HOW CHIVAS REGAL BLENDED SCOTCH IS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE CHIVAS FAMILY

THE CHIVAS REGAL SAGA (ABRIDGED)

Chivas Brothers Holdings, which company manages the Chivas Regal brand of Blended Scotch Whiskies, operates 14 Scottish malt distilleries, all located in the Speyside area – apart from Scapa on Orkney – along with Strathclyde grain distillery near Glasgow.

It’s Chivas Regal 12 YO premium Blended Scotch Whisky is at the second spot globally among premium 12 YO Blended Scotch Whiskies behind Johnnie Walker Black Label in volumes sold, but is the leader in Europe and Asia (especially India and China). Judging by Aldi and Lidl standards, the brand is rather expensive, while also US$ 3-8 more per litre than Black Label.

What is not generally known is that the Chivas Brothers company came into being only in 1857, when John Chivas joined his elder brother James in his grocery, wine shop and luxury goods emporium in Aberdeen as a partner. John died in 1862, James in 1886 and James son, Alexander in 1893, the beginning of the end of all familial connection with the brand.

The often bandied about statement that Chivas Regal traces its roots back to 1801 is absolute nonsense. Chivas brothers James and John weren’t even born then. James Chivas’ first sniff of whisky came when he was 26 years old, in 1836, when he joined William Edward, a grocer and wine seller in Aberdeen as an employee. This grocery, destined for fame under another name, had been founded in 1801 by a John Forrest. It expanded with time and passed through various hands in succeeding years. James Chivas, hired in 1836, rose to partner in 1838, and remained the sole common owner/partner till his death.

The company, known as Edward and Chivas (1838-41) and later Stewart and Chivas (1841-57), obtained in 1843 the first of many Royal Warrant to supply luxury goods to British Royalty. Initially open to selling outsourced Blended Malt whiskies that met their stringent quality standards, they moved up to blending, ageing and selling proprietary deluxe malt whiskies starting 1854.

When the company was dissolved in 1857 and renamed Chivas Brothers Holdings with the advent of John Chivas, new ideas and concepts came to fruition. They successfully blended aged whiskies to move upmarket en bloc and entice an upper class word-of-mouth clientele with a smooth, rich and expensive whisky experience. Chivas Brothers first Blended Scotch whisky, the 10 YO Royal Strathythan, was launched in 1863.  They had realised that a good Grain Scotch whisky would help marry the heavy malts when suitably diluted and used in volumes that would bring down the overall strength of the whisky, which, surprisingly, tasted smoother and far more flavoursome at 46-50% ABV.

When Alexander Chivas died, control was handed over to two temporary directors, Messrs Smith and Taylor. The latter was replaced by their Master Blender, Charles Howard. In 1895, Smith and Howard told the Board of Trustees that they wished to buy them and the distaff side of the Chivas family out. The offer was accepted with the one proviso that the brand would remain (and has remained) unchanged as Chivas Brothers Holdings, a Ltd. company till this day.

Chivas' assessment of market condition in the US in the 1890s forecast a booming economy looking for luxury. In 1900, Howard decided to create a new blend in memorium of the founding brothers, James and John. Using select inhouse and other aged malts procured from the Highlands and Campbeltown, Howard found a malt-dominated recipe fitting the bill. Introducing the term ‘Regal’ for the first time ever, Howard created in 1909, all of 9 years later, what he believed to be the finest whisky ever made, a 25 year old whisky called Chivas Regal, the oldest Blended Scotch Whisky of its era, establishing it as the world’s first ultra-luxury whisky. The ABV was deliberately reduced to 46% to make it an excellent base for a Highball. It made its debut in a specially designed green glass decanter — with ornate gold and silver trimmings — in the USA to a glamorous reception in 1909 sans the Chivas family. 

Chivas Regal Blended Scotch 25 YO met with resounding success. Ironically, no member of the Chivas family had any connection with this ultra-premium successful blend. It was all one way street for the Chivas Regal, from 1909 till end 2014, when WW I started to become a sluggish long drawn affair (2014-18). Existing stocks were exhausted rather quickly as demand outstripped supply. Shipping lanes to USA closed down and Chivas Bros switched to building reserves at home.

WW I was to hurt most brands across Scotland, particularly exporters to the USA, and Chivas was no exception. The war did not hamper production of its two aged brands as the malt whiskies required were over 20/25 years and more old, and stock held in reserve was adequate. Huge stocks in barrels were piled up in anticipation of large-scale export to USA as soon as the war ended. Production of the flagship brand took topmost priority. Sadly, an extended unhappy period lay in store for the Chivas Regal 25 in the form of the US Prohibition (1920-33) that followed immediately after WW I, catching the company totally unaware in terms of stock, and the unrelated deaths of both its senior partners in 1935.

The surviving partner William Mitchell, unable to handle Chivas Brothers, sold off the entire holdings to whisky brokers Morrison & Lundie in 1936 on an 'as is' basis. Well stocked, Morrison decided that it was far too onerous to maintain aged barrels of whisky. They reduced the production of the Chivas 25 drastically, resulting in its withdrawal as their standard-bearer and ultimate demise. They sold off most of the aged stock in a greedy market to recover their cost of investment in no time and switched their attention to a 12 YO premium brand, a decision that would be seen as wise a lustrum later, when WW II (1939-1945) broke out in Europe, 4,000 miles from the USA. 1939 saw the highly successful debut of Chivas Regal 12 YO in the USA at what was to become a global standard proof value of 75°, i.e., 42.8% ABV (86° proof by US standards).

In the shaky post-war economy in 1949, Morrison & Lundie sold off the Chivas Brand to Canadian Samuel Bronfman’s Seagram Limited Company. The Chivas Regal 12 YO Blended Scotch Whisky brought in the money from across the globe, bar the Middle East. Since Bronfman was Jewish, the Seagram brands, including Chivas Regal, were not seen in the Middle East till 2001, when firmly under Pernod Ricard patronage.

Chivas took over the oldest operating distillery in Scotland, Strathisla distillery (ex-Milltown/Milton distillery, founded 1786) at Keith, in 1950. In 1957 a ‘sister’ distillery named Glen Keith was constructed close to Strathisla. Growth of whisky sales during the 1970s led Chivas to construct Allt-a-Bhainne and Braes of Glenlivet (now Braeval) distilleries to provide additional malt capacity.

In the next 25 years, Aberlour, Glenallachie, Edradour, The Glenlivet, Glen Grant and Longmorn distilleries were brought into their fold by Seagram. Today, Seagram is part of Pernod Ricard and Chivas Brothers Holdings is the second-largest Scotch whisky company after Diageo.

The Chivas Regal 25 Year Old, designed to woo the high societies of the US, had a higher malt content than the other blends of the time, its intention being to offer a more sophisticated and complex palate to its rivals. Since then, with tighter cask management by its owner, Chivas Brothers, the flagship expression 12-year-old has a lower malt content than its predecessor, believed to be 36% Malt, ~63.5% Grain and the balance the E-150A caramel colouring.

All Chivas Regal 12 Year Old’s malts are from Speyside; there is no Islay, Lowland or Highland Malt. The grain whisky is Strathclyde, a soft lowland grain whisky. The core single malt is Strathisla, a dominant Speysider. The Strathclyde provides all desired Single Grain whiskies. The exact recipe is something to kill for.