A fascinating bottling from the historic old Chivas Regal brand. This expression forms part of their Ultimate Cask Collection series, which showcases the famous blended whisky after maturation in different cask varieties.
This particular bottling has been finished for a time in Japanese, or Mizunara, oak. Mizunara is known for being one of the most expensive, and notoriously difficult to work with, woods in the whisky business. It’s also prized by whisky makers, for the uniquely fragrant flavours it adds to spirit.
And so it proves with this dram, which serves up notes of sandalwood, cedarwood, toasted coconut, sweet oak, tangerine, hazelnut, cloves, apples and pear, vanilla, floral honey and lemon rind.
With a very respectable age statement and a strength of 48%, this is a seriously well-made whisky from Chivas.