Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old vs Monkey Shoulder
No flavour axis separates them, so the difference on record is disclosure: Chivas Regal 12 Year Old states 12 years, Monkey Shoulder states no age.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Chivas Regal 12 Year Old | Monkey Shoulder | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Blended malt |
| Origin | Scotland | Speyside, Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | Not published | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £33 | £30 |
| Per 10cl | £4.71 | £4.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | — | £100 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old is a blended scotch, Monkey Shoulder a blended malt.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old states 12 years; Monkey Shoulder states none.
Neither producer publishes cask types.
Neither states chill filtration.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old is £3.00 dearer a bottle than Monkey Shoulder.
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 | Monkey Shoulder |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 1 | 1 |
| Sweet | 7 | 7 |
| Fruity | 6 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 4 | 4 |
| Sherried | 4 | 3 |
| Cereal | 5 | 6 |
| Oily | 5 | 6 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is spicy, 4 against 5.
Identical on peaty, sweet, fruity and woody.
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 →Monkey Shoulder
Vanilla, orange and malt, built to survive ice and ginger ale. An honest cocktail malt.
William Grant & Sons does not name the three constituent malts anywhere on its own site — the widely repeated Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie attribution is unofficial. The 43% we list is the producer's US figure; no UK strength is published at all.
Full record →Both listed for value; only Chivas Regal 12 Year Old for mixing; only Monkey Shoulder for cocktails and highball.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Chivas Regal 12 Year Old and Monkey Shoulder: pernod-ricard.com, reservebar.com, monkeyshoulder.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.