My regular scotch is Chivas 12 yr. I find the 18 yr even nicer. I would describe it as having a smokey aftertaste, something I love. I have been lucky enough to try the Sullivan's cove French oak and loved it, also finding it smokey. I also like john y blue, hence the confusion. Looking at different tasting notes, i don't rate Johnny black or double black but looking at the tasting notes, these are described as smoky, but Chivas not really smokey at all! Given my preference for Chivas, Johnny blue and even the Sullivan's French oak, any suggestions for others that would appeal. Looking at the smokies ones like laphroig, I've seen them compared to Johnny black so I'm totally lost!
This is a common area of confusion so don't worry!
First of all, everyone's sense of smell/taste is different; this is one of the joys in tasting scotch! Two people can sample the same whisky and get totally different flavor profiles. If you nose a Lagavulin and legitimately smell rose petals and blueberry pie, you'll be in the minority for sure, but no one can tell you that you're WRONG!
What you sense from the Chivas Regal which you call "smoky" may actually be the spiciness and influence from the oak in the casks as opposed to actual peat smoke. This can sometimes be hard to distinguish, especially in more...affordable blends like Chivas. blends can have so many different whiskies in their mix that it can be hard to distinguish what is truly in their makeup.
It's hard to tell from the way you wrote your post, I'm guessing you haven't had JW black or double black yet. If I was you, I would buy miniatures of both the Chivas 12 and JW black and compare the two.
My guess, though, is that you say you like smoky whiskies, but you haven't actually had a traditionally smoky whisky. I would recommend you try a Talisker 10 year. It has both smoke and spice (which I think you might like). Plus, it is reasonably inexpensive (less than $60). If you like it, you might be a peat head and can move on to smokier scotches (Lagavulin, Ardbeg...save Laphroaig for last!). If you don't like it, then you might have to re-evaluate what you consider smoky versus what the "industry" considers smoky.
Bottom line, who cares if you're lost!!! That's where some of the best journeys and discoveries happen 8)
Thanks for the reply. I was in fact going to try one of the peaty ones but wasn't sure where to start so I'll go with your Talisker recommendation. I have tried JW black and double black several times and don't think much of either of them. I have a mate you loves Jw black but won't touch Chivas so as you say, everyone's tastes differ. I guess the reason for my post was to find some other whiskies that have more of whatever it is I like about Chivas!
"Simonzenith" wrote: Thanks for the reply. I was in fact going to try one of the peaty ones but wasn't sure where to start so I'll go with your Talisker recommendation. I have tried JW black and double black several times and don't think much of either of them. I have a mate you loves Jw black but won't touch Chivas so as you say, everyone's tastes differ. I guess the reason for my post was to find some other whiskies that have more of whatever it is I like about Chivas!
I am confused too. you like Chivas but you like smoky, so as the previous poster said, you might be confused with what is "smoky". in which case it might be a mistake to try a Talisker? Perhaps you should try a miniature Glenlivet or Glenfiddich?
"Simonzenith" wrote: My regular scotch is Chivas 12 yr. I find the 18 yr even nicer.
As said by kroman above, there is some kind of confusion between light smoke and oakiness. This is normal. You can look up the 'general' rating of the taste of bottles in our Whisky-Database. Here is the link to the Chivas 12yrs.
39 users gave ratings about this bottle. And if you expand the icons two times (Button: show more), than you find the light smokiness detected by others. With the Chivas 18yrs the smoke is better detectable by the 16 tasters which rated this bottle. The smore is rated at position two with ratings between three and 5.5.
It is always a good idea to look bottles up in our Whisky-Database prior to buying them.
We use cookies and website technologies to customize information and improve your shopping experience all around whisky. We use technically necessary cookies to ensure the general functionality and features of our website. With your consent we also use cookies and iframes of third party providers to present our social media content to you and make use of functional tracking and analysis tools to identify errors and continually improve your user experience.
Details & Settings
Necessary cookies (always active)
Necessary cookies
The following cookies and technologies are required for the core functionalities of our website and online shops.
Necessary cookies (always active)
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
_fe_typo_user
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for logging into the Whisky.com community and using the community functions.
Name
sid
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the basic provision of the shop functions.
Name
sid_key
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the basic provision of the shop functions.
Name
cookie_consent
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save the settings in this Consent Manager.
Name
adventcalendar_clicked
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the correct display of the open doors in the Whisky.com advent calendar.
Name
language
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for language control on our website.
Name
BannerImpressions
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to limit the banner ads on our website.
Name
datamints_http2push
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP2
Description
This cookie is necessary to improve the loading speed of our website for a better user experience.
Name
datamints_http2push_shop
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP2
Description
This cookie is necessary to improve the loading speed of our website for a better user experience.
Name
datamints_shopselector_hasdismissednote
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Necessary functionality to determine whether the shop selection has already been made if the geolocation of the IP address does not match the shop country.
Name
hasUserHash
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Necessary functionality to determine whether a shop user exists.
Name
Vanilla
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
Vanilla-Volatile
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
Vanilla-Vv
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
24 hours
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
__vnf
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
13 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
preferred-country
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 Monate
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save and restore the country setting in the language and country selection.
Name
preferred-language
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 Monate
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save and restore the language setting in the language and country selection.
Functional cookies
The following cookies and technologies allow us to anonymously analyze consumer behaviour on our website to detect potential errors and continually improve the user experience.
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
__utmz
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
13 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie records whether a user is redirected to our website by a search engine (and if so, which search term was used), a specific link or if he was not redirected from a previously visited page (e.g. opening the website via a bookmark).
Name
__utma
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie records the number of visits, timestamp of your first visit, the previous and current visit.
Name
_ga
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google for user differentiation.
Name
_ga_UA******
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google Analytics to limit the amount of data recorded on websites with high user traffic.
Name
_gid
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 Months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google to track and store the visited page history.
Name
_gat
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
10 minutes
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google for tracking.
Name
__gads
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
30 days
Type
HTTP
Description
The __gads cookie is associated with the DoubleClick for Publishers service from Google. It serves purposes such as measuring interactions with the ads on our domain and preventing the same ads from being shown to you too many times.
Name
_gat_commercetracker
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
30 Tage
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google Analytics to track and evaluate e-commerce applications.
Name
CONSENT
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
max. 2 Jahre
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie stores user consent information.
Name
NID
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
6 Month
Type
HTTP
Description
When creating a Google account or logging in, NID cookie is stored on the computer in order to remain connected to your Google account when you visit its service again. While you are logged in and use plug-ins from other websites, such as Whisky.com, Google uses these cookies to improve your user experience.
Social Media cookies
The following cookies and technologies are required for displaying Social Media content of third party providers like YouTube, Instagram, etc.
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
yt-remote-cast-installed
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-connected-devices
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Persistent
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-device-id
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Persistent
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
GPS
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
1 Day
Type
HTTP
Description
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to allow geographic GPS location based tracking.
Name
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
179 Days
Type
HTTP
Description
Attempts to calculate the user's network bandwidth on pages with embedded YouTube videos.
Name
YSC
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Registers a unique ID for storing statistics on YouTube videos watched by a user.
Name
yt-remote-fast-check-period
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-session-app
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-session-name
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
_fbp
Provider
Facebook/Meta
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTML
Description
Facebook Tracking via Facebook Pixel
Name
csfrtoken
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
ig_cb
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
ig_did
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
mid
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
rur
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
urlgen
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
My regular scotch is Chivas 12 yr. I find the 18 yr even nicer. I would describe it as having a smokey aftertaste, something I love. I have been lucky enough to try the Sullivan's cove French oak and loved it, also finding it smokey. I also like john y blue, hence the confusion. Looking at different tasting notes, i don't rate Johnny black or double black but looking at the tasting notes, these are described as smoky, but Chivas not really smokey at all! Given my preference for Chivas, Johnny blue and even the Sullivan's French oak, any suggestions for others that would appeal. Looking at the smokies ones like laphroig, I've seen them compared to Johnny black so I'm totally lost!
This is a common area of confusion so don't worry!
First of all, everyone's sense of smell/taste is different; this is one of the joys in tasting scotch! Two people can sample the same whisky and get totally different flavor profiles. If you nose a Lagavulin and legitimately smell rose petals and blueberry pie, you'll be in the minority for sure, but no one can tell you that you're WRONG!
What you sense from the Chivas Regal which you call "smoky" may actually be the spiciness and influence from the oak in the casks as opposed to actual peat smoke. This can sometimes be hard to distinguish, especially in more...affordable blends like Chivas. blends can have so many different whiskies in their mix that it can be hard to distinguish what is truly in their makeup.
It's hard to tell from the way you wrote your post, I'm guessing you haven't had JW black or double black yet. If I was you, I would buy miniatures of both the Chivas 12 and JW black and compare the two.
My guess, though, is that you say you like smoky whiskies, but you haven't actually had a traditionally smoky whisky. I would recommend you try a Talisker 10 year. It has both smoke and spice (which I think you might like). Plus, it is reasonably inexpensive (less than $60). If you like it, you might be a peat head and can move on to smokier scotches (Lagavulin, Ardbeg...save Laphroaig for last!). If you don't like it, then you might have to re-evaluate what you consider smoky versus what the "industry" considers smoky.
Bottom line, who cares if you're lost!!! That's where some of the best journeys and discoveries happen 8)
Thanks for the reply. I was in fact going to try one of the peaty ones but wasn't sure where to start so I'll go with your Talisker recommendation. I have tried JW black and double black several times and don't think much of either of them. I have a mate you loves Jw black but won't touch Chivas so as you say, everyone's tastes differ. I guess the reason for my post was to find some other whiskies that have more of whatever it is I like about Chivas!
I am confused too. you like Chivas but you like smoky, so as the previous poster said, you might be confused with what is "smoky". in which case it might be a mistake to try a Talisker? Perhaps you should try a miniature Glenlivet or Glenfiddich?
As said by kroman above, there is some kind of confusion between light smoke and oakiness. This is normal. You can look up the 'general' rating of the taste of bottles in our Whisky-Database. Here is the link to the Chivas 12yrs.
39 users gave ratings about this bottle. And if you expand the icons two times (Button: show more), than you find the light smokiness detected by others. With the Chivas 18yrs the smoke is better detectable by the 16 tasters which rated this bottle. The smore is rated at position two with ratings between three and 5.5.
It is always a good idea to look bottles up in our Whisky-Database prior to buying them.
With the Johnnie Walker Blue Label the smoke is dominant. But please be careful and always look at the number of ratings. The blue only collected 10 detailed ratings.