You hit the Blue Hour in Hautes-Alpes, reaching the bottom of La Grave – your last Double Diamond run. You feel exhausted and exhilarated with adrenalin pumping through your body. A craving deep inside you desperately wants tomorrow’s fix of heli-skiing to the mountain peak and dropping again into space and virgin snow.

You scream, “My God! That was the best skiing ever!”

But now… you know your body and mind are nudging you towards a hot shower and a relaxing and contemplative sauna… because it is après-ski time with your fellow daredevils and definitely party time.

You greet your friends refreshed in body and mind and want to celebrate with everyone your successes of the day. Through friendly banter, you scan your hotel’s bar ensemble of whiskies, ready for a proper drink before a delicious Alpine meal. Your eyes pop to see your favourite tipple after skiing – you delight in spying on a bottle of Johnnie Walker’s new celebrated whisky creation – Blue Label Ice Chalet. You are in heaven and order at least two fingers of the nectar – you know the evening is starting well.

The Birth of Blue Label Ice Chalet

On October 14th, 2024, the world’s best-loved Scotch distiller, Johnnie Walker, gave birth to their new, limited-edition conception, Blue Label Ice Chalet whisky, launched from their three-year-old Edinburgh flagship store in famous Princes Street. The memorable day was a spectacular unveiling of the new whisky with Perfect Moment, the celebrated luxury skiwear and lifestyle brand.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the Blue Label Ice Chalet envoy and Perfect Moment shareholder, wished everyone success on the spectacular blast-off day of the new whisky for both companies.

Rob Maxwell, who oversees the Princes Street store, was animated with excitement, enthusing the new baby: “Johnnie Walker Princes Street is a hub for innovations in Scotch, and we’re always looking to surprise and delight our visitors with new and luxury whiskies they can experience when they drop into our beautiful building. We’re thrilled to offer something completely different to our guests as we step into a new territory for whisky.

As we head into ski season, the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet and companion-designer crossbody bag will be a stylish addition to any ski trip or make the perfect gift, which can be personalised with a message or one of the unique charms created in partnership with Perfect Moment.”

Blue Label Ice Chalet Whisky

Blue Label Ice Chalet is a rare, new blend of whisky carefully and perfectly balanced by Johnnie Walker Master Blender Emma Walker and paralleled in design by Perfect Moment’s perfectly proportioned insulated bag. The reversible design is inspired by the ‘Blue Hour’ – when the sun is setting, your skiing has finished, and you shower and sauna, ready for après ski time with your friends and to party to the wee small hours.

And the decision is easy – the evening begins with two or three fingers of Blue Label Ice Chalet. Your cut-glass tumbler hesitates as you anticipate the beautiful notes of cinnamon-spiced apple, giving way to warm cloves and spices before finishing with the subtlest hints of Alpine smoke. Your lips touch the glass, and the rare whisky – only one in 10,000 oak casks has met the stringent Johnnie Walker requirements for the golden nectar to be in it – touches your tongue and palate. You roll the complex flavours around your mouth, creating a rich depth of Alpine taste – the quintessence of your senses of enjoyment following an action-packed day of memorable skiing.

Summing up Emma Walker’s philosophy behind her and her team’s inspiration behind the new blend, she commented: “When creating Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet, we set out to blend a whisky inspired by the Alpine landscape and capturing the magic of those special après ski moments. Using Met Office data, we uncovered rare expressions that were distilled in the depths of some of Scotland’s oldest winters and blended these with whiskies from some of our most northern and highest altitude distilleries, including Dalwhinnie, Clynelish and Brora, to create a velvety smooth Scotch with Johnnie Walker Blue Label’s signature depth of flavour at its heart.”

To experience Blue Label Ice Chalet, visit Princes Street in Edinburgh or one of Johnnie Walker’s carefully selected online stores.

Lovers of Johnie Walker whiskies can book and indulge in a ski-themed installation and a specially created Ice Chalet tasting experience by the company – you will love the event.

The Limited Edition Blue Label Ice Chalet whisky and its companion Perfect Moment bag are available from Johnnie Walker, and the fantastic duo is worth every penny of £320.

Perfect Moment

In 1984, Perfect Moment – the vision of professional skier Thierry Donard – was born, inspired by the pristine snow-covered peaks of Chamonix. He saw the new company as a high-performance, luxury skiwear and lifestyle brand that fused technical excellence with fashion-led designs.

In 2010, Jane and Max Gottschalk, a British-Swiss entrepreneurial couple, purchased the brand, injecting it with new style zest – seen exploding in colour on the latest limited-edition Blue Label Ice Chalet reversible crossbody bag. The clever design features the North Star and houndstooth print in a deep blue, crafted from a new liquid blue and white fabric.

Johnnie Walker Princess Street

After four-and-a-half years of construction and design, the spectacular eight-floor Johnnie Walker visitor experience has welcomed over 1 million visitors from over 140 countries since opening in September 2021.

The centre was built as the 85 million pound show-stopping centrepiece of Diageo PLC’s whisky investment in Scotland’s booming tourism industry – a confident investment in whisky being the most extensive of its kind.

Blue Label Ice Chalet is a new limited-edition high-quality brand of whisky added to the Johnnie Walker range under the care of Diago – a global leader in outstanding alcoholic beverages. They have a wonderful collection of brands, such as Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan’s, Smirnoff and Cîroc vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

So… if you want to sample a wee dram of Blue Label Ice Chalet whisky, see you at the Johnnie Walker, Princes Street visitor experience. or at the après ski bar – I can’t wait!

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All photography copyright © DIAGO PLC 2024

Written by Peter Sissons for Luxuria Lifestyle International