Protected: Highlights from the Johnnie Walker Lunar New Year Collaboration with Designer Angel Chen

by Johnnie Walker January 20, 2019

Every year, the legendary Johnnie Walker celebrates Lunar New Year with a limited-edition design of its Blue Label bottle. This year, the award-winning spirit has collaborated with Shanghai-based designer Angel Chen to release a unique and collectable design.

Chen is part of the next generation who are making an impact locally and globally. As one of fashion’s brightest young talents, Chen is best known for smashing gender norms and reinventing the tradition of fashion. The Chinese designer’s signature colourful approach to fashion fuses Eastern and Western aesthetics and is often inspired by different generations, cultures, and genders.

The partnership between the vanguard Chinese brand with Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label is a natural fit given the synergy between arts, culture, and luxury lifestyle. Both Chen and Walker began the pursuit of their crafts at a young age; Chen is recognized for mixing textures and styles while Walker started his trade by blending spices and teas before moving into whisky. Chen is brave, bold, and expressive in her works, just like Blue Label, which is higher proof than the brand’s other blends—46 versus the regular 40 per cent—for a smokier result.

For the Year of the Rabbit, Chen has etched three modern interpretations of the 2023 Chinese zodiac animal in 18k gold jumping through a lush mountainous landscape on the iconic Blue Label bottle. Symbolizing the concept of striving forward–just like Johnnie Walker’s striding man logo and the brand’s motto, Keep Walking–the prancing rabbit also represents mercy, elegance, longevity and beauty.

The vibrant blue design was inspired by the depth of character found in Blue Label’s blend that uses the rarest, most exceptional whiskies from Johnnie Walker’s precious reserves, and captures the highly complex, yet perfectly balanced, whisky as vivid layers of colour. It’s an eye-catching tribute to Johnnie Walker Master Blender Emma Walker and her team’s expert craftsmanship of the blended whisky with its signature rich and smoky flavours expressed in each sip.

To celebrate the festive season and the latest of the Zodiac Collection Series, Johnnie Walker hosted Toronto’s most notable and fashionable creators and socialites for a one-of-a-kind fashion presentation at the Shangri-La Toronto in partnership with Holt Renfrew.

Embodying elegance, luxury, and self-expression, the evening welcomed guests to a grand red, gold and rabbit-themed ballroom where they sipped on well-balanced cocktails that Johnnie Walker’s Canadian brand ambassador Dante Raphael Concepcion Jr. created for the event. The team at the Shangri-La was also enlisted to help launch the limited edition Lunar New Year collaboration, curating a menu of auspicious foods that paired with each cocktail.

Once seated, guests were treated to an energetic Chinese lion dance which was eagerly captured by a room of flickering mobile phones. To the delight of the well-dressed crowd, the performance turned contemporary when the sound of a traditional drum and cymbals transitioned to electronic beats, with the lions taking on new dance moves along with colourful LED-lit attire.

Enhanced by art and culture, the experience paired the exceptional Scotch whisky with both fashion and culinary arts. Between sips of Blue Label-based cocktails, guests were privy to a presentation by Holt Renfrew which showcased couture looks for the Lunar New Year. It was an experience that resonated with those who have an appreciation for luxury and exclusivity, especially noting that the unrivalled masterpiece is made from a combination of Scotland’s rarest and most exceptional whiskies.

From waves of spice, vanilla and honey to hazelnut, sherry and dark chocolate notes to a warm smoky finish, Johnnie Walker Blue Label is an extraordinary whisky for extraordinary occasions. Give the gift of elegance and luxury to the whisky lover in your life with a bottle of the exclusive, limited-edition Angel Chen-designed Johnnie Walker Blue Label Year of the Rabbit. The only thing more luxurious, is to have it engraved with the name of its recipient.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label X Angel Chen Lunar New Year limited edition design is available at the LCBO.

Swipe through our gallery of images from the luxurious evening below: