Discover more than 200 years of historic materials, and how Johnnie Walker has cemented itself in culture.

How does a brand like Johnnie Walker become a household name? It certainly does not happen overnight &mdash; its centuries-long history will attest to that. But more than its longevity, Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s success is found in its dedication to innovation, fine-tuning its rich flavors, and creating iconic moments and imagery. There&rsquo;s a lot to be learned from this storied name, and there&rsquo;s no better place to learn all that than the Diageo Archive.

Located in Menstrie, Scotland, the Diageo Archive houses anything and everything related to the history of Johnnie Walker, along with other Diageo brands such as Guinness, Tanqueray, and Baileys, among many others. Its collection of materials span from over 200 years ago until present day. The Diageo Archive is where you will find every iteration of Johnnie Walker bottle, previous campaigns and imagery, and stories that have been collated and preserved from all over the world &mdash; including the Philippines.

The archive has an area of over 5,000 square meters, which, by any indication, is a sign of how important history is to Diageo. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really fortunate that we&rsquo;ve got documentation going right back to the time of our founders, and we can chart the growth and development of our brands and our business from Day 1 right through to present day,&rdquo; says Christine McCafferty, the archive&rsquo;s manager.&nbsp;
But more than just simply charting its history, the Diageo Archive exists to bring the story of Johnnie Walker and other Diageo brands to life. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just about preserving these wonderful items for the future; it&rsquo;s what these things tell us about our brands,&rdquo; adds McCafferty.
L&rsquo;Officiel Philippines took an intimate tour of the archive, where McCafferty walked us through Diageo&rsquo;s rich history.
The Founder&rsquo;s Room
The tour starts at Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s beginnings: The Founder&rsquo;s Room. Here, you&rsquo;ll find documents and photos of John Walker, all preserved from his era. Walker was born in 1805, and he grew up on Todriggs Farm in the west side of Scotland. When Walker&rsquo;s father died only 14 years later, he and his mother sold the farm and purchased a grocery shop in the nearby town of Kilmarnrock. There, Walker started selling and eventually blending his own whiskies, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The earliest document in the Founder&rsquo;s Room related to John Walker dates back to as early as 1819, and is an inventory list of their grocery shop. McCafferty notes that until they opened Johnnie Walker Princes Street in 2021, not many people realized that Walker was a farm boy before he started Johnnie Walker. &ldquo;And what a leap of faith it must have been for him to leave that very familiar surrounding behind, and start himself up as a businessman in the nearby town,&rdquo; she adds.
The Vault
Up next is where you&rsquo;ll appreciate just how extensive the Diageo Archive is. The Vault houses Diageo&rsquo;s collection of archive materials, both for current and future use. Here, you&rsquo;ll see the breadth of Johnnie Walker and Diageo&rsquo;s history, and how it has stamped itself into culture throughout the years. There are materials from film and TV, to name a few, and even appearances in iconic events and moments.

Perhaps most notable was a page from its book of newspaper clippings, which features a Johnnie Walker advertisement from the Philippines. Dated all the way back from 1950, four news clippings introduce Johnnie Walker to the Filipino audience, explaining Scotch whisky and what makes Johnnie Walker so distinctive. The bottom of each clip bears the name of its sole distributor back in the day: The Manila Wine Merchants, based in 174 Juan Luna street, Manila.&nbsp;
There are plenty more fascinating materials stored in The Vault, but there is even better news: in 2020, Diageo created a <a href="https://www.diageo.com/en/our-business/our-history/the-archive">360-degree digital tour</a> of the entire Diageo Archive, including The Vault. Now, you can learn and see all of Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s history from the comfort of your own home.
The Liquid Library
Last but certainly not least in the Diageo Archive is the Liquid Library, where over 5,000 bottles of Diageo&rsquo;s spirits are displayed. The dates of these bottles go back as far as the 1880s, and continue all the way until present day. The Liquid Library presents an overview of how Johnnie Walker and Diageo&rsquo;s brands have evolved and developed over the years, along with what elements in the bottles have stood the test of time.

Apart from the evolution and development on display, the Liquid Library also contains special edition bottles, where Diageo and Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s innovation are seen front and center. One such example is Johnnie Walker Swing, which features a bottle with a concave base that allows it to rock back and forth when gently pushed. According to McCafferty, this bottle design was created specially for voyages by sea: the bottle&rsquo;s see-sawing feature allows it to compensate for the rocking motion of the ship while sailing.&nbsp;
This kind of innovation wouldn&rsquo;t be possible without the collaboration between the many teams that make up Johnnie Walker. During a tasting for Johnnie Walker Blue Label, master blender George Harper explained that each product is the result of many experts working closely together: &ldquo;We have experts across the business that are experts in marketing, and we have lots of R&amp;D departments that do consumer research to find out what people want, what flavors resonate with certain markets.&rdquo; All of this work then gets pooled together to create the product you buy in stores.&nbsp;
The Diageo Archive is only proof that what creates a household name like Johnnie Walker is countless innovations throughout many years, carefully developed by many experts from varying fields. John Walker himself may have started his business from humble beginnings, but what has kept it going for the past 200 years &mdash; and will keep it going for 200 more &mdash; is the collaborative effort of passionate and brilliant minds, coupled with the dedication of archivists like McCafferty to keep telling its story.
Johnnie Walker is available online at Diageo&rsquo;s official <a href="https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/diageo?path=index.htm&amp;lang=en&amp;pageTypeId=1">Lazada store</a>, and in S&amp;R locations nationwide. For more information, visit Johnnie Walker&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-ph/">website</a>.
Drink responsibly. Visit the <a href="https://www.drinkiq.com/">DrinkIQ.com</a> site to learn more about alcohol facts.

Journey Through Johnnie Walker’s Most Iconic Moments at the Diageo Archive

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