Kavalan Whisky

Ingredients

What is in the bottle

• Imported malted barley, mostly from Britain
• Water from the Snow Mountain range, filtered through Yilan gravel
• Distiller’s yeast, fermented 60 to 72 hours
• Copper pot stills built by Forsyths of Rothes
• Casks: ex-bourbon, sherry butts, and STR barriques, shaved, toasted and re-charred
• Alcohol by volume: 40 to 58 percent depending on expression

To serve, neat

• 40 mlKavalan, at room temperature
• a copita or Glencairn glass, which funnels the aroma
• 3to 5 drops of still water, added after the first nose
• no ice, so the tropical fruit is not shut down

To serve, highball

• 40 mlKavalan Classic or Concertmaster
• 120 mlwell-chilled soda water
• a tall glass filled to the brim with hard ice
• 1strip of lemon or pineapple peel

Directions

1. Know the distillery: Kavalan is made by the King Car Group in Yuanshan, Yilan County, which began distilling in 2005 and released its first whisky in 2008 with the late Dr Jim Swan advising.
2. Malted barley is milled and mashed with local water, and the wort is fermented for 60 to 72 hours, longer than many Scottish distilleries, developing fruity esters.
3. The wash is distilled twice in Forsyths copper pot stills, with cooling water that in Yilan is far warmer than in Scotland, so condensing regimes were redesigned around the climate.
4. The new make fills casks in warehouses where temperatures swing between 15 and 40°C (105°F). The angel’s share runs at 10 to 15 percent a year, against 2 percent in Scotland, so the spirit extracts oak dramatically faster.
5. This is why a three- or four-year-old Kavalan tastes like a ten- or twelve-year-old Scotch, and why Kavalan does not print age statements: the numbers would mislead.
6. STR casks, shaved to remove tired wood, re-toasted and re-charred, were Jim Swan’s method for fast, clean maturation and give the mango and coconut notes the distillery is known for.
7. Casks are selected and either blended into a house expression such as Classic or Concertmaster, or bottled undiluted as a Solist single cask at cask strength.
8. To drink it neat, pour 40 ml into a copita, nose it once before adding anything, then add a few drops of water to open the tropical fruit, and sip at room temperature.
9. To drink it as Taipei bars do in summer, build a highball: chill the glass, fill it with hard ice, pour the whisky, top with cold soda poured down a bar spoon and stir exactly three times, then express a peel over the top.

Technique

• Kavalan is the name of the indigenous people of the Yilan plain, and the distillery kept it deliberately when it set out to prove a subtropical single malt was possible at all.
• Fast does not mean shortcut. Rapid extraction also means rapid over-oaking, and the distillery’s real skill is knowing when to pull a cask, often at three or four years.
• Do not judge it against a Speyside malt of the same age. Compare it with a much older whisky, which is how the 2015 World Whiskies Award for Vinho Barrique came about.

Substitutions

• If you cannot find Kavalan, another warm-climate single malt such as an Indian or Australian bottling shows the same rapid-maturation profile.
• For a highball without alcohol, Taiwanese bars pour cold-brew oolong over ice with soda and a peel, which mirrors the malty-fruity register.

Variations

• Kavalan Classic, the entry expression, honeyed and mango-heavy.
• Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique, single cask at cask strength, matured in re-charred wine casks.
• Kavalan Concertmaster, finished in port pipes, the usual highball choice.

History

Distilled at Yilan since 2005; its 2010 blind-tasting win over Scotch whiskies made Taiwanese whisky famous.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kavalan Whisky?

Kavalan Whisky is a wine & spirit from Taiwan: subtropically matured single malt, fruity and fast-ageing; drunk neat or in highballs. Distilled at Yilan since 2005; its 2010 blind-tasting win over Scotch whiskies made Taiwanese whisky famous.

How long does Kavalan Whisky take to make?

Kavalan Whisky takes 5 min of preparation and 3 to 5 years of subtropical maturation of cooking. The recipe makes 1 bottle, 700 ml. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kavalan Whisky?

Yes, within limits. If you cannot find Kavalan, another warm-climate single malt such as an Indian or Australian bottling shows the same rapid-maturation profile. For a highball without alcohol, Taiwanese bars pour cold-brew oolong over ice with soda and a peel, which mirrors the malty-fruity register.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kavalan Whisky?

Do not judge it against a Speyside malt of the same age. Compare it with a much older whisky, which is how the 2015 World Whiskies Award for Vinho Barrique came about.