Buy Rare and selected Kavalan Taiwan Single Malt Whisky

The Taiwanese Kavalan distillery is located in Yilan County, a small coastal plain in the estuary of the Lanyang River in the northern part of Taiwan s east coast, around 80 km south-east of Taipei. The Taiwanese natives are known as Kavalans, which is where the name Kavalan Whisky comes from. In 2005, T.T. Lee, founder and president of the Taiwanese food company King Car Group, fulfilled his greatest wish: to have his own whisky distillery. As an enthusiastic whisky lover, he had long dreamed of producing a high-quality whisky for Taiwan.
However, it was only when Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002 and the state monopoly on spirits was abolished that this idea became a possibility. The chemist Ian Chang, who completed his training as a master blender in Scotland with flying colors, became the focal point of this project. The British chemist and whisky expert Dr. Jim Swan, who still actively supports the company today, was the most important advisor in setting up the distillery and adapting production to the climatic conditions. Construction of the King Car Kavalan distillery began in April 2005 and the first new make saw the light of day on March 11, 2006. High humidity and temperatures of 15°C above the Scottish annual average presented the team with challenges. It quickly became clear that storage periods of 12 years or more would not be possible in Taiwan. With an angels share of 15-18% per year, Kavalan is well above the Scottish and Irish share of 2-3%. Only spring water from the region is used for whisky production. The special feature here is the soft and sweet taste of the water, which ultimately contributes to the fruity character of the whisky.
Only high-quality oak casks from Europe and the USA are used for the maturation of Kavalan whisky. The casks are predominantly stored vertically. The most important reason for this is to protect the casks against earthquakes, which occur more frequently in Taiwan. The 4 pot still stills (2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills) come from Scotland. Both the distillery and its whiskies have won numerous international awards in recent years and have prevailed against much older colleagues in a wide variety of blind tastings. Kavalan whisky has also received several terrific ratings in the Whisky Bibble from whisky expert Jim Murray.