Nose: Light and fruity, mainly apples and pears. A little oak, caramel and vanilla and there is the mild ethanol aroma you get from young mass-produced grain whisky, which is present in 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. There is a hardness to the palate that is coming from what is, even at 12 years old, still rather juvenile 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 fancy packaging. Even though it has changed over the years the label still manages to look stylish without being bling. I’ve only had Chivas 12 a couple of times in the last 20 years, so you’d be right in thinking that this is not one of my favourite whiskies. It’s a harmless, mild blend but a little dull and flat, and I always expect it to have more body. It's pretty much the definition of "average". It’s 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 liking for scotch and Coke so I 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 very much in price over the last 5 years which is more than you can say for most whisky. “Average” : 75/100 (2.5 stars)