Diageo to mark Diamond Jubilee with luxury Scotch

Johnnie Walker is to produce 60 decanters of limited-edition Scotch whisky, which will retail at £100,000 apiece, to commemorate 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign next year.

The “Diamond Jubilee Blended Scotch Whisky by John Walker & Sons” is a blend of whiskies distilled in 1952, partially aged in a cask made from oak trees grown at Sandringham.

The whisky will be sold in a 70cl lead crystal decanter, decorated with a silver collar featuring a half-carat diamond and an individually numbered seal.

Each decanter will be accompanied by a pair of hand-engraved crystal glasses and a personalised leather-bound artefact book, all housed in a bespoke cabinet made of wood from the Balmoral and Sandringham estates.

The first bottle will be presented to the Queen as a gift, while the others will be offered for private sale by invitation only.

They will be bottled on 6 February 2012, 60 years after the Queen acceded to the British throne.

Despite the price tag, brand owner Diageo said: "We don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding buyers."

The company is not saying who will be offered the decanters, although they are expected to be some of the richest individuals in high-growth markets such as China, Japan, India and South Korea, where rare whiskies are seen as a status symbol.

The world’s biggest drinks group said it will donate all profits from the sale, with a guarantee of at least £1 million to the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, which will help “enable traditional craftsmanship to flourish in Britain”.

Diageo’s Johnnie Walker whisky is the world’s biggest-selling Scotch brand. Johnnie Walker, which was established in 1820, was awarded a royal warrant of appointment by George V, Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, to supply whisky to the royal family.

Alan Lodge, 08.06.2011