Chivas Regal 12 Year Old

This week I've been tasting what one would consider as entry level whiskies. Those being Jim Beam White Label, Jack Daniels Old #7, Chivas Regal 12 yr old, Johnnie Walker Red and Black Labels.

Now the reason I'm tasting these whiskies is twofold. The first reason is that I need sample size bottles for a whisky exchange. The second reason is that to honestly be able to appreciate good and great whiskies for their full worth, you should have an understanding of bad and basic whiskies and what makes them basic. Now I've had Chivas and Jack Daniels before, the rest of these whiskies it was my first time trying.

On top of everything else there is an amusing story that occurred surrounding these whiskies that just happened a couple days ago. That story will be recounted in my final review of the series.

So tonight's whisky is one I was familiar with, it being the very first scotch I ever had or tasted. That would be ...

Drum roll please!

Chivas Regal, specifically the 12 yr old!

Now like I said, my first introduction to scotch whisky was with Chivas Regal and the reason I bought the bottle...because the box was in the infamous words of Malcolm Reynolds "To pretty to die!"

Now as this was my early days in the whisky world as soon as I'd get my bottle home, I'd promptly crack it open and pour it into coke.

Yum! I'm drinking real scotch! I'm a connoisseur of whiskies! Hahaha....ah the joys of being me.

It was bad enough that when I first met my brother in law and we'd been hanging out at a whisky bar I introduced it to him as being a very good whisky....along with Crown Royal.

Yeeeeeah it took a little while for my whisky credit to go into the black again. HAHAHAHA. But now that's all good :D Several awesome recommendations and all is forgiven.

But back to Chivas!

This was the first time I'd ever sat down and analyzed Chivas and I was looking forward to it and seeing how it and my perceptions had changed.

You might ask why I mean changed? I used to drink whisky and cokes all the time, It would be Chivas and coke, Jack and coke, Jameson and coke, Crown and coke, Etc.

You get the idea.

But I haven't done that in like two years now. And there have been a lot of whiskies since then.

But I digress, back to Chivas!

So I give it a faint nose as I crack the bottle and I get the faint familiar smell of Chivas Scotch, which is to say what I used to associate with alcohol and scotch.

Sigh that's no good, nothing cool.

Then I pour it into my glencairn and nose it, at which point I giggle.

I smell Speyside! Holy Kitty Litter Batman!!!

It's a 180 difference in nose.

Apples come through, lots of orange rind, caramel, vanilla, and bits of oak.

Wow. It's sorta weird being able to put an actual nose to a long term memory of drinking a whisky, other then coke I mean.

I bring the glass over to my wife who gets the orange rind from across the room and then while nosing it asks me if it's The Macallan, or another of our Speysides.

When I inform her of it being Chivas she looks at me and blinks.

The taste when I finally take a sip out of it was, and I hate to say it, fairly bland.

What comes through on the palate is apples, hints of cinnamon, a bit of citrus notes, and possibly a hint of sultana.

But sitting at that 40% ABV it feels so very very watered down.

The finish is pretty much non existent, which is actually how my wife identified what we were drinking as not one of our normal bottles.

Like the last 3 whiskies we'd tested this week, it was like drinking whisky water more then whisky, albeit different flavors of whisky water.

This bottle retails for around $40-50 AUS, which while not too expensive, I can happily buy a Aberlour 10 yr old for close to the same price. Much more drinkable in my opinion.

Tomorrows review!

My first Johnnie Walker Red!! Holy cow I can't wait!!

Find where to buy Chivas whisky