Whisky : Chivas Regal 18 Year

Country/Region : Scotland/Blend

ABV : 40%

Cask : Various

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ Home

Nose : Fresh churned cream and butter with warm oak spices.  The nose is restrained and mellow with hints of padded leather armchair.

Palate : Pastries and tea; graham crackers or baked pie crust.  Sweet tobacco; not the smoke, but the scent of the rolled dried tobacco before lighting the pipe or cigar.  Vegetable and vegetable fat notes in the back ground.

Finish : Medium to short finish of sweet baked buttery shortbread.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Late evening sitting in an old leather armchair having some tea and cookies.

Something Better : Suntory Hibiki Blender’s Choice (similar balanced combination of sweet/savory, more unique funky notes)

Something Similar : Johnnie Walker Platinum (similar pastries, fainter smoke, less complex)

Something Worse : Johnnie Walker Black (more peat, more smoke, less complexity)

Notes : I was surprised how much I enjoyed this.  While the finish was weak, the nose was wonderful and the body was more complex than I expected with both sweet and savory notes present.  My experience with mass market blended scotch has not been very good, lots of cheap entry level bottles are mixer material and not always good to drink straight up.  This blend is a much better testament to what a blender can achieve combining some 20 different component single malt and grain scotches.  I am not sure it is quite ‘an incredible blend of 85 flavor notes in every drop,’ as the ad copy suggests— but it is a fine scotch.

Would I buy a bottle?  I am not sure.  If the price was right, this would be a solid sipper to have on a relaxing evening.  It was good enough that when I had the chance I took a hard look at some of its travel retail variants; aged in Mizunara Oak or Cognac Casks.  It could also fill the roll of a great dram to share with friends who maybe do not drink much scotch or find the category intimidating.  It is an easy approachable drinker in a nice bottle with a respectable age statement.  I may tend to favor big bold flavors, but some nights you just want to relax with something easy on the senses and the Chivas 18 will allow you to do just that.