Whisky, but make it fashion.

Today, Johnnie Walker Vault announced the second installment in its series of collaborations with Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain. “The Couture Blend” is an ultra-limited, blended Scotch whisky crafted as a partnership between Rousteing and Dr. Emma Walker, master blender at Johnnie Walker.

This new release — set to coincide with Rousteing’s 40th birthday — comes housed in a custom crystal decanter designed by the French fashion icon. The 10-whisky blend includes several 40-year-old components, as well as rare stocks from “ghost” distilleries that ceased production long ago.

The Couture Blend follows The Couture Expressiona four-decanter set announced earlier this year — featuring spring, summer, fall, and winter Scotch blends — which was limited to just 25 bottles of each seasonal blend.

The Couture Expression marked the first official release from the new Johnnie Walker Vault luxury platform and carried a suggested retail price of around $20,000 per bottle. By comparison, the new Couture Blend is much easier to acquire. A total of 1,500 bottles will be released, each with a suggested retail price of $2,500.

According to Dr. Walker, the first female master blender at Johnnie Walker, who assumed her role in 2021, the new blend took about two months to finalize, a process that was sped up thanks to her prior work and relationship with Rousteing.

Blending took place in the Johnnie Walker Vault, an underground “atelier” in Edinburgh that houses 500 samples from across the portfolio of the brand’s parent company, Diageo. (Per Diageo, the company has a staggering 10 million casks of aging Scotch across Scotland.)

To navigate that cask portfolio, Walker utilized samples in the Vault, in addition to knowledge from colleagues across dozens of distilleries. In recent years, Walker has become increasingly keen on experimentation in both grain varietals — including oat in single-grain distillate — and cask types, ranging from ex-wine to ex-tequila.

For the final Couture Blend, Walker selected 10 whiskies from the Johnnie Walker Vault library. These included whisky from:

• Caledonian and Port Dundas, “ghost distilleries” that closed in 1988 and 2010, respectively.
• Benrinnes, Cragganmore, and Cameronbridge, from which Walker selected whisky distilled in the 1980s and ‘90s.
• Cardhu, Roseisle, and Teaninich, all of which contributed experimental and finished whiskies from the past 20 years. For example, fruity, tropical components from Roseisle were aged in ex-wine casks. The whisky from Teannich was made with an experimental approach to chocolate malt.

Walker tells Food & Wine that her favorite part of a bespoke blend is capturing the essence of a person, a process she says can elicit emotional reactions from all involved. “I was very much inspired by Olivier’s story of progress over the last 40 years, from his early years of self-discovery to his modern-day unapologetic and daring approach to creativity.

“In this special blend, I leaned into some of the most progressive and experimental whiskies from the past and of modern times, whiskies that push the boundaries of flavor just as Olivier pushes the boundaries in couture.”

For Rousteing, designing the bottle was an exercise in crafting something that could connect a range of eras and aesthetics. The result is a gold-dressed, architectural design that plays on Johnnie Walker’s traditional shape, plus an opulent crystal stopper.

“I wanted to create something that captures the tension between minimalism and maximalism, which sparks conversation and curiosity, and which is anchored in the present but feels futuristic and timeless at the same time,” Rousteing details in a press statement.

The Couture Blend will be available starting this fall at select luxury retailers.