Diageo is seeking to future-proof its Johnnie Walker scotch brand amid declining spirits sales, having applied for trademark protection for the brand in alcohol-free.
It has applied to trademark the Johnnie Walker name with the UK Intellectual Property Office under a class 32 mark covering non-alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic spirits.
Any alcohol-free innovation from Johnnie Walker would be the first of its kind for a whisky brand in the UK.
Most launches in low & no spirits to date have focused on aping white, unaged spirits like gin – although Diageo added a Captain Morgan Spiced Gold 0.0% variant in August 2023.
The following year Seedlip founder Ben Branson launched Sylva, a 0.5% abv ‘spirit’ taking cues from rum, cognac and whisky. Its third release, Sylva Orchard, landed on Ocado in January.
However, scotch whisky is a legally protected spirit that must be distilled and matured in Scotland for at least three years and bottled at a minimum alcoholic strength of 40% abv.
Hence, any alcohol-free Johnnie Walker NPD would need to lean heavily on the brand and could not be described as scotch.
Diageo has made innovation in alcohol-free a key focus as it looks to adapt to falling booze consumption globally. In the UK, the group is the category leader in both low & no beer and spirits with Guinness 0.0 and Gordon’s 0.0 respectively.
But it refused to be drawn on the Johnnie Walker filing.
“It is standard practice to file for important brands in adjacent categories to prevent others from appropriating brand equity in ways that might confuse consumers or dilute our brand value,” a spokeswoman for the drinks giant said.
Off-trade sales of Johnnie Walker slid £16.4m (30.3%) on volumes down 43.3% last year, after Diageo delisted a one-litre bottle of Red Label [NIQ 52 w/e 6 September 2025].
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