In order as to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, John Walker & Sons, Scotch Whisky Distillers By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, has created Diamond Jubilee Blended Scotch Whisky by John Walker & Sons, a unique blend of grain and malt whiskies all distilled in and maturing since 1952, finished in a marrying cask of English oak from The Queen’s Sandringham Estate.
Just 60 of these rare editions, one for each year of The Queen’s reign, will be offered for sale at £100,000 each. John Walker & Sons will donate the profits from the sale, with a guarantee of at least £1million, to Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association that preserves rare craft and conservation skills and enables them to flourish.
Master Blender Jim Beveridge and his apprentice Matthew Crow explored vast stocks of Scotch Whisky to seek out some of the most exceptional casks of whiskies distilled in 1952, the year The Queen acceded to the throne, to craft the exquisite liquid. Jim drew on expertise gained over more than 30 years and inspiration from the Walker family blending notes to create this peerless blend with a unique sense of provenance.
The Diamond Jubilee marrying casks are the final project by Master Cooper David Taylor, working with his journeymen tutors and apprentices, as he retires after 42 years as a John Walker & Sons cooper. Sandringham oak, provided by kind permission of The Queen, has been cut and carved into staves, shaped by hand and jointed seamlessly using age-old techniques to create the two small casks.
Resting at Royal Lochnagar Distillery, on the edge of The Queen’s Balmoral Estate, the marrying casks will be observed closely through this traditional finishing process, which allows the flavours to combine gradually, before bottling on 6 February 2012, 60 years to the day since The Queen acceded to the throne. John Walker & Sons has brought together fellow Royal Warrant Holders, QEST Scholars and leading artisans to present the whisky. Baccarat, the ultimate reference in luxury crystal, is making the diamond-shaped decanters, which stand on a base of six radial legs to reflect each decade of The Queen’s enduring reign. They will be decorated with Britannia silver adornments, including the John Walker & Sons Royal Warrant, entwined JW&S monogram and a collar that features a half-carat diamond, by Scottish silversmiths Hamilton & Inches. The silver will be hallmarked with the commemorative Diamond Jubilee mark.
Each decanter will be accompanied by a pair of specially designed lead crystal glasses by Cumbria Crystal, engraved by Philip Lawson Johnston with wildlife scenes from The Queen’s Balmoral and Sandringham Estates. QEST Scholar Laura West will create a hand-bound artefact book telling the story of craftsmanship behind Diamond Jubilee by John Walker & Sons, personalised with the name of each owner by QEST Scholar and Calligrapher By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, Sally Mangum.
All these elements will be housed in a bespoke cabinet by N.E.J. Stevenson, incorporating oak and native Caledonian pine from The Queen’s Sandringham and Balmoral Estates and decorated with fine marquetry using timber veneers from around the Commonwealth.
Just 60 editions will be created and released for sale to raise funds for the QEST Diamond Jubilee Appeal, to support its mission to preserve traditional craftsmanship as symbolised by the Royal Warrant of Appointment.
Due to the very exclusive nature of such an item it is hardly the kind of product that it widely publicised, and more-over, it is certainly not that the kind of product that anyone can simply buy over the counter. Anyhow, given our unique very select membership, we were very fortunate as to be provided with a direct email contact for anyone interested in purchasing of these highly desirable pieces of history …CLICK HERE to reveal further details.
