heymitch
Chivas Regal 12 Year (bottled 1970s)
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
May 15, 2020 (edited May 16, 2020)
Found a super old bottle of this at my grandparent’s house. What a piece of history! Didn’t realize it was from the 70s. The bottle design is fantastic and intricate.
A very interesting first sip—I can’t tell if it‘s due to not being stored properly or if this was how it’s meant to taste, but it has an incredibly strong bite right off the bat, more so than even most bourbons I’ve had. I would never think this was a Scotch. Once the bitter heat fades, it transforms into a wave of salt, caramel, and mushroom.
Not my favorite whiskey, but as always, better to have tried it than to not have drank at all!
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
@cascode I totally agree, I went for it expecting mellow so I was very surprised. Very bitter and almost sour bite, like a hint of vinegar. The bottle was about 2/3 full and you are spot on with your description of the cork/top. Seemed to be stored upright and out of the light, but I don’t know that for 100% certain over its lifetime. I wonder if a foreign invader made its way into the bottle somehow or if it’s the cork, as you mentioned. Either way, probably the strangest Scotch tasting I’ve had!
It's always interesting when you come across these old bottlings. A strong bite is not typical for any Chivas and I'd expect an old bottling like thi to be silken and mellow, so storage might have been an issue. Was the bottle unopened or had it been opened at some time? Had the bottle always been stored upright and out of the light? If I remember rightly they had a plastic screw-top with a laminated cork pad on these old bottlings (I might be wrong about that) and they could be unreliable long-term. Even if the seal was not good I'd expect the whisky to have gone flat and dull tasting, with maybe a hard edge, but not to be strong and bitey. Curious.