The Johnnie Walker Blue Rare Access Experience: Reimagining Whisky Cocktails For Non-Whisky Drinkers At World Class 2026
Introduction
The warm, sunny March days in Delhi came to an end with an evening that lent a new perspective to cocktail making, courtesy the National Finals of World Class 2026, the world’s most prestigious bartending competition. The balmy evening saw multiple cocktail stations reinventing the classics and reimagining spirits with unusual flavours. The Johnnie Walker Blue Label Rare Access zone highlighted the latter, with the scotch whisky serving as the bold base.
Tim Philips, global brand ambassador, Johnnie Walker and Navjot Singh, expert mixologist and beverage director at one of India’s leading immersive bars, hosted the exclusive tasting room. Both are also former World Class winners. They presented a bespoke cocktail, Ink and Tannin, inspired by India’s pink city, Jaipur and one of its art forms, block painting (that took on the shape of an ice block in the drink).
The cocktail saw the smooth, complex layers of Johnnie Walker Blue Label marry sweet notes of pine-needle tea and cherry with smoky undertones. Each flavour emerged, unhurried, ensuring every layer resolved into a balanced blend. As Singh put it, “You don’t want to kill the whisky. When you put too many flavours, you mask the whisky.”
The tasting room was a chance for attendees to understand how a premium whisky like Johnnie Walker Blue Label can interact with different flavours. And discern the blend of ingredients that give the Blue Label its signature finish. Consequently, it included an immersive perfume experience that captured the depth of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, highlighting the dark chocolate notes with hints of vanilla, honey, and hazelnut. The trademark smoky finish was evident in both the perfume and the drink.
According to Philips, the idea is to help people “decipher the language” of a well-blended whisky by opening up their palates. “There's no secret on how to drink whisky. It’s just helping you connect the dots and language to help you describe the tasting. He (Singh) does it incredibly well in cocktails. We work with beautiful artisans in perfume to help you also connect to it in a new way!”
The world of cocktails is certainly making way for whisky, offering it more space on menus. It’s not just about introducing new flavours, but also responding to changing demands. As per Singh, there is a clear ask for whisky cocktails, but a single, standard flavour won’t do. Even Singh has a rotation of three different highballs on his menu.
Philips, a former winner and current judge at World Class, also talked about stepping away from homogenisation and drawing on regional flavours into cocktails. “You're talking about a spirit (Johnnie Walker Blue Label) which is bold in character, has the largest breadth of flavour out of every other category across all of our blends. Then you also talk about a country which probably has the largest breadth of flavour, food culture, ingredient culture out of any in the world. India is a continent in a lot of ways in terms of its ingredients. I want to see that originality!”
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
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