A SPIRITS expert said that the perfect way to drink whiskey is to, well, simply enjoy it as so one pleases.
“There’s no one rule to enjoy whiskey,” said Bonnar Fulton, a whiskey preacher from Scotland. “If you paid for a bottle, you should enjoy it the way you want to enjoy it, whether if you want to add a bit of soda water, have it as an old-fashioned or on the rocks. Just have your whiskey the way you enjoy it.”
Fulton currently serves as the brand ambassador for Chivas Brothers in the country. His take on the subjectivity of whiskey is reflective of the new global campaign of Chivas, called “Success is a Blend,” which celebrates the belief instilled by founding brothers James and John Chivas that blended is better, in life and in Scotch.
According to Tony Atayde, head of marketing of the Philippine office of Pernod Ricard, the French company behind Chivas and other distilled beverages, the global campaign in the local context centers on the cultural definition of success for Filipinos. That means overcoming obstacles with a positive attitude, wherein success is achieved through a mix of determination and resilience.
“Chivas believes that the Filipinos’ unique blend of traits and circumstances make our stories of success more powerful,” Atayde said. “We want to express this extraordinary resilience across all our platforms, while inspiring others to continue to make their own blend of success. Along the way, we also want to celebrate their small and big steps with this perfect combination of the world’s finest malt and grain whiskies.”
Chivas Brothers traces its history to a grocery store in 19th-century Aberdeen, Scotland.
James Chivas experimented with some of the aged whiskies in the grocery store cellar. His brother, John, eventually joined him, and the two began to mix aged scotch whiskies and pioneered the art of blending.
In 1909, master blender Charles Howard created Chivas Regal, a 25-year-old blend recognized as the world’s first luxury scotch whiskey. The drink survived two world wars and outlived Prohibition to be reborn a favorite noted for, according to the Chivas web site, fruity aromas of sweet orange and peach followed by notes of marzipan and nuts, with a taste of chocolate orange and fondant creaminess. The finish is characterized as smooth, rounded and luxuriously long.
Aside from Chivas Regal, the Chivas range includes other timeless classics and modern innovations, such as the Chivas 12, Chivas Extra, Chivas XV, Chivas Mizunara, Chivas 18, Chivas Ultis, Chivas 25, The Icon and the Global Travel Retail exclusive, Chivas Brothers Blend.
Capturing the essence of the brand’s Success is a Blend campaign, meanwhile, is the Chivas Whiskey Blending Kit. It lets one create a whiskey according to his or her preference with five scotch whiskies, four single malts and one blended grain whiskey to experiment with.
Each whiskey brings unique characteristics and flavors to the blend to be created, including floral, fruity, creamy, smoky and citrusy. The kit also comes with a bottle of Chivas 12, along with a pipette to measure, a beaker to mix and a bottle to store the created blend.
“The perfect whiskey and how to enjoy it depends on the person,” Fulton said. He added that the biggest misconception about whiskey is that it’s an “old-man’s drink,” and that it should be reserved only for special occasions.
“If you’ve just had a long day at the office and just want to unwind, you can have a whiskey,” he said. “Just enjoy it. Always do what you want to do when it comes to whiskey.”