http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.dk/2013/10/visiting-kavalan.html
This time I am covering to newer Solist expressions. And I do it with a guest post from another danish whisky blog, followed by my own short notes for a couple of the Solists
A
TRIO OF KAVALANS
Hi, my name is Carsten
followed by a surname that’s completely unpronounceable in English, so I won’t
even bother writing it. I’m a Dane in my mid-thirties (let’s keep it at that)
and I live in a town called Odense. I have been drinking whisky for the better
part of a decade and I’m also a whisky blogger. I have a blog at www.whiskyflasken.dk, but alas, that’s completely unusable to most
of you since my blog is also in Danish. Feel free to drop by though or contact
me through my Facebook page.
A couple of weeks ago
Steffen, the fine gentleman that usually roams these pages, asked me if I would
like to write a guest review here on the Danish Whisky Blog and, since he also
said that he would supply the whisky, I had no problem accepting his offer.
It’s nice to write in English once in a while and perhaps make some new
acquaintances. Enough small-talk… Let’s get to the whisky!
Kavalan, which is
actually called Yuan Shan Distillery, is a Taiwanese distillery, that’s located
in Yilan County just a little south of the capital, Taipei. The distillery is
named after the indigenous people who originally inhabited the area where the
distillery is located. Kavalan is owned by King Car Group, which is a big
Taiwanese food and drink producer. The founder of King Car Group, Tien-Tsai
Lee, had a dream of producing a world class whisky in Taiwan and the planning
started in 2002. The actual construction of the distillery did not start until
2005 and it was completed on December 31, 2015.
To help them in the
process Kavalan hired Dr. Jim Swan as a consultant. Dr. Jim Swan has served as
a consultant for many new distillery projects in the last decades including
Penderyn, Annandale and Kilchoman. On March 13, 2006 the first new make flowed
from the stills and on December 4, 2008 the first bottling, the Kavalan
Classic, was released to the public. Since then the distillery has released
many different bottlings, but the most iconic of them are probably the Solist
series, which consists of a range of single cask releases, matured in various types
of casks. Kavalan has received many awards for its whisky, including taking the
top honors in the Malt Maniacs Awards 2014.
When the distillery
was built it had two sets of stills consisting of two wash stills with a
capacity of 12,000 liters each and 2 spirit stills with a capacity of 7,000
liters each. That gave Kavalan a yearly output of about 1.5 million liters of
alcohol. However, with the huge success that Kavalan has experienced the need
for more capacity quickly became evident. In 2015 a further six stills were
installed and the capacity was increased to 4.5 million liters per year and,
here in 2016, a further 10 stills will be installed and the capacity will be
doubled to 9 million liters of alcohol. There are two huge, five stories high,
warehouses on site and most of the casks mature standing up on pallets. Due to
the warm climate the amount of evaporation is quite high and the greedy angels
grab up to 15% per year.
Today, we will taste
three different Kavalan Solist bottlings. The first is from a bourbon cask, the
second is from a port cask and the third is from a sherry cask. Let’s go!
Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask, 57.1%, Cask
B100723021A, 4 Years Old
The distillery
character of Kavalan is said to be quite tropical and that definitely shines
through on the nose. It’s very fresh with pineapple, mango, bananas and some
coconut water. There are lots of vanilla and some nuttiness, which almost
translates into marzipan. Some lime in the background together with some
pepper. With a couple of dashes of water, the nuttiness becomes more apparent
and so does the vanilla. Fortunately it never loses its fruitiness and it’s
actually quite nice with water.
The taste is sweet to
begin with. Lots of banana and mango paired with some chocolate, but the sweetness
does not last long. The wood is really asserting itself mid-palate and the
whole thing gets rather hot and peppery. Once again it’s much better with
water. The sweetness continues for much longer and it’s fruitier and creamier.
The oak is still present, but the hotness and the pepper are almost gone.
The finish is quite
long with more tropical fruits, some chocolate and more pepper.
85/100
This is quite a nice
bottling from Kavalan. It’s not the most complex of whiskies and it certainly
is very oak-driven, but not so much that the distillery character is gone. The
nose is wonderfully fresh and you can almost imagine yourself sitting on a
tropical beach. I do find it a bit too hot on the palate without water, but
luckily it takes water really well. It actually reminds a little of a 25 YO
Glenrothes I had earlier this year! I have no problem recommending this
bottling, as long as you’re willing to experiment a little with the water.
Kavalan Solist Port Cask, 58.6%, Cask
O090617023A, 6 Years Old
This is quite spitiry
on the nose in the beginning, but it quickly settles down. There are a slew of
berries, including strawberries, raspberries and cherries together with some
sweet oranges. There’s also a lot of
underlying spiciness like cinnamon, vanilla and it’s quite nutty. A little bit of brown sugar and some toffee.
It you add some water the sweetness really stands out and it becomes a little
buttery.
In the beginning of
the palate there’s a lot of sweet fruitiness. Again it’s the berries that
dominate. Then there’s some dark chocolate and a lot of cinnamon. It becomes
really spice, with lots of oak influence and your mouth starts to dry out.
Water takes the punch out of it a bit, but all the flavours are still there.
The development does become a little longer and the chocolate stands out more
together with some orange peel.
It has a long after
aftertaste with chocolate, cherries and cinnamon. Very nice!
88/100
This is a really nice
and very balanced whisky. The nose and the palate are well connected and you
taste pretty much what you expect after nosing it. It’s spicy in a very nice
way and the cinnamon and the chocolate will stay with you for quite some time
after swallowing it. The water takes away some of the punch, but it does add a
bit more character, so once more I recommend experimenting with the water. Good work Kavalan!
Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask, 58.6%, Cask
S060821017, 6 Years Old
This first thing I
notice is a lot of rich dried fruits. This is definitely a sherried whisky!
Raisins, cranberries and cherries. It’s also very spicy with cinnamon and
vanilla. There’s a dark sugary and chocolaty sweetness to the nose together
with a lot of nuttiness. Water emphasizes the chocolate and the cranberries in
a big way. It’s much better with water.
There’s a very spicy
arrival on the palate and I’m not getting a lot of the dried fruits. It’s quite
sharp and peppery with lots of oak. A little bit of chocolate shines through,
but it’s just too hot. After adding some water everything improves a lot. Now I
get the dried fruits and it’s much less sharp and peppery. Chocolate, cinnamon,
toffee and a little bit of orange.
Nice long aftertaste
with coffee, raisins and dark chocolate.
84/100
The sherry is all over
this one and I do feel that that it’s just a bit over the top. Sherry matured
whisky needs time to settle down and interact with the cask over time. I know
that the climate is different in Taiwan, but quick maturation, however good it
is, is still not a substitute for long maturation and I really feel that it
shows in this bottling. The nose has all the right characteristics, but it not
very deep and mysterious. The palate is
simply too hot and even though the water helps a lot it’s still my least
favourite of the three. But I also know that this kind of whisky has a big
audience and Kavalan will sell every bottle they produce.
Time to sum up…
Kavalan is really on to something here and I would love to taste some of their
standard bottlings, to see how they stack up against these single cask
bottling. As I’ve mentioned already they are all very oak-driven, but that not
necessarily a bad thing. The bourbon matured bottling is a tropical explosion
and I could drink this all day while just relaxing in the garden. The port
matured one is my absolute favourite of the three, but I’m a sucker for port
matured whisky, so that’s no big surprise. The sherry matured bottling did
however disappoint me a little bit. It lacked depth, was not very complex and
somehow it just felt rushed. One thing that these Kavalans have in common
though is that they all take water very nicely and they all need in my opinion.
I look forward to
following Kavalan in the future and there will plenty of opportunity for that
given their recent expansions. Thanks to Steffen for letting me take over his
blog for a while. It was fun tasting Kavalan for the first time and the whisky
certainly didn’t disappoint. Now I just need to find myself a bottle of Kavalan
Solist Port Cask.
Thanks to Carsten for his reviews and comments about Kavalan. Here is my own take on two of the Solists
Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask, 57.1%, Cask B100723021A, 4 Years Old
Nose: A very fruity and floral nose.
Sweet apples and pears on a bed on vanilla. A hint of marcipan
Palate. The attack is sligtly hot, but
the finish is smooth. This is a sweet whisky, with an abundance of
vanilla. The whisky is thick and oily. The finish has some bitterness
and citrus notes emerges
Rating 86/100
Kavalan Solist Port Cask, 58.6%, Cask O090617023A, 6 Years Old
Nose: A tiny hint of sulphur, followed
by a typical port nose. The ex-bourbon is rather sweet, and this is
also sweet, but not as sweet as you would expect a port casked whisky
to be
Palate: Sweet, faint rubber, and very
dominant port influence, but not very sweet, which makes this a little
different to other port whiskies. The dominant note is dried fruits,
notable raisins, so the grape influence is big
Rating 83/100
I am usually not a big fan of port
whiskies, but this offering is not too bad for me. I guess it's
because it lacks the usual abundance of sweetness which is not my
thing. Being very sulphur sensitive I pick of little hints of rubber,
but I am sure this will go unnoticed by the vast majority.