Johnnie Walker Black Label centenary edition is a 12 year old whisky, blended from 40 whiskies - as the brand has been since 1909 - and available from this month.

The bottle, in the company's distinctive square style, is an all black affair, reflecting the name picked by grandsons of John Walker, George and Alexander, who sold whisky from his grocers.

It is available as part of the Centenary Pack for $50.

Johnnie Walker is the most popular brand of Scotch blended whisky in the world with a 130 million bottles sold annually.

There are few places on the planet where you can't buy Johnnie Walker, and Black Label is their most popular brand.

Johnnie Walker was one of the first business to produce blended whisky, which was actually illegal until 1860 (specifically, the mixing together of malt and grain).

The centenary is being heralded by a range of promotional memorabilia glasses and posters with the slogan '100 years of progress', not to mention extensive webcasts on blending whisky.

Nevertheless, the anniversary comes at an awkward time for the company, with its parent Diageo (which also owns Guinness) closing its bottling plant in Kilmarnock and a distillery in Glasgow.

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