Whisky, Taiwan Style:

We arrive at the Kavalan Distillery in Yilan’s Yuanshan Township on a clear, bright day. There we learn that South Korean tourists have been visiting the distillery in large numbers in recent years, in no small part thanks to RM, leader of the South Korean boyband BTS, recommending Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Single Cask Strength while a guest on Suchwita, a Korean TV talk show that involves chatting while tippling.

Kavalan introduced Taiwan’s first domestically made whisky in 2008 and has gone on to win 798 gold medals at international whisky competitions in the years since. It now produces 10 million bottles of whisky per year, distributes its products to more than 60 countries and territories, and is one of the ten largest single-malt whisky producers in the world.

The company has had great success in convincing the world to taste Taiwanese whiskies. What has it done right?

Zerose Yang, head of Kavalan’s Spirits Research Institute, says: “If you like our whisky, you’ll really like it.”

The right people

King Car Group founder Lee Tien-tsai established Kavalan Whisky in 2005.

The company then hired biochemist Jim Swan, known as the “Einstein of whisky,” in 2006. Once on board, Swan tweaked Kavalan’s production processes to account for Taiwan’s climate and environment.

Zerose Yang, who joined Kavalan on the same day as Swan and serves as its senior blender, says Swan “brought order to chaos.” Yang tells us that these efforts bore fruit in 2010, when a Kavalan single-malt whisky outperformed three Scottish and one English whisky in a blind Burns Night tasting organized by the UK paper The Times. The surprise win turned out to be only the beginning of a long succession of international awards and accolades for Kavalan whiskies.

The Kavalan Distillery is a frequent winner in international whisky competitions.

The right methods

Sold in a bottle meant to suggest Taipei 101, the single malt Kavalan Classic is aged at least four years in oak bourbon and sherry casks and has a fruity flavor with notes of mango, green apple and cherry. The whisky won 29 gold medals in competitions from 2014 to 2020 and has truly become Kavalan’s “classic” single malt.

Zerose Yang, who is also the chair of King Car’s Spirits Research Institute and its chief chemist, says that Kavalan whiskies’ strong fruity aromas and sufficient maturation have made them regular winners in blind testing in the “no age statement” category of international whisky competitions. Taiwan’s subtropical climate causes its whiskies to mature three times as fast as those aged in other regions, giving them their own unique “made in Taiwan” flavor profile.

Kavalan has 30 whiskies on the market, including cask strength and tempered bottles, that target both drinkers and collectors.

“If you like it, you’ll really like it,” says Yang, recommending an unadulterated cask-strength ex-bourbon whisky. Though the spirit clocks in at a potent 58.6% ABV, it has a smooth and round mouthfeel and intense sweetness. Yang says he likes to enjoy a few glasses at home or with a few friends.

He also reveals that when he visited his fiancée’s parents to discuss the wedding arrangements, he brought along a bottle of Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Single Cask Strength. “Taiwanese really enjoy the extravagant flavors of a sherry cask, and our subtropical climate really highlights the toffee and dried fruit flavors of this kind of cask. This whisky makes a great gift. It’s stylish, looks good, and is even red!”

In Taiwan’s subtropical climate, whiskies mature quickly and acquire layers of distinctive flavors.

Oak barrels, which are infused with the aromas of the sherry they once held, are refreshed by a process of shaving, toasting and re-charring, in preparation for maturing a new batch of whisky.

International sales

With domestic and international tourism picking up since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, Kavalan has received more than 10 million visitors since 2019. Its Whisky Lab, where guests can blend whiskies to their own taste and explore the many flavors of Taiwanese whisky, is a particularly popular destination for whisky lovers.

Kavalan is currently constructing a third distillery to meet strong global demand for its products, and especially from duty-free shops in Europe, the US, Korea and China. The company expects to complete the new facility in 2024 and hopes that it will enable still more global citizens to experience Taiwanese whiskies.

Kavalan’s Whisky Lab enables visitors to smell and taste various whiskies, and then blend one that perfectly matches their preferences.

Kavalan’s lantern-shaped pot stills produce an alcohol with a perfectly balanced body, neither too heavy nor too light.