have teamed up with Johnny Walker Princess Street

00:11 to bring you news of a fascinating collaboration.

00:14 Two years in the making, Johnny Walker,

00:16 a brand synonymous with Scotland, quality and heritage,

00:19 has teamed up with Harris Tweed Hebrides

00:21 to launch a new whisky, complete with luxury packaging.

00:24 This is the first of the Johnny Walker Princess Street Collective collaborations,

00:28 a series that will bring together the world's leading Scotch whisky

00:31 with Scotland's best creative forces to create unique and collectible whiskies.

00:36 The whisky represents a world first,

00:39 having been matured over the past year in special hand-selected American oak casks

00:43 in the Whisky Makers Cellar at Johnny Walker Princess Street.

00:46 The cellar, which holds just 26 casks,

00:49 is unique amongst bonded warehouses in Scotland,

00:52 tucked beneath one of Edinburgh's most famous streets.

00:56 I went along to the launch of this new whisky

00:58 to hear all about how these two Scottish powerhouses

01:01 have come together to create something unique and special.

01:04 I was delighted to sit down with some of the key players

01:07 in this collaboration of arguably two of Scotland's best-known luxury brands.

01:11 First up, I chatted to Emma Walker,

01:14 who you may recall we met just over a year ago

01:16 when Johnny Walker Princess Street first opened.

01:18 Emma is master blender for Diageo

01:20 and her enthusiasm for her job and whisky is almost infectious.

01:25 Over that point in time, we've then been looking at

01:27 what collaboration did we want to do,

01:29 what was the right thing, the right people,

01:31 the right products we could bring together

01:33 to create such an amazing whisky bottling.

01:35 Next up, I spoke to Mark Hogarth,

01:39 Creative Director at Harris Tweed Hebrides.

01:41 Mark has spent many years working on high-end collaborations

01:45 and this partnership with Johnny Walker

01:47 ticked all the right boxes for the brand,

01:49 especially in terms of attention to detail,

01:51 Scottish heritage and sustainability.

01:54 To see the young students in the east end of Glasgow

01:57 passionately engaging and making a product

02:01 that has got obviously heritage, style,

02:04 and as you say, a touch of fashion attributed to it,

02:07 was quite fantastic.

02:08 Finally, I had a chance to taste this wonderful new whisky

02:15 when I was joined by George Harper,

02:17 Johnny Walker whisky specialist,

02:19 who created the Johnny Walker Princess Street Collective Bottling.

02:22 George told me about the process they go through

02:25 in developing a whisky and a collaboration such as this,

02:28 as well as highlighting some exciting times ahead

02:30 for Johnny Walker fans, so watch this space.

02:33 Lovely soft finish, very sweet, smooth, approachable,

02:40 but lots of those kind of wood spice notes,

02:42 touch, just a touch of smoke, wood smoke there as well,

02:46 and really lovely, delicious, smooth whisky.

02:49 (upbeat music)

02:52 Later in the day, the team gave a presentation

02:55 in the cellar where the whisky was aged.

02:57 It was there I learned more about Harris Tweed

02:59 and the concept development.

03:01 Here's my chat with Emma Walker, master blender.

03:07 We spoke about a year ago when this amazing place launched,

03:13 so how has it been?

03:15 It's been absolutely amazing.

03:17 I'm very lucky that I actually work at Menstrui,

03:20 but I get to come to Johnny Walker Princess Street

03:22 quite regularly and meet lots of different people

03:24 from around the world who come here for visits,

03:27 come here to just learn more about Johnny Walker,

03:29 about Scotch, about Scotland, and it is fantastic

03:32 to be able to bring them here and just give them

03:34 that viewpoint, the taste of Scotland.

03:36 And for anyone that doesn't know,

03:37 could you tell us a bit about your job?

03:39 I'm the Johnny Walker master blender,

03:41 so I lead a team of 12 whisky makers at Diageo.

03:44 We look after Johnny Walker, we look after all of Diageo's

03:47 blended Scotches, single malts, and single grains.

03:50 We're very lucky that we get to work with whisky every day.

03:53 What is in Johnny Walker, really?

03:55 We're so lucky within our team that we get to work

03:57 with whiskys from the Falklands of Scotland.

03:59 So we work with whiskys from 30 or more different distilleries

04:02 across Scotland, some from closed ghost distilleries,

04:05 working with our colleagues.

04:06 So looking at the whisky from Newmakers,

04:08 it comes off the stills, seeing how it matures.

04:10 We have nearly 11 million casks of maturing whisky

04:14 in our inventory, so we are extremely lucky.

04:16 We've got the widest palette of flavor to work and to create

04:19 all these amazing different whiskies from day in, day out.

04:22 So the Johnny Walker brand has got quite a rich history,

04:24 hasn't it?

04:25 Yeah, again, we're so lucky.

04:26 Myself and George Harper, we're part of the whisky team,

04:29 and we are actually based at Menstrui.

04:31 Part of the reason we're there is because we have

04:33 the Diageo whisky archives just next door.

04:35 So we get to see that history and heritage and work with it

04:38 day in, day out, but we also use it as inspiration

04:41 for innovations for creating new whiskies

04:43 for the future as well.

04:44 And speaking of new whiskies, you've got a new whisky launch.

04:47 So today we're launching the first edition from

04:49 the Johnny Walker Princess Street Collective.

04:51 This is going to be a series that brings together

04:53 the world's leading Scotch whisky with Scotland's best creative

04:56 forces to create a unique and collectible whisky.

04:59 Today we're looking at the Johnny Walker Harris Tweed

05:01 collaboration, which is so exciting to see this finally

05:05 on the shelves and wait and see people's reactions

05:08 as they get to see this amazing, amazing whisky collaboration.

05:11 So yeah, this is the first in a series of collaborations,

05:13 isn't it?

05:14 Yeah, I mean, the whole thing about Johnny Walker Princess Street

05:16 was so exciting.

05:17 The whisky team were very much involved in the conversations

05:20 about what we wanted people to experience here.

05:22 But down in the whisky making cellar, we have had 26 casks

05:26 of the very special whisky that's been bottled in this

05:29 Johnny Walker Harris Tweed limited edition.

05:32 So we've been watching those whiskies that have matured

05:34 before we put them in there, but they've had extra time

05:36 to mature, to mellow, to just the flavours to develop

05:40 in this very unusual warehouse space that we have down

05:43 in the cellar here.

05:44 So what we're going to do-- so this has been our first

05:46 innovation, our first release of this whisky, and we've been

05:49 very lucky to work with Mark and his team at Harris Tweed

05:52 to make this perfect combination, collaboration,

05:54 between two great companies that have great heritage,

05:57 that very much wrap around the idea of Scotland

06:00 and its history.

06:01 So seeing that come to life has got us very excited as well

06:03 to think about who we're going to collaborate with

06:05 in the future, how we're going to use that amazing space

06:08 that we have in this cellar to really explore flavour

06:11 and explore how we can talk about it again in the future.

06:13 And what makes the conditions in the cellar slightly different?

06:16 So if you were to go to any other warehouse in Scotland,

06:20 especially this time of year, it's going to be quite chilly.

06:23 They've got a certain humidity, temperature,

06:26 so you get a lovely gentle maturation in these warehouses.

06:29 We know how that works.

06:30 There's a lot of knowledge across the whisky industry,

06:32 so on average you'll lose about 2% of alcohol per year

06:36 just due to evaporation, so that's what was known

06:39 as the angel's share.

06:40 In the space that we've got downstairs, it's a warmer space.

06:44 It also has a different sort of humidity

06:46 to what you would expect, so there's a different moisture level.

06:48 You've also got a lot of people going in and out of the space

06:50 every day, whereas in a traditional warehouse,

06:53 you might just have people going in once a week,

06:56 once a month when they're looking to take casks out

06:58 or put casks in.

06:59 So it's got a very different environment.

07:01 So we expected it to be slightly different.

07:03 We expected to get a more rapid maturation almost there,

07:05 where you'd get different flavours coming through.

07:07 So thankfully that did happen, so we know what,

07:10 got an idea of what we're talking about.

07:12 But for us, it was just a really interesting innovation

07:14 to see what does happen, how does it work,

07:16 what impact does that have on the whisky?

07:18 So yeah, it's been very exciting this past year,

07:20 but also actually seeing the casks move into that space.

07:23 So our very talented warehouse operators managed

07:26 to negotiate the corridors that you can see downstairs

07:29 to get these 26 casks into the space and then also

07:32 take them back out for when they went to be emptied

07:35 and then blended together for the bottling.

07:37 So were you quite surprised at what has happened to them?

07:39 Or like you say, is it kind of what you were expecting?

07:41 I think there is an element of, there's always an element

07:43 of surprise I think when it comes to whisky,

07:45 because we understand a lot about it,

07:47 but there's always something different can happen.

07:49 So I think we were expecting to get slightly higher losses,

07:52 just a more elevated sort of maturation.

07:55 So it definitely came to fruition, but it always gives

07:57 an interesting aspect just to see exactly how that whisky

08:00 that we put into those casks for almost an extra year

08:03 in that environment, how that changed and developed.

08:05 So hopefully everyone else will be as excited as we were

08:08 to see the whisky at that end point.

08:10 So how long do things like this take?

08:12 Is it quite a long process?

08:14 I mean, when we're looking at these things,

08:16 you might have an idea a few years before,

08:18 but you've got to reach that right point in time

08:20 when we can do it.

08:21 So we were definitely thinking about what we were going

08:23 to do in that space, what innovation we were going

08:25 to think about in terms of the liquid.

08:27 So we were looking at that about a year and a half

08:29 or so before.

08:31 But over that point in time, we've then been looking

08:33 at what collaboration did we want to do,

08:35 what was the right thing, the right people,

08:37 the right products we could bring together

08:39 to create such an amazing whisky bottling.

08:41 So you might already have partnerships in mind

08:43 for the future, but it's going to be a bit of time

08:45 before we find out what they are.

08:46 That's exactly right, because one of the exciting things

08:48 when you're working in collaboration is we've got

08:50 to do things when it's the right point in time

08:52 for both ourselves at Johnnie Walker,

08:54 and the people that we're collaborating with.

08:56 So we just need that little bit of time to be able

08:58 to bring things together in the right way.

09:00 Like a good whisky.

09:01 Exactly.

09:02 [LAUGHTER]

09:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:05 I'm now joined by Mark Hogarth, the creative director

09:20 at Harris Tweed.

09:21 Hi, Mark, how are you?

09:22 I'm very well.

09:23 It's an amazing day here in Edinburgh.

09:25 And I think befitting of this incredible product

09:28 that we're here to celebrate.

09:29 Can you tell us a little bit about the collaboration?

09:32 The most significant element is that all good collaborations

09:35 actually start with a fundamental idea,

09:38 but then they take on many different strands.

09:41 And there's no pressure on time.

09:43 And I think that as with many of our fashion collaborations,

09:48 what starts with a collaboration that may have a time limit

09:52 or maybe for a specific product,

09:54 it actually grows into a proper partnership.

09:57 So for me, the Johnnie Walker, Princes Street Collective

10:01 was always going to be a partnership.

10:04 Two incredible Scottish products,

10:07 Scottish brands with unique heritage attached to them.

10:12 And I think we had to find an authentic way

10:15 of putting those two stories together.

10:18 But more importantly, getting a product

10:20 that was a celebration of heritage,

10:23 but also had an aesthetic that was appealing

10:27 and had a nice modern element to it as well.

10:31 So I've got the bag in the bottom front of me

10:33 and because this is audio,

10:34 I'm going to do my best to describe it

10:36 and please feel free to jump in.

10:38 So it's a lovely teal, dark blue,

10:40 there's pink running through it,

10:42 tweed, kind of like a quite a big design.

10:45 The size of the pattern?

10:46 Yeah, the size of the pattern, yeah.

10:48 And on the bag written in yellow,

10:50 it says John Walker and Sons.

10:52 Got your recognisable Harris Tweed sewn on label

10:55 with the orb as well.

10:57 Got nice wee pink buttons with the Strident Man

10:59 that everyone will recognise.

11:00 And inside, we've got the bottle,

11:02 which your obvious Johnnie Walker bottle

11:05 in terms of the shape.

11:07 It's got a nice crisscross light blue pattern on it

11:10 and the pink Strident Man, same limited edition.

11:13 And then your squinty label,

11:14 which everyone will recognise as Johnnie Walker,

11:16 Blendy Scotch Whisky x Harris Tweed.

11:19 And it looks lovely.

11:20 It's an incredible product and I love the details on it.

11:24 I also love the fact that Johnnie Walker

11:26 are probably the only brand that we've ever worked with

11:29 that are as pedantic about details

11:32 as we are at Harris Tweed.

11:33 I think I'll probably get corrected

11:35 for doing some throwaway Instagram or LinkedIn post

11:39 stating that the diagonal on the label

11:42 was 20 degrees when it's actually 22

11:45 or vice versa.

11:46 And I love that because any brand

11:50 that puts such care and attention into their heritage

11:54 but also into their values,

11:57 I think is aspirational.

11:59 And also it's worked really well with Harris Tweed.

12:02 As for the bag itself,

12:03 I think you describe it in the correct detail.

12:07 It's a plaid.

12:08 It has a unique sense of colours.

12:10 The colours are inspired by two elements.

12:13 It's the Princess Street Collective.

12:15 So there is obviously these rich colours coming from Edinburgh,

12:20 the blues and the darker colours.

12:22 But then you rightly mentioned the turquoise and the corals

12:27 which are inspired by the summer in the Outer Hebrides,

12:31 the landscape, the seascapes.

12:33 And I'm particularly interested in the turquoise

12:36 because I think we do those really rich blues,

12:40 aquamarines, turquoise really, really well.

12:44 And this one is inspired by the fishing ropes

12:48 and nets of the Outer Hebrides.

12:51 So there's a really authentic dynamic.

12:53 And those ropes and nets, they start blue,

12:56 but they get bleached by the sea, by the salt in the sea.

12:59 And that is not only a main colour on the bag,

13:03 but as you can see in the bottle,

13:05 if you turn around just to the side there,

13:08 on that side you can see that netting on the bottle.

13:11 And I mean, for me, coming from the fashion point of view,

13:15 I'd be surprised if that actually doesn't titivate

13:18 the interests of the whisky connoisseurs

13:21 or just the general public as well,

13:22 because I think there's an authentic story behind that

13:25 that goes from the Hebrides to here in Edinburgh

13:28 and has been very well narrated through the bag

13:32 and indeed the bottle as well.

13:33 - So can you tell us a bit about the process?

13:35 How did you go about creating the bag and bottle?

13:38 - It's a very good question because it took so long

13:41 and I have to actually almost remind myself on a daily basis

13:44 about how we got to this incredible product.

13:46 So we started off with a variety of ideas

13:49 and I think what came through really strongly

13:52 was this whole idea of Edinburgh

13:54 as the capital city of Scotland.

13:56 And we were looking at street maps

13:58 and then the colouring of the street maps as well.

14:01 And then balancing that with what we have in the Outer Hebrides,

14:06 which is these vibrant colours as well.

14:08 And we wanted to celebrate the traditions of both brands,

14:11 but I think it would have been really easy

14:13 and possibly a mistake to just slip down the road

14:15 of doing something very traditional and heritage-related.

14:19 So I think the concept of putting this stamp,

14:23 this signature of Johnny Walker,

14:26 and almost a sense of graffiti, as I would say, on the bottle,

14:29 I think that elevates it beyond just a kind of normal partnership

14:35 and it gives it a real stylistic and very unique dynamic as well.

14:39 - Like you say, you can almost see fashion in it as well

14:41 because of the signature and the colours and things.

14:43 It's really cool.

14:44 As part of the project,

14:45 you worked with some students from Glasgow City College.

14:48 - Yeah, I mean, for me,

14:49 that was one of the most fulfilling aspects of the partnership

14:52 and I think it's probably why it took so long as well,

14:55 is that we wanted to make this a sustainable product.

14:58 You know, there's a big element in fashion now

15:02 where it should have a life cycle analysis.

15:06 It shouldn't just be about, you know,

15:08 this linear approach of making something that, you know,

15:11 falls into the throwaway dynamic.

15:14 So we wanted these bags to have a second life, a second use,

15:18 and we also wanted to try and, if possible,

15:21 make them as close to home,

15:23 as close to here in Princess Street in Edinburgh as possible.

15:27 So we worked with a company in Glasgow called Beyonder,

15:30 who are a charitable set-up.

15:32 They employ young fashion and textile students

15:35 and I can tell you there was at least five different iterations

15:39 of this bag.

15:40 So not only did we have that local dynamic in this story,

15:45 but I think we had a supreme product as well.

15:47 I mean, the stitching on the bag is exquisite.

15:51 This has gone through probably three or four different prototypes

15:56 to get to this stage.

15:57 Even the colour of those buttons was, I mean,

16:00 that started a kind of deeper red and it moved into this coral,

16:03 as we finally have signed off by Johnny Walker.

16:06 So to see the young students in the east end of Glasgow

16:10 passionately engaging and making a product

16:13 that has got, obviously, heritage, style,

16:16 and as you say, a touch of fashion attributed to it,

16:19 was quite fantastic.

16:20 And actually explaining a little bit about that mutual heritage

16:23 that Harris Tweed and Johnny Walker has.

16:26 For example, the Striding Man and the Harris Tweed Orb

16:30 were both designed within 18 months of each other,

16:32 between 1909 and 1910.

16:35 The ability to retell that story and have the students

16:38 who are definitely interested in fashion, interested in style,

16:42 but maybe didn't know that you had so much fashion and style

16:45 on your doorstep, with obviously Harris Tweed and Outer Hebrides

16:48 and Johnny Walker's incredible Scottish heritage as well.

16:52 Was sampling the whisky a part of the design process at all?

16:55 I'm going to be honest and say no, because Emma and George

16:58 know a lot more about whisky than I do.

17:01 But the interesting thing for me was the nuance of having

17:04 this whisky mature here in Princess Street.

17:07 Gave it a certain flavour, a certain depth of taste,

17:11 and that's very much the same as Harris Tweed as well,

17:14 where the specifics of the yarn and the wool that we make

17:18 all goes into giving a very, very unique cloth.

17:21 So I really love the synergy of that and also the fact

17:25 it's limited edition and it's only going to be available

17:28 here at Princess Street in Edinburgh.

17:30 Thank you very much for your time.

17:31 Thank you.

17:32 I'm now joined by George Harper,

17:47 Johnny Walker, a whisky specialist. Hi, George.

17:49 Hi, nice to meet you, Rosalind.

17:50 You too, how are you?

17:51 I'm good, thank you.

17:52 So can you tell us a little bit about your role at Johnny Walker?

17:55 Yeah, so I've been with Johnny Walker for about seven years now,

17:58 primarily focused on innovation in Johnny Walker,

18:01 so coming up with some of the new exciting blends

18:04 that we release over the past five, six years.

18:06 So you were instrumental in this new whisky?

18:09 I was, yeah. So this was a project that came to me

18:12 quite early on, actually, when we were working.

18:15 So myself and fellow members of the team all worked

18:18 quite closely when Johnny Walker Princess Street was being built.

18:22 And so from the early concept designs, I've seen renders

18:26 and things of the cellar, we kind of had this desire

18:30 to kind of put a cellar within Johnny Walker Princess Street

18:33 that we could use as a kind of experimental,

18:35 unique maturation space.

18:37 Can I discuss that with Emma as well, the sort of surprises

18:40 and interesting things that may or may not be happening down there?

18:42 Yeah.

18:43 So, yeah, were you quite happy with,

18:45 in terms of the cask that got bottled,

18:47 were you surprised or was it what you were expecting?

18:49 Yeah, so as I said, it was quite experimental in the sense

18:52 that there was a bit of an unknown, you know,

18:54 we talk about kind of warehouses, you think of them as like

18:57 big giant sheds out in the Scottish countryside full of whisky,

19:01 and because of that, they're kind of experience

19:04 all the weather fluctuations you get across the course of a year,

19:08 so if it's minus 20 outside, it's probably pretty close

19:11 to that inside the warehouse, whereas down here

19:14 in Princess Street, we've got a really unique cellar

19:17 in that it's in a heated building, it's underground,

19:20 so that naturally is going to have a far higher temperature,

19:23 kind of medium temperature across the year

19:26 without any fluctuations because of seasons.

19:28 And so it goes back to the kind of chemists

19:31 and the chemistry studies that are in some of the blenders

19:34 where we think, well, you know, the higher temperature

19:37 is going to allow for quicker, faster maturation,

19:39 it's going to help those interactions between wood

19:42 and whisky happen quicker, so we had that in our minds

19:45 that that was going to happen.

19:47 It wasn't until we sampled the casks down there

19:50 and started seeing how it was changing over time

19:52 to actually get the proof that that was the case.

19:54 So we've got some of the whisky here, do you want to tell us

19:56 a little bit about it first, and then we're going to try it?

19:59 Yeah, so Johnny Walker, Princess Street Collective,

20:01 Johnny Walker Harris Tweed is a blended Scotch whisky,

20:04 bottled at 40%.

20:06 It was, as I said, put down in this experimental cellar

20:09 with 26 American oak casks, and we left that for almost a year

20:13 just to finish and to kind of bring on some of those flavours

20:16 that we expected and hoped would come.

20:18 As I nose it, I get kind of honeysuckle, sweet, woody oak notes

20:24 that definitely have come from that finishing process.

20:27 There's a touch of wood spice there.

20:29 On the taste, you're getting lovely, soft wood notes,

20:34 sweet vanilla is still there, and there's a touch of berry,

20:38 the peach that was on the nose comes through a bit on the palate as well.

20:42 Lovely, soft finish, very sweet, smooth, approachable,

20:47 but lots of those kind of wood spice notes.

20:50 Touch, just a touch of smoke, wood smoke there as well.

20:53 Really lovely, delicious, smooth whisky.

20:57 I think the key there is accessible as well.

20:59 It's not too strong, it's not anything overpowering,

21:02 so if you're not really into, or you're trying to get into whisky

21:04 or maybe you're gifting it to someone you're not really sure,

21:06 it's a good all-rounder.

21:08 I think that's important with the collaboration in mind,

21:10 thinking about Harris Tweed and its approachability

21:13 and its accessibility and how the two brands have that kind of synergy.

21:17 We want it to be approachable, we want it to be for everyone.

21:20 To touch on that, as well as a lovely neat jam,

21:24 like yourself and I are trying now, it's also really versatile.

21:27 It makes a great whisky that can be used in cocktails,

21:30 whether they're highballs or short cocktails,

21:33 to really bring it to more people

21:36 and make it more approachable and accessible for them.

21:38 And so will this be available to try behind the bar,

21:40 and are you going to make any cocktails with it?

21:42 I'm not personally going to make it.

21:44 I enjoy making a cocktail or two at home,

21:46 but I'm nowhere near as talented as some of the great bartenders

21:49 here at Prince's Street, but I believe so, yes.

21:51 They'll have access to it at the bar and be able to create things with it,

21:55 as well as tastings down in the retail area as well

21:58 to help consumers sample it and hopefully inform their purchase.

22:02 Obviously, this is the first in a series of collaborations,

22:05 so how would you go about finding the right people to work with?

22:09 I think it's about choosing people to collaborate with

22:13 that fit with Johnny Walker, have similar qualities

22:18 or similar ethos, as it were.

22:21 And I think with this, the key thing that Johnny Walker

22:25 and Harris Tweed have is quality is at the forefront.

22:28 They're obviously respected Scottish brands, icons in Scotland,

22:34 but quality is at the key and the heart of everything they do

22:37 and everything that we do here at Johnny Walker.

22:39 So it's a natural fit in that sense.

22:42 It was lovely speaking to Mark earlier to talk about the synergies

22:46 between blending what we do at Johnny Walker and the weaving

22:50 and the creation of Harris Tweed was really nice as well.

22:54 Because they blend the Tweed and you blend the whisky.

22:56 Exactly, yeah.

22:57 And can you tell us a little bit about what's next for the cellar?

23:00 So I can't talk about any kind of future collaborations and things,

23:04 but what I can say is that we have this unique cellar

23:08 that we've used successfully, obviously, for this collaboration.

23:11 We're not going to stop there.

23:13 We've already put in more casks, another 26 casks have gone down

23:18 into the cellar for future bottling.

23:20 We're really excited about it.

23:22 It was so experimental in respect to we didn't quite know

23:25 what was going to happen.

23:27 We now know what the effect of the cellar is on a cask.

23:30 So it's really exciting for us as blenders to be able to play around

23:33 with that, think about what types of casks we can put down there,

23:36 what types of blended whiskies we can put down there

23:39 to kind of create new products.

23:41 So it gives us another avenue to kind of come up with new,

23:43 exciting innovations for Johnny Walker.

23:45 So this is available now.

23:47 How many bottles are there available and how can people

23:50 get their hands on it?

23:51 So, yeah, so as I said, it was 26 casks.

23:53 We made about 10,000 bottles, which will be exclusively available

23:57 here at Johnny Walker Prince's Street, along with the Harris Tweed bag

24:01 that comes with the bottle, which is beautiful as well.

24:03 And how much is it?

24:04 Yeah, so the bottle and bag come together and they're available

24:08 for £169.

24:10 Thank you very much for your time and thanks for tying the whisky with me.

24:12 Thanks for having me, Rosalind.

24:13 It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

24:15 Cheers.

24:16 Cheers.

24:17 [Music]

24:26 Mark gave a presentation about the partnership in the cellar

24:28 where the 26 new casks are resting in anticipation

24:31 of another collaboration.

24:33 [Music]

24:38 The most important thing about creating this fabric was to create

24:41 an authentic story.

24:43 So as I've said to many of you already, this is a two-year process.

24:47 And as with whisky industry and indeed to a lesser extent Harris Tweed,

24:52 all great partnerships and all great products take time.

24:55 We are a hand-woven craft industry.

24:58 I think that's really important to state that from the outset.

25:02 Harris Tweed is more than just a product.

25:04 It's about people.

25:06 I invested in the Act of Parliament as the whole dynamic that it has

25:11 to be made from Burgeon Rule in the Outer Hebrides and only the Outer

25:15 Hebrides of Scotland and at the home of the weaver.

25:18 I think that last part is particularly important because that meant that

25:22 you couldn't take Harris Tweed and make it in the Scottish Borders.

25:25 You couldn't make it in the Yorkshire Dales and you couldn't make it

25:28 in the Far East.

25:30 And that's why it exists today.

25:32 And that all falls on intellectual property, which I think in many cases

25:35 some people have a negative element of that.

25:37 But as this incredible brand that we're here to celebrate today,

25:40 Johnnie Walker, shows, there's never anything wrong with having deep

25:44 and sincere intellectual property.

25:46 Coming on to the actual dimensions of creating a fabric,

25:51 that was the exciting part, but it was also quite difficult as well

25:55 because we were aware of obviously the Cormark heritage in Ayrshire,

25:58 John Walker and Sons, et cetera, but we wanted to navigate it from here

26:02 in Princess Street, and I actually think we've done a particularly

26:05 good job in that.

26:06 There was the whole concept of the traditional maps of Edinburgh

26:11 and trying to marry that with the landscape and seascape

26:14 of the Outer Hebrides.

26:16 So the colours that you can see that have come really strong are these

26:19 blues and turquoises, but with that little intervention, if you like,

26:23 of this what seems to be actually a red from distance.

26:27 That is no normal red.

26:29 [laughter]

26:31 That is the iteration of about maybe 10 different reds.

26:35 We actually ended up having to create our own individual yarn,

26:39 which Emma can relate to in terms of whisky blending.

26:43 So that is in our very basic terms YC309.

26:47 But YC309 was created because we didn't have a colour that could match

26:51 what we exactly needed.

26:53 And if you look under these incredibly beautiful kind of

26:56 Bauhaus lights, you've got this coral, but that is a melange of three

27:02 or possibly four different wills already.

27:05 So even before you get to the pattern, we're already blending.

27:09 So if anybody wants to question the sincerity or the authenticity

27:13 of this partnership, it's there.

27:15 It's all about blending, and it's about getting that exact iteration.

27:19 Our designer will look at five or six different shades of red or pink

27:24 and say, "Well, between those two, there's three.

27:27 Between those two, there's four."

27:28 And that is the background of creating that unique yarn,

27:31 which I think really sets it off.

27:33 And beyond that is the signature graffiti, whatever you want to talk of it,

27:39 of the John Walker and Sons element.

27:41 I think that just really harnesses it and gives it a really modern identity.

27:45 If you like, this is Prince's Street, so I think this is a whisky version

27:48 of street wear.

27:49 [laughter]

27:51 I love that.

27:52 And I think it's a beautiful product.

27:54 We're really, really pleased about the actual craft element of it,

27:58 which is there to be seen.

28:01 And I have to say, just really proud, representing Harris Tweed for 14 years.

28:06 I think it's probably one of the most arduous but exciting projects

28:10 that I've worked on.

28:11 And I know for a fact that the liquid has actually stood up to the quality

28:15 that was put into the fabric as well.

28:17 So I'd like to just thank everybody that's been involved.

28:19 ♪ [music] ♪

28:26 Thanks to our partners for this podcast, Johnny Walker, Prince's Street,

28:29 and the team behind this innovative collaboration.

28:32 And thanks to you two for listening.

28:34 We'll be back very soon with more Scran.

28:38 Scran is a logical podcast that's co-produced and hosted by me,

28:42 Roslyn Derskin, and co-produced, edited, and mixed by Kelly Crichton.

28:46 ♪ [music] ♪

28:50 ♪ [music] ♪

28:53 ♪ [music] ♪

28:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Scran Bonus episode - Johnnie Walker Princes Street Harris Tweed Hebrides Collaboration

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