Welcome to the Whisky Reviews Blog
Welcome to the Whisky Reviews blog. This is a new website dedicated to reviews of affordable whiskies and other interesting spirits.
About Me
My love of whisky began a few short years ago but I’ve enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. Over the last few years, I’ve sought to indulge my interest in the written word by blogging about a few different topics but for some reason, nothing seemed to stick until I turned my attention to the world of whisky…
It was following a visit to a local distillery, that I decided to put my experience into words and soon I had moved onto writing about the bottles in my personal collection at home. Once I was happy with the content, the logical next step was to find somewhere to publish it and thus, WhiskyReviews.net (now A Scot on Scotch) was born.
It’s highly likely that single malts will make up the bulk of the content here but given the amount of blended Scotch that is sold all over the world, it seemed appropriate to launch the site with an affordable blend…
Blended Scotch
Single malt whisky is made from 100% malted barley and produced entirely at one distillery. In contrast, a blend is made by vatting together whisky from various distilleries, including some that was made from grains like wheat, maize and rye.
Single malt is often held in higher regard than its blended cousin, for the simple reason that malt whisky is viewed as superior to that which is distilled from other grains.
Most blends are created to appeal to as many people as possible and can therefore lack the character of a single malt, which is so often influenced by the place, people and conditions in which it was made.
Chivas Regal 12 year old Review
Chivas Regal is the flagship brand of Chivas Brothers, a company that began life as a grocer in Aberdeen back in 1801. Like many similar businesses of the time, the Chivas Bros were purveyors of fine wines and spirits and by the 1840s, the company cellars were full to the brim with maturing whisky. Naturally, it was decided that a bespoke, exclusive product should be created for regular clients and the resulting blend was so successful that the Chivas name was soon seen as synonymous with good Scotch.
Chivas Regal 12 year old is made by vatting a variety of malt and grain whiskies together. Bottled at 40% alcohol by volume, it retails in the UK for around £25.
Smell: The nose is inoffensive: pleasant enough, but unremarkable with heather honey, vanilla and green fruits.
Taste: On the palate there’s honey and vanilla again with apples and pears and a wee touch of oak.
Thoughts: There are many cheaper blends on the market but I’m not sure how many carry a 12 year age statement. Chivas have marketed themselves in the past as “the blend for grownups” and I can kind of understand that sentiment. It isn’t a massive dram but it’s quite civilised. Even sophisticated.
The Chivas 12 year old feels like a wee step up from your average blend.
__________
Leave a Reply