The question was asked on Chivas Regal on another thread :
http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=8493Chivas Regal is marketed very succesfully - especially in North America - as a premium whisky. What they don't tell you is that it is a premium
blended whisky. There is nothing wrong with it - in fact it is very nice - but in my opinion the majority of malt whiskies are better.
Here is an explanation :
single malt whisky : Produced from malted barley by a single distillery and must be aged in wood for a minimum of 6 years. Malt distilleries, without exception, use small copper pot stills in a batch distillation process
pure malt whisky : Several single malts can be married (mixed) together to produce a pure malt. Not commonplace but they are available.
grain whisky : Raw unmalted barley can be used to produce whisky in a continuous distillation process in Patent Stills. Very little malted barley is used on account of its higher cost. Grain whiskies are not, as far as I am aware, marketed separately
blended whisky : A mixture of one or more single malt whiskies with a large proportion of grain whisky. The best of them are quite palatable (Grouse, Chivas Regal); the cheapest of them should only ever be used to take the sweetness away from lemonade or coke!