First female Master Blender in the brand’s 200-year history: Dr. Emma Walker about Johnnie Walker

When Johnnie Walker introduced the new Master Blender on January 1, 2022, it was like a small revolution in an industry still dominated by men. Dr. Emma Walker is the first female Master Blender in the more than 200-year history of the world’s most famous blended whisky brand. Emma Walker has been making a name for herself in the whisky world since 2008. Since then, the PhD chemist has been employed by Diageo and has worked in the whisky specialist team as a project scientist and in the blending and distilling departments at various distilleries. She is now using this extensive experience at Johnnie Walker for creative products, such as the Blue Label Lunar New Year Limited Edition in collaboration with artist James Jean, which was released at the beginning of 2024, and the Blue Label Elusive Umami Edition, which was created at the end of 2023 with three-star chef Kei Kobayashi.

We spoke to Dr. Emma Walker about the Blue Label Elusive Umami Edition, her work at Johnnie Walker and her goals. She also reveals how difficult it was to assert herself as a woman in the whisky industry.

Since 2022 you are the Johnnie Walker Master Blender. How does it feel to be the first woman to hold this position?

Emma Walker: There have been many talented female whisky blenders within the team over the years, led by Maureen Robinson and Caroline Martin, working alongside our male blenders. Since I joined the Whisky Specialist Team, we have had a gender balance, with the team members selected for the skills and experience they bring. This diversity is reflected in our distillery management, and we see female operators, coppersmiths, coopers, engineers across our sites in Scotland. So, I don’t really feel like a trailblazer – I’m one of the team, in an industry as diverse as our whisky.

When I moved into the role I wanted to be considered as the next Master Blender, not the first female Master Blender, who had been selected for her skills and experience. As I’ve spent time in the role and met people from around the world, I’m now understanding what it means to many people to have a female Master Blender at Johnnie Walker and I’m very honoured to be in this position.

How did you get into whisky blending?

Emma Walker: I began working for Diageo in 2008 and for more than a decade I have been one of the small team of 12 expert whisky makers working together in pursuit of blending excellence. My background is in chemistry and scientific research, and I completed a PhD in chemistry from the University of Sheffield. My passion for flavours and science led me to look for opportunities in whisky, accepting a position at Diageo’s Technical Centre in Menstrie, Scotland.

I joined the Whisky Specialist Team as a Project Scientist. I went on to roles in Blending & Distilling at distilleries including Leven, Cameronbridge and Knockando, gaining experience and understanding of how flavour develops in fermentation, distillation and maturation, while striving to ensure quality at every step.

At the end of 2014, I returned to the Whisky Specialist Team, bringing my knowledge of whisky production back into the blending team, before moving to the role of Johnnie Walker Master Blender on 1st January 2022.

Was it difficult to assert yourself as a woman in the industry? What prejudices did you have to contend with?

Emma Walker: I can only speak for Johnnie Walker and myself, and I’m lucky to have had a very positive experience. It’s important that the whisky industry continues to talk about the diverse range of people who work in whisky – if you see someone like yourself doing a job, it’s easier to picture yourself in a similar role. We strongly believe whisky is for everyone and we’re encouraging inclusion and diversity in every sense, in the workplace, in our communities and with our consumers.

Progress is being made, but there is still a long way to go, and we’re determined to lead that agenda which is why Diageo’s ten-year action plan has ambitious inclusion and diversity goals. We will continue to break down barriers and challenge prejudice so that it is just a given that women work in and enjoy drinking whisky and it’s not talked about as an issue to overcome.

You have been a Master Blender for almost two years now. What have you already implemented during this time?

Emma Walker: As a team, we want to continue the legacy that has been built for more than 200 years here at Johnnie Walker. Our founder John Walker sought out the finest whiskies from the four corners of Scotland to craft something really special for his customers and today we continue this by drawing from the largest selection of maturing Scotch stocks in the world. This gives us a far-ranging breadth of whiskies to continue our exploration of flavour through blending. Since the time John Walker, we’ve never wanted to stand still. We’ve always explored new possibilities in whisky, with one eye on the future and now we are looking to craft whiskies for the next 200 years.

My proudest moment has been getting the opportunity to lead this wonderful team built by Jim. I love going into work every day to work with these guys, they are all so passionate about whisky and about continuing that Johnnie Walker legacy and securing it for the next 200 years.

Let’s talk about the Elusive Umami Limited Edition that you created with star chef Kei Kobayashi. How did the collaboration come about?

Emma Walker: We are a brand that is all about progress and we want to build Johnnie Walker as a contemporary luxury icon. We already have the core foundations of a luxury brand in place – with incredible liquids, rare & iconic products and decades of craft and heritage – but we also have the momentum and drive to progress and innovate in line with evolving luxury trends.

The journey undertaken by Chef Kei Kobayashi and me was truly an exploration of flavour, joining forces to handpick casks that when brought together, captured the umami flavours in whisky. One of the key things I learnt from Chef is that ‘Umami’ is a combination of two Japanese words that literally translate as ‘delicious taste’ making this partnership perfect! Umami is inherently elusive – difficult to decode, meaning something different to different people, and we wanted to acknowledge the personal aspect of such a complex flavour.

How is whisky made and what does it taste like?

Emma Walker: For Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami specifically, only one in 25,000 casks in our unparalleled reserves of more than 10 million maturing casks made the cut when we painstakingly searched our reserves for that elusive flavour profile. Each expression of Scotch whisky was handpicked to create an umami profile, just like ingredients for a recipe, allowing us to bring the unique character of this innovative whisky to life.

The resultant taste of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Elusive Umami is a beautifully balanced Blended Scotch whisky of sweet and savoury flavours, with notes of blood oranges and red berries with sweet wood spice, a touch of smoked meat, a hint of salt and pepper with a long, sweet fruit finish.

What trends do you see for the future of whisky blending? Is anything emerging here?

Emma Walker: In terms of new trends, I feel the current image of whisky is changing a lot. With different initiatives, we are trying to break the ‘rules’ of drinking whisky. One of those unwritten rules is that you should always drink whisky straight, but I don’t agree with that. You can also drink whisky with ice or in a cocktail. Besides, whiskies come in so many different flavours that there is always one you can enjoy. You just might have to put some effort into finding the right one.

What concrete plans do you have for Johnnie Walker in the coming year?

Emma Walker: We work continually with our distilling and maturation colleagues to ensure we’re creating the flavours and characters we need for the future of our flagship whiskies such as Johnnie Walker Black Label and Johnnie Walker Blue Label. We are continually looking at how we create flavour at our distilleries and experimenting with how we can expand our world of flavour through process and raw materials, as well as through maturing in different styles of oak casks.

Everything we do comes from innovation – past innovations to serve us today and us innovating for the blenders of the future.

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+++ We thank Dr. Emma Walker for the open and very interesting interview! If you also have an interesting brand, then we should talk. Just send us an email with the subject “about-drinks interview” to redaktion@about-drinks.com – we look forward to hearing from you! +++