At $646, Chivas Regal 25 sits higher than the drinkers of the bottles nearest it would ever pay for it. That is the shape of the whole bottle: it is priced for its fans. It fits the people who already love it, and it quietly pinches everyone else.
Start with the nose, which arrives polished and composed, like a dram that has been waiting a long while to be poured — red apple and cinnamon laid over caramels and salted almonds. The palate is where the years show themselves. Dark cooked fruits, coffee, malty cocoa, sticky toffee pudding, fudge and a fine line of orange move through it, and rolling it slowly around the mouth lets the aged grains carry those select malts out to their full stretch. The finish runs exceptionally long, the toffee pudding lingering beside the spent sweetness of an aniseed ball sucked down to nothing. Smooth is the word this whisky keeps earning.
Chivas Regal 25 is $646 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $646, so there is nothing unexpected in front of you. That works out at about $29.24 a standard drink across the roughly 22 in the bottle — a pour at home that lands above a pint at the pub, which sits near $6.28 a standard drink.
1/A price guide for Chivas Regal 25 and the three blended Scotch whiskies closest to it. What each usually sells around, the range we've seen, and what a pour costs this week. Chivas Regal 25 sits at the top at $646, with Royal Salute 21, Dewar's 18 and Johnnie Walker 18 alongside it. Read the week against the everyday price, not the other way around.
2/| Bottle | Usually around | Range we've seen | This week | Per standard drink, this week | |---|---:|---|---:|---:| | Chivas Regal 25 | $646 | $646 | $646 | $29.24 | | Royal Salute 21 | $260 | $210–$260 | $260 | $11.77 | | Dewar's 18 | $131 | $131 | $131 | $5.53 | | Johnnie Walker 18 | $179 | $133–$179 | $179 | $8.10 |
3/All four sit at their everyday price this week; nothing here is a special. Chivas Regal 25 usually sells around $646, and that is where it is. The bottom of two ranges came at Father's Day: Royal Salute 21 $210, Johnnie Walker 18 $133. This week both are back at the top, $260 and $179.
| slot | 08-13 | 08-20 | 08-27 | 09-03 | 09-10 | 09-17 | 09-24 | 10-01 | 10-08 | 10-15 | 10-22 | 10-29 | 11-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list / member | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed | 645.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 645.99 | 645.99 | 0.00 | 645.99 | 645.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 645.99 | 100 |
| member | 645.99 | 645.99 | 0.00 | 645.99 | 645.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 645.99 | 100 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 645.99 | 0.00 | null | null | 646.0 – 646.0 |
Royal Salute 21, $210 at Dan Murphy's, and it drinks its age: orchard fruit in masses, a hint of passion fruit, oak gone soft and round, a banana note with a drop of water. Thick and chewy, a nut on the finish. One for the patient sipper. More in this week's piece. Fancy a dram?
Friday night, cupboard open, deciding what to pour. Chivas Regal 18, $125, gives a Royal Salute 21 drinker about 86% of the whisky for 60% of the price. Vanilla, almond, toffee. More on Royal Salute 21 in this week's piece.
Royal Salute 21 is $210 this week. Hand it to a Chivas Regal 25 drinker and they'd pay $502 for it, 78% of what their own bottle sets them back. Across the nearer drinkers the figure runs from $107 to $502. Where it all settles is in this week's piece.
A pour of Royal Salute 21 lands 274th of 310 at Dan Murphy's per standard drink: at $210 for about 22 pours, that's $9.51 a glass at home, a touch over a pub pint's $6.28 a drink. One for the lover of rounded orchard fruit. More in this week's piece.
Like Chivas Regal 25? Pour a Chivas Regal 18 and you still get about 81% of what the 25 gives you, for 19% of the price, yours at $125, with vanilla, almond slice, toffee and sweet oak warming up as it sits in the glass. More on the Chivas Regal 25 in this week's piece.
Aged blends, every one. Hand a Dewar's 18 drinker the Chivas Regal 25 and they'd pay 71% of what their own bottle costs, mostly because it's older than theirs. More on the Chivas Regal 25 in this week's piece.
Sunday night, one glass, no rush. On the nose, Chivas Regal 25 gives red apple and salted almonds; the palate turns to coffee and sticky toffee pudding, then a long aniseed finish. A pour at home is $29.24 a standard drink. More in this week's piece. Pour yourself one.
Chivas Regal 25 is $646 this week, and it usually sells around $646 — steady ground, no surprises. A polished, smooth dram, toffee running long on the finish. Take that as a guide, not a flag, and read the rest in this week's piece.
Fancy Chivas Regal 25? Royal Salute 21 gets a Chivas Regal 25 drinker about 76% of the way there, for 40% of the price, at $260. Orchard fruit, supple oak, a little nut on the finish. More on Chivas Regal 25 in this week's piece.
For anyone who loves Chivas Regal 25, a Dewar’s 18 at $131 gives back about 76% of what the 25 does for 20% of its price, all toasted barley and toffee, which is where this week’s piece on Chivas Regal 25 picks up.
What are you paying for in Royal Salute 21? Price its features the way the rest of the range at Dan Murphy's is priced and you get a going rate of $260. This week it is $210. That is about 19% under the going rate for what it is made of.
Chivas Regal 25 stands a little apart: it doesn't taste much like its neighbours. A dram its own drinkers keep returning to. Here's what it's like, and what it asks.
Chivas Regal 25 is a $646 blend this week — the house's flagship, priced for the cabinet.
Royal Salute 21 is $210 at Dan Murphy's this week. That is the number to carry to the counter.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glenfarclas 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $389.99 | $575.91 | -185.92 |
| 2 | Chivas Regal 18 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky 700mL | $124.95 | $537.54 | -412.59 |
| 3 | Royal Salute 21 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky 700mL | $259.99 | $528.82 | -268.83 |
| 4 | Glen Moray 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $342.99 | $514.90 | -171.91 |
| 5 | Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $298.95 | $478.81 | -179.86 |
| 6 | The Balvenie The Balvenie 21 Year Old Portwood Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $452.99 | $462.76 | -9.77 |
| 7 | The Glenlivet 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $184.99 | $460.09 | -275.10 |
| 8 | The Balvenie Stories 21YO 'The Second Red Rose' Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $726.99 | $429.56 | +297.43 |
| 9 | Chivas Regal XV 15 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky 700mL | $88.99 | $416.34 | -327.35 |
| 10 | Chivas Regal Charles LeClerc 16YO 700mL | $99.99 | $414.77 | -314.78 |