Chivas Regal 12yo
1990s/2000s Bottling | 40% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average.
TL;DR
A soft and sweet drinker
Wedding season & whisky… What are you bringing?
It’s a question many of us ask especially during the wedding season. Very recently, my younger brother got married, my first wedding in four years. I was faced with the question of what to bring, but as you read on, this wee Chivas was a very pleasant surprise.
Our resident photo capturer extraordinaire, Mr. Dougie Crystal, has also encountered this conundrum. First, an Arran 10 yo seemed to do the trick with loosening a few nooses, while a flask filled with a Glen Garioch attempted to convert non-whisky people. For me, knowing the general makeup of the attendance list, I knew it wasn’t going to be filled with debauchery into the wee morning hours. It was going to be a more sedate affair, especially in light of the 30 degree Celsius forecast.
So I wasn’t too chuffed about bringing a curated bottle selection as there was unlikely going to be any other whisky freaks there. It was also supposed to be a bring-your-own-booze type of wedding where a red and white wine was provided at each table and you were left to your own devices for the remainder of the day. It turned out my precognition was correct as not a single person there drank whisky neat, with many turning to drowning vodka or white rum in some sickly sweet soda drinks. More on this in a bit.
I wasn’t worried about the wine list either, as I was in charge of selecting and buying the wine for the wedding, so I knew the table wine would be up to par and I could easily go table-to-table and finish the remaining portions during the evening. Whisky selection crisis averted.
So with the pressure of narrowing my selection gone, I brought some good drinking whiskies: Easy drinkers such as an AnCnoc, Signatory Edradour, Arran Quarter Cask, and a 6yo Secret Speyside. We’d be packing up the truck and trailer, fully loaded for a five-day 1600 km round trip across a small portion of the Canadian prairies with our two young children in the dead heat of an early, hot, and dry summer.
The wedding would be on the soon-to-be in-laws orchard and berry farm, some 45 minutes away from the nearest hotel, so the trailer was our accommodation for the wedding night. We could put the kids to bed and go back to the party with a baby monitor. We’d be splitting up the 18 hour drive into four stints, stopping half-way each way to our destination to prevent restlessness and accidentally creating nuclear fusion at the same time. My kids travel quite well, but our 18 month old only has so much attention span so we decided to make a small holiday out of the trip.
Unfortunately, this is not the Mortlach distillery but rather the town of Mortlach, SK (pop. 260)
We made it there without incident and after exchanging pleasantries with our new family, we helped get the venue ready: Lending a hand to finalise the decorations, seating arrangements, audio equipment, and food preparation. I was left to chill the white wine, organise a couple of dozen beers and get the ice buckets ready for the wedding the following day.
Glancing around the room we were in at the new in-laws, I saw this bottle of Chivas Regal - apparently they had no idea it was a whisky. Being familiar with the more recent Chivas labels, I knew this was older. My interest piqued, I made a mental note to try some the following day.
Picture sent to the DF crew of the vintage Chivas after a thorough dusting, with my wee rascal running in her romper.
The following day after a short, sweet, and sweltering ceremony in the blazing prairie sun, cocktail hour arrived. Donning my responsible adult and host hat, I began wheeling out the drinks and hard liquor including this stumpy little fella. I was planning on cracking it then but with a delayed supper time, the kids needed to go to bed.
Carting them off to the trailer and tucking them in, we returned for supper and desserts at which point I was asked if I could take some pictures for the bride and groom as the photographer’s time limit had been reached and they were packing up. Sometimes having a camera is just like having a pickup truck, except the latter involves more manual labour when everyone asks you to move large stuff for them rather than getting a sore index finger.
This meant I was parched by the time I’d finished and I’d only managed to swipe a glass of red wine during dinner. So I plonked myself down beside my wife and after a few minutes, my brother told me everyone was raving about the whisky. Having temporarily forgotten about the Chivas, I turned towards the help-yourself bar and noticed it was at its halfway mark. Not letting fate or chance get in the way, I made a direct line towards the bar and emptied a large glug into a cup.
With the appeal of red wine waning in the blistering evening heat, I kept coming back to this easy drinker.
Wedding successfully completed and the next morning clean-up done, we packed up, aiming our family missile west towards home. Making a slight detour, we camped an extra night at Cypress Hills to give us and the kids some wind-down time after a travel intensive and hot wedding experience. Plus having a shower after a fully-suited evening the night before sounded wonderful.
It was fantastic to chill out, listening to the babbling creek out the door of our trailer, playing a few games of crib with my wife after the kids went to bed, playing Lego with my oldest under a tarp while it was raining during nap time, and enjoying the nearby beach.
Sandcastles and moats, chicken soup for the soul - Cypress Hills, Alberta
Our quick stopover in this little oasis complete, we returned home and began to unpack and cleanup as we were going camping again a couple of days later - this time locally with friends; With 13 kids under the age of six, another hot and sunny forecast and all manner of games and relaxation were bound to occur.
It was only after opening the boxes of wine that I found someone had snuck the remainder of this Chivas Regal 12yo into my possession.
Review
Chivas Regal 12yo, 1990s Bottling, 40% ABV
~£40 - £100 auction only
It’s difficult to locate the exact style of label and ABV on this. It appears the 12 year old transitioned from 43 % down to 40 % during the 1990s, and a switch from screw-top to cork in or around 2010 along with removing the prominent 12 year old ribbon above the shoulder of the bottle. And when you factor in the potential Scottish and international market label variations, specifically on the lower portion of the label, I believe this was bottled in the mid-to-late 2000s. This matches well with the layer of dust on the bottle when it was pulled from the back of the cupboard.
I know Chivas has a “date” service where you could send pictures of your bottle and they’d provide an approximate bottling date, however I couldn’t be bothered. The Chivas Regal 12 has been around since the 1930s and my bottle is definitely not one of those. But if you happen to be familiar with these labels, then feel free to correct my rudimentary sleuthing in the comments.
[could be a wee bit older - Ed.]
Score: 5/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A soft and sweet drinker
Nose
The first thing that pops out of the glass is the grain whisky with its spiky, metallic vanilla note. Buried under that veil are red apple notes, cinnamon sticks, and a vague nutty note, almost like a peanut and almond brittle. There could be a slight old mustiness aspect to this but it’s so slight I’m not sure if this is typical for this blend or if it’s old bottle effect. An average or slightly below average experience.
Palate
Soft and sweet entry, showing none of the spiky grain elements from the nose. This is a drinker's whisky through and through. Caramel coated red apples, a simple syrup-like texture and sweetness that coats my mouth, with a touch of melted butter and brown sugar with a splash of vanilla.
Surprisingly, the finish is medium-long with more of the caramel red apple now accompanied with cinnamon. This comes as a surprise given the age and the ABV however when taking pictures, several large bubbles persisted in the glass two-three minutes after pouring, even with me moving the glass around to get the shot I wanted. It’s all about a very sweet and soft drinking experience, of which it does very well.
The Dregs
Even when pouring my first splash of this at the wedding into a disposable plastic cup, the grain notes were the first thing hit me. Perhaps thinking it was just the cup, I’d written that note off until pouring myself the dregs of the bottle at home into a clean glass. However the nose is a disappointment to those who enjoy the olfactory experience however for the target audience who likely prefers to splash some in a tumbler, this would be considered a good drinker. I can easily see how Chivas Regal’s 12 year old earned and maintained its reputation.
Interestingly, the nose and palate experiences are reversed from my ‘vintage’ 12 yo and Earie’s recently bottled Chivas 18yo review where the nose was objectively better than the palate. I’m now tempted to seek out the modern version to see if things have changed. But in a sea of whisky, both on the market and stashed in my basement, it’s low on the priority list and will likely only be purchased when on discount. I plan on decanting the remainder of this into a sample bottle, keeping a small time capsule for a future moment.
I will say that for all the complaints we sometimes throw at modern whisky, the quality in label placement is vastly better. This bottle had both the main label and shoulder ribbon label significantly askew compared to the embossed borders cast into the bottle. It definitely cheapened the look of the bottle and is something we rarely encounter these days.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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