Chivas Regal: Royal Salute: 21 Year (Scottish Blended Whisky: 21 Year: 40% ABV)
Visual: Copper touched gold.
Viscosity: Fast thick streaks.
Nose: Nutty. Moderate alcohol. Nutmeg. Stewed fruit. Slightly musty. Water drops the alcohol and adds menthol and oaken notes.
Body: Very smooth. Honey. Lime. Some nuttiness. Walnut cake. Water adds toffee and spicy notes. More water brings back prickly alcohol but also vanilla. Stewed apricot. Coffee cake. Apples and slight oily character.
Finish: Ginger. Very milky coffee. Dried spice. Water brings out apricot and stewed fruit. Malt chocolate. Lightly dusty and oaken.
Conclusion: Royal Salute was one of the early aged whiskies I tried, all those years ago. Even these days I find the standard 12 year Chiavs Regal a reasonable enough whisky in a pinch probably due to the base of Strathisla in it, which I am partial to a dram of.
So how does this live up to the memory of it? Mixed. There is a tad more alcohol noticeable than you would expect in a spirit this old – not burning, but just slightly like an alcohol jelly taste. It is also slightly musty and with water it is over oaken. All elements I would not expect for a whisky you are dropping best part of a hundred quid on.
The things is, besides that it does have a quite a mix of pleasant elements – that Strathisla nuttiness against coffee cake, stewed fruit and apples. It manages to mix the heavier and slightly oily highland notes with the light Speyside sweetness.
Also for a 40% abv whisky it really can cope with a lot of water, doing so does bring out a touch of odd alcohol notes, but in general significantly improves it. It makes much more coffee cake like, more robust yet , in general, smoother feeling. Here it is a solid coffee and nutty whisky, with most of the rough elements taken out. In fact, as the vanilla comes out it starts to remind me of Nanaimo bars from Vancouver – which is awesome. So, in general, it is good; plays well with water, but neat it has far more rough notes than you would expect at this price point.
So, it lives up to my memories in the high points, but is a tad rough at the edges.
Background: A bit of a call to the past today. I grabbed a bottle of this back in my early whisky days from a duty free. I had decided to try something a bit more expensive than my usual fare and this was it. A lot cheaper back in those days though. Anyway, I saw this miniature in Independent Spirit and decided to give it a try for old times sake. Though admittedly this way you mostly pay for the ceramic packaging. A bit excessive for a mini, no? Anyway, drunk while listening to even more Napalm Death.
