The World's Best Blended Scotch Whisky—According To The 2025 ASCOT Awards

Forbes

15-06-2025

The American Spirits Council of Tasters--or ASCOTs, for short--has just released its big winners for 2025. Well, sorta. As has became standard practice for competitions these days, the intel is meted out in drips and drams so that consumers can be kept on their toes throughout the year, as opposed to having it all over and done with in one succinct announcement. In the case of the ASCOTs, we now have the first round of medalists as designated by its prestigious panel of judges, consisting of 54 talented individuals from every corner of the industry; journalists, bartenders, educators, and assorted media personalities.
According to its website, the council promises to reveal Best in Category winners, followed by Whiskey and Non-Whiskey of the Year in the weeks ahead--all leading up to the big reveal: 2025 Best In Show. You can trust that there'll be ample buzz generated around those bottles (last year's Bourbon of the Year was virtually unknown at the time and was ripped from shelves almost immediately thereafter).
In the meantime, we can share with you the grand winner in one broad category of brown booze, at least. And it's one that hardly could be considered unknown to any self-respecting sipper. The top prize for Blended Scotch Whisky of the Year goes to Chivas Regal 12 Year Old. One of the best-selling scotches on the market today, the Pernod Ricard-owned label is both easy-drinking and complex. It carries a custardy, slightly banana-laden nose, evolving into spiced barley and candied walnuts atop the palate. Subtle pepper spice tickles the tongue before the 80-proof spirit fades from memory.
Its enviable performance at this year's ASCOTs can hardly be seen as an outlier. This particular expression has been hauling home the hardware on the competition circuit in recent years. F. Paul Pacult, respected founder of the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, recently referred to Chivas 12 as 'the blend for grownups.'
He wasn't suggesting that underaged drinkers are drawn to all those other blends, of course. Merely that the overarching category of blended scotch more generally appeals to the masses. After all, it does definitionally carry a large component of lighter grain spirit in its mix. And so it can lack the deep complexities aimed at the elevated palates of single malt connoisseurs (effete sarcasm intended). Those stereotypes are unfounded because, yes, blended scotch, can be both complex and widely-appealing at the same time. And Chivas Regal 12 underscores the point. Best of all, it does so at a price point of roughly $20 per bottle. Try finding a worthwhile single malt for that!
The ASCOT judges, for their part, will certainly try. They will conduct a taste-off between three peated and three non-peated expressions of single malt scotch in the upcoming weeks. I'll be sure to weigh in with my commentary on the ultimate winner. So keep it parked here to stay informed. Meanwhile, just remember that great whisky arrives in all different price-tags and categories.