THEDAILYWHISKY

The director of La La Land and Whiplash has just made a whisky film. Johnnie Walker today released a new short directed by Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle, starring Sabrina Carpenter and built around the brand’s long-running Keep Walking message. It is the biggest creative swing yet in the Johnnie Walker Sabrina Carpenter partnership, and one of the most ambitious pieces of Scotch whisky storytelling we have seen this year.

In short: The Johnnie Walker Sabrina Carpenter film premiered on 10 November 2026. It was directed by Damien Chazelle, produced by Superprime Films and draws on the style of 1960s French New Wave cinema. The film tells Carpenter’s own “Keep Walking” story and continues the multi-year partnership that began in 2025. It follows two earlier pieces of the collaboration: her signature Go Go Highball serve (Black Label, ginger ale and sour cherry) and a limited edition Johnnie Walker Black Label bottle designed by Carpenter, now rolling out across Europe, Australia and North America at the standard Black Label price.

The key facts

• Brand: Johnnie Walker (Diageo), the world’s best-selling Scotch whisky brand by volume (IWSR)
• Artist: Sabrina Carpenter
• Director: Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash, First Man, Babylon)
• Production company: Superprime Films
• Released: 10 November 2026
• Whisky in focus: Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old, 40% ABV
• Signature serve: The Go Go Highball
• Related release: Limited edition Black Label bottle designed by Sabrina Carpenter, 70cl and 75cl

What is the Johnnie Walker Sabrina Carpenter film?

The film is the latest chapter of a partnership that Johnnie Walker and Carpenter first announced in August 2025, timed to the release of her album Man’s Best Friend. Where the first year was about cocktails at tour stops and album-led content, this is a proper piece of cinema with a name director attached.

Chazelle’s brief, according to Johnnie Walker, was Carpenter’s personal Keep Walking story: her evolution as an artist, her signature style and the next chapter of her career. The visual reference point is French New Wave cinema, the late 1950s and 1960s movement of Godard and Truffaut known for handheld cameras, jump cuts, street shooting and a deliberate habit of breaking film’s rules.

The result puts Carpenter in what the brand calls “main-character mode”, moving through a world of celebrations and unexpected moments while everything shifts around her. The campaign stills, including a shot of Carpenter stretched across a mahogany bar beside a bottle of Black Label and a cherry-topped highball, lean into the same vintage, playful glamour.

Why Damien Chazelle is the right director for this

Chazelle’s films are almost always about ambition and the cost of chasing it. Whiplash is a drummer pushing himself to breaking point. La La Land is two artists choosing between love and the career. First Man and Babylon are both about people determined to go further than anyone before them.

That is, in effect, what Keep Walking has been about since the striding man logo was given its slogan in 1999: personal progress. Pairing that idea with a director whose whole body of work is about forward motion, and with music running through it, makes far more sense than a celebrity-plus-bottle shoot.

Carpenter herself said she is “a long time fan of Damien’s work”, and described the project as “a creative adventure” aimed at making “a true cinematic experience that was playful, unexpected, and full of personality.”

Why this matters for whisky

Scotch has used music before, but rarely at this scale. Carpenter is a two-time GRAMMY and Emmy winner and one of the most-streamed artists on the planet, and her audience is younger than the one most whisky brands traditionally speak to. Johnnie Walker has built a wider music platform around artists like her, and this film is its clearest statement yet that Black Label is meant to sit in that culture rather than only in the whisky cabinet.

It also fits a broader 2026 push for the brand. In July, actor Callum Turner was named global ambassador for Johnnie Walker Blue Label, and the Keep Walking platform itself was refreshed earlier in the year. Johnnie Walker is clearly investing in storytelling across the entire range, with Black Label as the everyday entry point and Carpenter as its face.

For whisky drinkers, the practical upshot is simple. More people will be making their first highball with a blended Scotch this winter, and the bottle they reach for will very likely be Black Label.

The whisky behind the film: Johnnie Walker Black Label

Johnnie Walker Black Label is a 12 year old blended Scotch whisky bottled at 40% ABV. Every whisky in the blend has been matured for at least 12 years, combining single malts and grain whiskies from across Scotland. The house style is built around what Johnnie Walker calls the “Four Corners” of Scotland, with whiskies from distilleries such as Cardhu (Speyside), Clynelish (Highland), Glenkinchie (Lowland) and Caol Ila (Islay) shaping the profile.

That Islay component is the reason Black Label works so well in a highball. A thread of smoke runs underneath the vanilla and dried fruit, and it survives dilution with ginger ale where lighter blends tend to disappear.

Johnnie Walker Black Label: tasting notes (as described by Johnnie Walker)

Nose: Dark fruits, creamy vanilla, sweet orange

Palate: Rich dried fruit, vanilla sweetness, gentle smoke

Finish: Long, warming, with lingering smoke

ABV: 40% | Age: 12 years | Style: Blended Scotch whisky

The Go Go Highball: Sabrina Carpenter’s signature serve

The Go Go Highball is the drink you can see in the campaign imagery, the tall glass topped with two black cherries. It is Carpenter’s official signature serve with Johnnie Walker, and it is a sensible one: easy to make at home, built on Black Label’s vanilla and smoke, with sour cherry adding colour and a tart edge.

Go Go Highball recipe (official Johnnie Walker recipe)

• 30ml Johnnie Walker Black Label
• 85ml ginger ale
• 30ml sour cherry juice
• 2 black cherries, to garnish

Method: Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the Black Label and the ginger ale. Slowly drizzle the sour cherry juice over the top so it sinks through the drink, then garnish with two black cherries.

Our tip: use a properly cold glass and good, large ice. A highball lives or dies on its dilution, and Black Label’s smoke shows best when the drink stays crisp.

The limited edition Sabrina Carpenter Black Label bottle

The film arrives two months after the first physical product of the partnership. In September 2026, Johnnie Walker released a limited edition Black Label pack designed by Carpenter and inspired by Man’s Best Friend. It comes in a pale “Sabrina blue” colourway with a blue banner carrying her signature and a paw print, an embossed gold heart with the album title in script, and a pastel blue and gold kerchief tied around the neck.

The whisky inside is unchanged: standard Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old at 40% ABV, in 70cl and 75cl formats. Johnnie Walker has confirmed the recommended retail price matches the standard Black Label bottle, so there is no collector’s premium at the till.

Price and availability

The bottle launched first in Great Britain on 8 September 2026. According to Johnnie Walker, the limited edition bottle and the Go Go Highball are now rolling out across Europe, Australia and North America, with Mexico, India and further markets in Asia-Pacific to follow in the coming months.

Expect to find it wherever Black Label is sold: major supermarkets, specialist whisky retailers and international online shops. Because the pack is limited and priced at the everyday Black Label level, we would expect it to sell through quickly in markets where the fan base is strongest. If you want one for the shelf, buy early rather than waiting for the holiday season.

Our take

This is a big moment for Johnnie Walker, and a smart one. Putting an Oscar-winning director together with one of pop’s biggest stars and a 12 year old blended Scotch is not something the category does often, and Chazelle’s interest in ambition and forward motion is a natural fit for Keep Walking.

If you are a seasoned whisky drinker, the takeaway is the Go Go Highball. It is a genuinely good way to use a bottle of Black Label, and worth trying even if you usually drink your Scotch neat. If you collect whisky packaging or are a Carpenter fan, the limited edition bottle is an easy pick-up at standard price. And if you simply enjoy well-made film, the short is worth a few minutes of your evening.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Johnnie Walker Sabrina Carpenter film? It is a short film released by Johnnie Walker on 10 November 2026, directed by Damien Chazelle and produced by Superprime Films. Inspired by French New Wave cinema, it tells Sabrina Carpenter’s personal “Keep Walking” story and is the latest chapter in her multi-year global partnership with Johnnie Walker, which began in 2025.

Who directed the Johnnie Walker Sabrina Carpenter film? The film was directed by Damien Chazelle, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind La La Land, Whiplash, First Man and Babylon. His work often explores ambition, creativity and music, which ties directly into Johnnie Walker’s Keep Walking theme of personal progress. Carpenter has said she is a long-time fan of his work.

What is in the Go Go Highball? The Go Go Highball is Sabrina Carpenter’s signature Johnnie Walker serve. It combines 30ml Johnnie Walker Black Label, 85ml ginger ale and 30ml sour cherry juice over ice in a highball glass, with the cherry juice drizzled in last. It is garnished with two black cherries for a tart, lightly smoky long drink.

How much does the Sabrina Carpenter Black Label bottle cost? Johnnie Walker has priced the limited edition Sabrina Carpenter Black Label bottle at the same recommended retail price as standard Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old in each market. There is no premium for the limited design. It is available in 70cl and 75cl formats, depending on the country.

Where can I buy the Sabrina Carpenter Johnnie Walker bottle? The bottle launched in Great Britain in September 2026 and is now rolling out across Europe, Australia and North America. Mexico, India and further Asia-Pacific markets are set to follow in the coming months. Look for it at supermarkets, specialist whisky shops and international online retailers that already stock Black Label.

Is the whisky in the Sabrina Carpenter bottle different from normal Black Label? No. The limited edition bottle contains standard Johnnie Walker Black Label, a 12 year old blended Scotch whisky bottled at 40% ABV. Only the packaging changes: a “Sabrina blue” design with paw prints, her signature, an embossed gold heart with the Man’s Best Friend title and a blue and gold kerchief.