Nose - light apple, slightly caramel, Kenz said creme brulee Taste -a bit salty, slightest of peat flavor, evolved into more honey as the bottle went on Finish - slight oak and maybe a bit of caramel? has a certain 'bite' which leaves a bitter taste, as the bottle goes on the bite decreases a bit Score - 3.0, there's nothing special but nothing wrong with this one Scoring Legend 5.0 - Outstanding, unmatched to others 4.5 - Excellent, I will always keep a bottle in stock if possible 4.0 - Very good, quite enjoyable to drink, can consider as a solid choice 3.5 - Good, would taste again 3.0 - Average 2.5 - Acceptable, still drinkable 2.0 - Inferior, able to drink but not enjoyable 1.5 and below—wouldn’t drink again unless I am desperate

Whisky quelconque.

Floral e Doce

Re-taste. Nose: Light and fruity, mainly apples and pears. A little oak, caramel and vanilla and there is the mild ethanol aroma you get from almost all inexpensive blended scotch. Palate: Fruity again, soft and a little sweet cereal. There is barely any development apart from peppery spice, more cereal and some brown sugar/caramel notes. The texture seems to have improved and this has better density than I recall from past tastings, but there is still a hardness to the flavours (that’s coming from what is, at 12 years old, still quite young and rather industrial grain whisky). Finish: Short. The caramel/cereal palate just fades away into an aftertaste of weak black tea. In Australia this used to be advertised (back when that happened) as a classy, aspirational blend and that identity was reinforced by the fancy packaging which even though it has changed over the years still manages to look stylish without being bling. It’s about 5 years since I last reviewed Chivas 12 here, and at that time it was probably 20 years since I had last tasted it, so you’d be right in thinking that this is not one of my favourite whiskies. I rated it at 2 stars last time but this current blending is a little better and worthy of an extra quarter star. It’s a harmless and mild blend, just acceptable for sipping if it is all you can find when on holidays somewhere in the sticks, but it is best used as a mixer or as the base for a long drink. I have a weakness for scotch and Coke and always have a bottle of something inexpensive to use for that purpose. This just happened to be on special when I was at the liquor store on Friday, but normally I would not buy it. There are better blends that are cheaper but to be fair Chivas Regal 12 has not risen in price at all over the last 5 years which is more than you can say for most whisky. “Acceptable” : 2.25 stars