17th October 2023
When Scotch Master Blender Emma Walker and Japanese Chef Kei Kobayshi put heads and palates together to capture the essence of umami, they embarked on a journey of flavour exploration. SPHERE’s Lisa Barnard travelled to Paris to be the first to discover the result of their collaboration: Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami.
The concept of ‘umami’ in food intrigues, fascinates and entices. Umami is hard to define; it is capable of adding a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to dishes, it’s associated with savoury, salty, earthy flavours, some people refer to umami as “the fifth taste”. It is enigmatic, elusive and exclusive, which makes the new Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami whisky rather apt.
I was fortunate to be invited to Paris for the global launch of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami. We discovered the new whisky in an immersive sensory experience, and I had the opportunity to speak one-to-one with the two creators behind the new product. They are Emma Walker, the first female Master Blender for Diageo (owner of Johnnie Walker) in 200 years and the Chef Kei Kobayashi, owner of the restaurant Kei in Paris, which earned him three Michelin Stars in 2020. This made him the first Japanese chef to achieve that honour.
We were treated to a series of dishes, each paired with the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami. Given the enigma, to decode the concept of umami and translate it to whisky was an ambitious challenge. Emma Walker and her team, and Chef Kei collaborated for months before they cracked it. The first task was to select the reserves from which to work. To set this in perspective Johnnie Walker has a library of about 10 million casks, but only one in 25,000 casks made the cut to be considered for the flavour profile.
The result is a beautifully elegant, mellow and balanced Scotch whisky combining a repertoire of complex savoury and sweet flavours. I noted accents of oranges, red berries, tobacco, cedarwood and tea. On the palate it is like tasting a dish with the perfect seasoning of salt, pepper and spice, which have been absorbed and enhanced while cooking, without being obtrusive.
The simple answer is caviar, which has the perfect combination of delicacy in flavour, saltiness and savouriness, and a fine texture. In Paris, we were treated to two dishes that paired wonderfully: Kaviari “Kristal” caviar, sour cream and smoked salmon served on buckwheat pancakes, and (my favourite) an oyster confit, in a sea water jelly and topped with “Kristal” caviar.
Emma Walker said: “When Chef Kei and I set out to capture the essence of umami, we knew we were taking a step into the unknown by embarking on an exciting journey of flavour exploration. Together, we wanted to push the boundaries of what Scotch could be and bring a truly innovative offering to the world of whisky and flavour.”
Chef Kei said:
“I remember waking up at 5am every morning and walking amongst the stunning mountains in Nagano where the air was pure, and the scent of the trees lingered in the air. Umami possesses a mysterious quality that ignites our senses, revealing sumptuous taste, complexity and depth – and I believe we have captured this essence in Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami. The final liquid is a multi-faceted expression of what I interpret umami to be.”
