Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old vs Hibiki Japanese Harmony
No flavour axis separates them, so the difference on record is disclosure: Chivas Regal 12 Year Old states 12 years, Hibiki Japanese Harmony states no age.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Chivas Regal 12 Year Old | Hibiki Japanese Harmony | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Blended scotch |
| Origin | Scotland | Japan |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | Not published | Not published |
| Cask | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £33 | £75 |
| Per 10cl | £4.71 | £11 |
| Per litre of alcohol | — | — |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Chivas Regal 12 Year Old from Scotland, Hibiki Japanese Harmony from Japan.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old states 12 years; Hibiki Japanese Harmony states none.
Neither producer publishes cask types.
Neither states chill filtration.
Neither set of specifications is producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Hibiki Japanese Harmony is £42 dearer a bottle than Chivas Regal 12 Year Old.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old publishes no strength, so we will not cost it per litre of alcohol.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Chivas Regal 12 Year Old | Hibiki Japanese Harmony |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 1 | 1 |
| Sweet | 7 | 7 |
| Fruity | 6 | 7 |
| Spicy | 4 | 4 |
| Woody | 4 | 4 |
| Sherried | 4 | 3 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 5 | 5 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is fruity, 6 against 7.
Identical on peaty, sweet, spicy, woody and oily.
Each bottle in its own right
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old
Soft, honeyed and inoffensive. Built for mixing rather than contemplation.
We cannot publish an ABV for this bottle. Chivas' own domains return HTTP 403 to us on every path, Pernod Ricard's brand page omits strength, and no major retailer exposes it in product data — so the widely repeated 40% is not something we can source. The blend is anchored to Strathisla, the oldest continuously operating distillery in Scotland, founded 1786.
Full record →Hibiki Japanese Harmony
Honey, orange blossom and a whisper of incense. Delicate to the point of shy.
We cannot publish an ABV. Suntory's Japanese Harmony page states none, and the Japanese site renders its specs via JavaScript, so the widely repeated 43% is not something we can source. Suntory also names Mizunara only as a tasting note, not a declared cask type — so the common 'partly matured in Mizunara' claim is not supported by the producer's own wording.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Chivas Regal 12 Year Old for mixing and value, Hibiki Japanese Harmony for gift and highball.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Chivas Regal 12 Year Old and Hibiki Japanese Harmony: pernod-ricard.com, reservebar.com, house.suntory.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.