Taste Off!!! Chivas Regal 12yr versus Johnnie Walker Black Label

TASTE OFF!

It's a head-to-head between two heavyweights.

In one corner, wearing the gold & red label, owned by Pernod Ricard stands

CHIVAS

Chivas Regal 12 years old

Brand: Chivas Regal

Ownership: Pernod Ricard (via Chivas Bros. Ltd.)

Distilleries: include the 12 owned by Pernod (especially Strathisla)

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: minimum 12 years

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

Chivas Regal is currently owned by Pernod Ricard -- Diageo's biggest nemesis (or second biggest, after me) -- and is the fifth best-selling Scotch blend in the world.  This 12yr is the top selling Scotch blend in its age category in Europe and Asia.

The Chivas bros, James and John, were grocers who obtained the Royal Warrant to supply food and goods to Queen Victoria's homes in the 1840s.  Once blended whiskies became legal via license, the Chivas Brothers firm created a smooth blend for their wealthy customer base.

In the early 1900s they created one of the first ultra luxury blends, the Chivas Regal 25 year old, for US export.  It was enormously successful until Prohibition silenced alcohol sales.

After Seagrams purchased the brand in 1949, the 12 year old blend was released to more acclaim.  It became the Rat Pack's Scotch of choice.

Today Chivas Regal's range includes the 12, 18, and 25 year old blends.  The Chivas home and the "Ultimate Chivas Experience" can be found at the Strathisla Distillery's visitor center.

My previous experience with Chivas?  None, actually.  Time to fix that.

In the other corner, representing Diageo, wearing the black and gold label stands

BLACK LABEL

Johnnie Walker Black Label

Brand: Johnnie Walker

Ownership: Diageo

Distilleries: 40 of 'em, including Caol Ila and Talisker

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: minimum 12 years

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

On the other hand, I have a long complicated history with Black Label.  A real love-hate thing.  But most recently, it's been love.  I posted a very positive report on it in November, please give it a read for the full scoop.  I've mostly brought the Black Label in as a comparative device, a sounding board for the Chivas.  Can the Chivas compete?

Let's Taste Off!

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FIRST, NEAT

Color

Chivas Regal 12yr (CR12) - Pale gold

Johnny Walker Black Label (JWBL) - Considerably darker

Nose

CR12 - Vanilla, herbal, spritely, cocoa, and a hint of bourbon

JWBL - A touch of peat, some grain whisky, sherry, much oakier but pleasant

Palate

CR12 - Tastes younger than 12 years, a little crazier and messier; salty, some vanilla, under-ripe fruit

JWBL - Vanilla, sherry, bourbon, light peat smoke, Nillas, malty, very silky

Finish

CR12 - Drying, sweet, calms down from the palate

JWBL - Moderate, peat first, then fruity sweetness and vanilla

THEN, WITH WATER

Nose

CR12 - Similar to neat, a bit more grains and bourbon, dusty, vanilla

JWBL - Like the CR12 the grains and bourbon come out to play, vanilla, a whisper of basil

Palate

CR12 - Woody, sweet at the start, vanilla, but very quiet

JWBL - Malty, vanilla, grass and hay, mellowed but lovely

Finish

CR12 - Not much, very drying, some vanilla

JWBL - Keeps the moderate length, BIG vanilla

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THOUGHTS, COMMENTS, OPINIONS, ETC...

I was very impressed with how the Chivas held up.  My experience with Scotch blends this month hasn't been that positive.  I've found them pretty mundane for the most part.  The only two new ones I've enjoyed are Famous Grouse and......Chivas Regal 12yr.

On the neat serving, Chivas has a lovely nose.  Its palate is so-so, but it smells delicious.  Black Label holds much more complexity in the palate and finish, but the Chivas can compete nose-wise.

Chivas doesn't swim very well, its palate and finish mostly dropping away.  Meanwhile Black Label can be lovely with a couple drops of water.

So, I recommend Chivas neat.  It's a great starter whisky since it's smooth, mild, and noses very well.  For some more rough-housing, go Black.

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RATINGS

Johnnie Walker Black Label's pricing/rating won't change from its own report, but I'll list it here for official purposes:

Availability - Everywhere!

Pricing - Bargain! at $25, Acceptable at $35

Rating - 88

Here's the call on Chivas Regal 12yr:

Availability - Wide
Pricing - Great at $20-$23
Rating - 80 (but only when served neat)

(NOTE: Please see my updated Chivas 12yo vs. JW Black 12yo Taste Off completed in 2016, if you're dying to find out how the current stuff rates!)

Anti-Gravity Cocktail

Three Saturdays ago, Kristen and I spent an entire day applying two coats of paint to our hallways, living room, and dining room.  This past Sunday, Kristen spent the whole day painting the kitchen.  Same color, two coats.

Paint: Valspar
Color: Gravity

Gravity is a light gray with calm blue tones that sneak out when met with sunlight.  It was a lot of hard work, especially for Kristen.  So I thought I'd mix her up a new cocktail.

I started with the Gin-Basil Smash recipe for inspiration.
For one drink: Muddle one bunch of fresh basil with a quartered half-lemon and 2/3 oz. of simple syrup.  Then add 2 shots of Hendricks Gin.  Shake with ice and serve on the rocks.

That one is okay, but it was a bit on the sweet side for us.  We like to taste our Hendricks, not bury it under sugar.  So, the following was the result:

Anti-Gravity Cocktail
For two drinks, muddle at least two bunches of fresh basil (err on the side of more) with a whole quartered lemon and 1/2 shot of simple syrup.  Add two shots of Hendricks Gin, shake until the shaker is too cold to hold.  Serve on the rocks with a fresh basil garnish.

It's very refreshing and strong enough to alleviate the labors of the day.  Thus the Anti-Gravity Cocktail.

Here's a quick video I made of it.  Enjoy!

Testing booze recipes...

Happy Memorial Day Evening!

Testing a Whisky-based Barbecue Sauce tonight.  After that, a new Gin cocktail of our design.  I'm documenting these.  Any successes will be reported.  Any failures will also be reported.

Wish me luck?

(Source)

The (near) future of Single Malt Reports

Man, who's tired of blended whiskies?

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Yeah, tell me about it.  It got to the point that when I held the glass of Hankey Bannister up to my lips I sighed out of exhaustion.  The blends had become burdensome.

And I'm getting concerned that it's affecting my reports.  I almost posted this last week:

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(Source)

Brand: Does it matter?
Distilleries: I dunno, but it's someone's worst stuff
Current Owner: should be ashamed
Type: Not mine
Age: not old enough to know better
Maturation: glass bottle?
Alcohol by Volume: much too low

Words.

Availability - Yes
Pricing - Should be free
Rating - Meh.

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Never fear, good news is here!

Only two blend reports left and they're the ones I've been looking forward to the most!  I prefer to close Blend Month with a shout rather than a whimper.

After that......Actual Single Malts.  Remember those?

I have a whole bunch of fun whiskys for June and July.  Going to do some Taste-Off-style distillery verticals.  I have a couple bottles in The Cabinet that are nearing their end and have thus far been denied a report.  I'll be going to a cool whisky event at the end of next week.  Plus I may even have a weird liquor or two that will require documentation.

I'm still aiming for the two-per-week setup until I run out.  After that I'll report on canned soup.

Happy Friday!

NOT Single Malt Report: Tullamore Dew Irish Blended Whiskey

Brand: Tullamore Dew
Distilleries: Cooley (malt) and Midleton (pot still & grain)
Current Owner: William Grant & Sons Inc
Type: Irish Blended Whiskey
Age: 4 to 7 years
Maturation: mostly ex-bourbon wood with a little ex-sherry wood
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

The Dew has always been one of my favorite Irish whiskies.  I usually order it up if a bar carries it.  But it had been awhile...

During the pub excursion mentioned on Tuesday, I sampled a glass of this signature Tullamore blend alongside a Kilbeggan (which is also undergoing a distillery rebirth).  I reported on Kilbeggan on Tuedsay, so here's the Tullamore word.

(I've also heard that the 12 year blend is very good, so if I get a sip I'll try to report on it.)

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HISTORY

Tullamore Dew is an unusual cat in the Irish Whiskey world.  It's a mix of pot still and grain whiskey from Midleton distillery and single malt from Cooley distillery......but it's blended and bottled by a third company William Grant & Sons Inc.

Originally the whiskey came from an actual distillery in Tullamore, founded in 1829.  In 1887, Tullamore's general manager Daniel E. Williams created what was to become the company's signature pot still whiskey, naming it D-E-W after his own initials.  Sixty years later, Tullamore released the first blended Irish whiskey (as well as the first Irish whiskey liqueur, Irish Mist).  In 1959, Tullamore joined the list of Irish distilleries shuttered via market attrition.  Powers purchased the brand in 1965 and moved Tullamore's production to their facilities in Cork.  In the '90s, the C&C group purchased the brand and reconfigured the blend's recipe.  In 2010, William Grant & Sons Inc. (owners of Glenfiddich) bought it up for 300million euros.

That must have been heart-breaking, selling an Irish whiskey to a Scotch whisky company.  BUT(!) a few months ago, Grant announced that it will be building a NEW distillery for the brand on the outskirts of Tullamore.  As Tullamore Dew is the second best selling Irish Whiskey in the US and first throughout much of mainland Europe, it sounds an awful lot like they now want to take on Jamesons head-to-head.

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THE WHISKEY NOTES

NEAT:
Color -- standard whiskey gold, almost identical to Kilbeggan
Nose -- light fruit + malt, hint of varnish
Palate -- heftier than Kilbeggan, more alcohol burn though inoffensive, vanilla, malty (pot-stilly?), very more-ish
Finish -- moderate, a little vanilla, molasses

WITH WATER:
Nose -- sweet grains, vanilla, whipped cream
Palate -- almost turns into Kilbeggan, Frosties, nutty
Finish -- gets a little weird on the tongue, dry

It's a simple but solid Irish blend, best neat.  It swims well until the odd finish.  I know that 'odd' and 'weird' aren't the most vibrant of adjectives, so maybe the word is 'wormy'?  That's why I recommend it neat.  I also endorse it as a hot whiskey backup if you're short on Powers.

I was surprised at its lightness.  I had memories of it being a little tougher.  Perhaps I'm changing while the whiskey remains the same.

Availability - Wide
Pricing - Good at $18-$22
Rating - 78 (but only when served neat)

James Bond versus James Gatz

...and...

Fight!





This may be the first time in cinematic history wherein the $200million action behemoth will induce fewer headaches and seizures than the period piece novel adaptation.

The Daniel Craig era of Bond has so much melancholy blended with its painful ass-kicking, so count me in for this next chapter.  Also RALPH FIENNES!!!!  That is all.  Okay, and Javier Bardem is probably the bad guy.

Meanwhile, there hasn't been a Baz Luhrmann film that I've enjoyed upon first viewing.  His excess of style often distracts from the storytelling and calls attention to itself.  BUT his visual choices are never boring.  For The Great Gatsby it looks like he's cranking up the party scenes and adding flashbacks in order to make a very novelistic tale cinematic.  The issue is that the story in the Gatsby novel is a quiet interpersonal exploration of identity, which makes for a very independent film that would bring in limited revenue.  The answer?  Turn up the violence, the partying, the CGI, fluff up the love story, and add Leo.  I sincerely hope this works.

The use of contemporary pop music with period piece visuals is quickly gaining traction as a legitimate artistic choice.  Which sucks.  It's not post-post-post modern.  It's distracting irrelevant shorthand.  I happen to like Jack White's cover of "Love is Blindness", but it's a modern song.  Its inclusion in the Gatsby trailer seems to signify that though this is a period piece it's okay for people of all ages to watch.  Yes there's a bunch of screaming, but does it really tell the story and set the tone better than would an erotic flapper song from the '20s?  It reminds me of the weird-crummy Budweiser commercial that uses a Flo Rida song over visuals of Prohibition ending.  Just seems like a cheap shill to try to bring in a younger audience, without the consideration that this same audience's taste in music is ever mutable.

Even though I try not to judge an entire film by its trailer, with some of the casting choices and garish CGI shown here, none of the Gatsby film looks like what I had pictured either time I read the novel.  I still think the book's story is too damned awesome to be crushed under the weight of short attention span filmmaking.  So I'll be in theatre for this.  Maybe even with 3D glasses.

Skyfall's trailer is pretty lean and basic, almost 40% shorter than Gatsby's.  It plops some intrigue at the beginning, then rains down the fire and shadows and exotic locales and explosions and pained handsomeness.  It sells the product.  It doesn't have the period piece burden that Gatsby carries, so it can use contemporary tunes as long as it incorporates a couple seconds of the Bond theme.

But they do need to remind everyone at the end that this is a 007 film.  On the surface it looks like a bunch of action that could be tied into any international intrigue script.  Plus the film's title doesn't have the Hyperbole to a Verb sound often deemed necessary for Bond.

Perhaps the producers of Skyfall's trailer were under less of a challenge than Gatsby's.  Bond is an existing franchise.  Gatsby is a famous old book.  There's more setup needed for the latter.  Plus it's tougher to get people to watch the old book.

Conversely, Skyfall has to get more butts in seats in order to break even.  Probably needs to gross a half-billion worldwide.  Meanwhile, The Great Gatsby......had a production budget of $130mil?!  Throw in the marketing costs and they'll need a third of a billion to call it a financial success.

Whew, I guess the burden really is on Gatsby.  Good luck with that trailer.

NOT Single Malt Report: Kilbeggan Blended Irish Whiskey

Distillery: Cooley (and soon, Kilbeggan Distillery)
Brand: Kilbeggan
Type: Irish Blended Whiskey
Current Owner: Beam Inc.
Age: at least 3 years
Maturation: ex-bourbon barrels
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

Here's an Irish Whiskey that I didn't sample on my three visits to Éire.  It's a whiskey full of stories with relatively happy endings.

In 1757, the McManus family opened the legal Old Kilbeggan Distillery in the Irish town of......Kilbeggan!  John McManus, the first distillery manager, joined a group that rebelled against the British and then was promptly executed.  The Codd family buys the distillery in 1794 and expands it, doubling the capacity.  Success followed for over forty years until a large (drinking) abstinence movement and an economic downturn almost puts Kilbeggan out of business.  The Locke family took over in 1843 and ran the distillery for over 100 years through booms and busts.  US Prohibition, economic depression, and the Irish Revolution shook up the company, but it survived even through the second World War.  A crash in the Irish Whiskey industry finally brought the distillery to a close in 1957, its 200th anniversary.

For the next thirty years, local folks help keep the silent distillery and its equipment clean.  In 1988, the independent Cooley Distillery company purchased the Kilbeggan brand.  Then in 2007, on its 250th anniversary, Old Kilbeggan Distillery began distillation again, using a 19th century pot still.  Cooley plans to have the distillery produce pot still and single malts in the near future.

For now the Killbeggan blends are made at Cooley, using single malt and grains.  For over 20 years, Cooley was the leading (and often only) independent distillery in Ireland.  Several months ago, Beam Inc. purchased Cooley, ending their independence but expanding their potential product reach.

For those disappointed by the sale to the fourth largest beverage company in the world, consider that the two Scotch distilleries owned by Beam -- Laphroaig and Ardmore -- have put out tremendous product during Beam's ownership.  See, I'm not totally anti-capitalist.

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Last month I had a Saturday night to myself, so I took a walk down to our local decent Irish pub, Gallaghers, to watch two baseball games and two basketball games simultaneously while trying out Irish blends.  I was successful in that endeavour.  One of those blends was Kilbeggan.  The bartender actually opened up a brand new bottle for me so I got the top of the juice.

NEAT:
Color -- basic whiskey gold
Nose -- paint + varnish + notebook paper but in a good way; give it some time and simple fruity sweetness slips in
Palate -- coarser than Powers, breakfast cereal (Frosties!, or Frosted Flakes for the Yanks), toffee, and granulated sugar
Finish -- moderate, lots of grain whiskey with sugar

WITH WATER:
Nose -- moderated into near silence
Palate -- gets considerably more sugary sweet
Finish -- gets considerably more sugary sweet

So, she don't swim so well.  But neatly, Kilbeggan will appeal to those who'd like those elements in the Nose notes.  I don't mind it, but wouldn't pay much for it.

pre-2010 bottle

On a final note, the super Oliver Klimek (of dramming.com and the Malt Maniacs) had a great post on an abrupt shift in the Kilbeggan character.  In 2009, he tried it and loved it.  In 2010, he bought a bottle, noticed its changed label and really noticed the changed whiskey.  Seems as if Cooley has had to up the grain whiskey content in the blend in order to spread the malt out further, all to meet the rising demand for Kilbeggan.  Oliver recommends that folks seek out the old pre-2010 bottles with the other label (see pic on the right) for a superior blended whiskey.  I look forward to trying that one someday soon.

Okay, so maybe the whiskey itself doesn't sound like it had the happiest of endings, but its end hasn't yet arrived.  But for now, the current bottling...

Availability - Many liquor stores
Pricing - Decent at $18-$22
Rating - 75