Scotch Review #103: Chivas Regal 13 Year Manchester United Special Edition

Distillery: Blend

Region: Blend

ABV: 40%

Age: 13 years.

Casks: Finished in ex-rye casks

Price: $50

Color: 0.8, Deep Gold.

Nose: (according to the wife) Lots of honey and fruits. It smells nice. There’s pears, apples, and a hint of rye bread.

Palate: Cereal sweetness is the main note. There’s a hint of caramel, hint of malt but really nothing else. A very, very generic whiskey. It does go down smoothly though, so that’s a plus.

Finish: Incredibly short. There’s a very small trace of rye.

Conclusion: Chivas got me good with this bottle. Taking my favorite sports team and putting them on a bottle of whisky? That’s got to be cheating. This 13-year-old whisky was apparently blended together to celebrate Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 league titles. However, other than carrying his name and face on the box, there’s really nothing here that would tie it to him. The whisky is bland and uninspired, though easy to drink, and probably has more in common with United of today than Sir Alex’s swashbuckling sides. Being aged in rye casks (SAF is an avid wine drinker, surprised they didn’t go for an ex-wine cask) might be the only semi-interesting thing about this bottle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really show itself much beyond a very trace whiff in the nose and a very trace note at the end. All I can say is I hope my team can show more character and finishing today against Newcastle than this whiskey did in general. Would I buy another bottle? Never. But at least the box is nice.

Final Score: 69.

Scotch Whisky review #103, Blended Whisky Review #9, Whisky Network Review #134

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.