Welcome back to the Whiskey Review! Hopefully after the first few posts you have a pretty solid base of understanding as to how I am forming my opinions about the whiskey I am sampling. If you haven't yet read the first two posts then I encourage it because I lay out most of the criteria as well as my reviewing process. We left off with the Glen Livet 12 and, in keeping with the theme of popular bar-whiskey, I wanted to next shift to the Chivas Regal 12 year blend.
First of all, what is a "blended whisky", and what is the difference between that, and say, the Glen Livet we just reviewed? Blended whisky is just that, blended. Whisky distillers will combine different single-malt whisky into one batch and bottle it. Single-malt whisky, like the Glen Livet, contains a single whisky in the bottle. The age on a single-malt indicates the age of the whisky, the age on a bottle of blended whisky indicates the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle. Blended whisky should not be considered to be a cheap alternative as it sometimes is, many blends are quite delicious and some can be actually be a bit expensive; the popular Johnny Walker Blue Label can cost over $200.00, but I digress...
The Chivas 12 can be found, like the Glen Livet 12, in most establishments that serve Whiskey. It is a very popular blend and not very expensive. When those two are combined, "voila!", it is available at every pub.
The first impression I had of the Chivas was pleasant. The nose was very subtle which actually betrayed the taste a bit, because upon my first sip I immediately detected the influence of an Islay Scotch in the blend (we will discuss regional differences in a later review). Something I have noticed of blends is, in their taste, they all have one thing in common: you cannot define the flavor completely. The whisky is, as the label suggests, a blend. That being said, I found the I flavor dominated by the influence of an Islay Scotch, making the dominant flavor of the Chivas 12 smoky. I wouldn't recommend this to the beginner who wants to try his whisky 'neat', it may prove to be a bit too strong of a flavor to manage. Also, if you do not care for the smoky taste of an Islay, I would recommend steering clear of the Chivas 12.
Score: 3 Casks out of a possible 5
Reason: The Chivas 12 is a good blended whisky, but just good. I did enjoy that I was able to experience the smoky flavor of an Islay without having it be the only flavor I encountered, as it would be in the case of a single-malt Islay - for that the Chivas scored extra points. The nose however was a bit too subtle for me, it was difficult to get a feel for the whisky within. It had a better aftertaste that some other blends of that age (a bonus) but a taste which did not linger quite long enough. The cost ranges near $40.00 per bottle, $6-$8 per glass. Good for whisky drinkers who like to mix it up a bit with taste and have not claimed allegiance to any particular brand (yet), and a good fall-back in case there are not single-malts available.
Anecdote - I can tell you from experience that if you take a bottle of Chivas 12 and age it yourself by choosing not to open the bottle, you are not doing yourself a favor. Whisky ages much better in a cask than in a bottle. I once tasted a Chivas 12 that had been on a shelf for 18 years, it was akin to drinking rubbing alcohol.
Cheers,
Charles
***Authors note: One of my readers asked me why I kept switching the spelling of whisky and whiskey. Short answer, the U.S. and Ireland distillers spell it whisk-ey, Scottish and Canadian (and Japanese) distillers spell it whisk-y.
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