Is Kavalan Whisky for real?
At first it appeared it would be a one-hit wonder but Kavalan did not waiver and solidified its position with more critical victories.
It was not so long ago that the mere idea of a premium whisky coming from Taiwan would make hardcore whisky drinkers cringe. Then out of nowhere, Kavalan happened. Since joining international whisky challenges in the most prestigious competitions in the last decade, this Taiwanese newcomer has won over 200 awards. The Kavalan brand is no longer a stranger in the whisky world. It does help, too, that in 2012 whisky demigod himself Jim Murray shocked the whisky world by naming Kavalan’s Solist Fino Sherry Cask malt whisky the “whisky of the year” in his very reputable annual Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. At first it appeared that it would be a “one-hit wonder” or a novelty of an idea for a Taiwanese whisky to dislodge its heritage-heavy and tradition-rich Scottish counterparts in ratings. But Kavalan did not waiver and only solidified its position with more critical victories.
The prestigious World Whisky Awards in 2015 handed its top accolade — World’s Best Single Malt Whisky — to Kavalan’s Solist Vinho Barrique. Not done yet, one year later in 2016, the World Whisky Awards bestowed the World’s Best Single Cask Single Malt Whisky honor to Kavalan for its Solist Amontillado Sherry Single Cask Strength. Kavalan as a whisky brand has indeed arrived!
I was very fortunate to have been invited to attend a Kavalan whisky tasting class recently, with visiting Kavalan master blender and brand ambassador Ian Chang presiding over the event. Ian Chang himself is a recipient of the Icons of Whisky World’s “Whisky Brand Ambassador of the Year” honor last year.
A VISION AGAINST ALL ODDS
Taiwan has been a huge market for spirits, in particular for Scotch whiskies. Taiwan ranks No. 3 or No. 4 in terms of largest importer-country by value of Scotch whiskies, behind the United States, France, and quite close to Singapore (mostly due to the duty free business at the airport). But Taiwan, due to the Taiwanese people’s propensity for luxurious products, is by far No. 1 in terms of average value of Scotch whiskies being imported.
For a Taiwanese company to create a whisky distillery to compete against the dominant Scotch whiskies almost seemed impossible, especially since Kavalan wanted to be in the premium single malt segment, where “colonial mentality and obvious biases” were serious barriers. It was probably the reason why it could only have been done by a giant conglomerate with large resources and vision. This was what the King Car Group of the Lee family did.
The King Car Group is known for Taiwan’s most popular coffee brand, Mr. Brown. As Ian Chang explained very animatedly, it was in 2002, after the Taiwanese government opened its market in the tobacco and liquor industry (which was previously a government monopoly), that the CEO of the King Car Group, Yu Ting Lee, decided to explore the ambitious whisky project. The company hired whisky stalwart Dr. Jim Swan as a consultant and Mr. Chang himself, a young 30-year-old UK educated Taiwanese, as head of the Research and Development team to spearhead this project. And after three years of traveling to Scotland, Ireland, and even Japan to learn the “know how” from the bastions of whiskies, Mr. Chang had honed his skills in master blending and benefited greatly under the hands-on tutorage of Dr. Swan.
The ambitious vision finally reached fruition, and by April 2005, construction on a brand-new distillery started at Yilan County, south of Taipei, and was completed in just nine months. As Ian explained, Kavalan was the old name of modern day Yilan County. The first alcohol spirit from the new distillery was accomplished on March 2006 at exactly 3:30 p.m. as Ian proudly declared — ushering Taiwan’s historic first local whisky.
THE MATURATION PROCESS
The copper pot stills, malted barleys, casks, and everything you need to make premium single malt whiskies can be imported... but it is the source water (as Scotland boasts of), the climate of Taiwan in a sub-tropic zone, and perhaps the most important part, the cask selection during maturation that ultimately create quality single malt whiskies. Then there are technologies and methods that traditional distilleries will not, or cannot (legally) employ but which Kavalan has developed.
To start with, Yilan was chosen to be the site of the distillery because it has great natural spring water that is very pure and with inherent sweet qualities. Kavalan whiskies are known for their distinctive sweetness. But it was the climate which could be a problem as Taiwan summers are hot, with temperatures of up to 40°C, and coupled with high humidity may be disastrous to slowly mature the whiskies. Instead, this disadvantageous climate turned out to be Kavalan’s signature ingenuity as it modified its production process to accommodate the heat in its maturation.
Ian expounded on the maturation process and why Kavalan whiskies have no age statements. “Aging is just a process of transformation. All you want is for your spirit to go from a rough state to something smooth and with complexity. In Kavalan it is all about redefining the maturation process. In a subtropical climate like Taiwan, the ageing process is accelerated and the interaction between the wood and spirit is much faster than in a colder climate. One year of ageing in Taiwan is roughly equivalent in our estimation to four years in Scotland because of our heat and humidity. Also, the angel’s share (evaporation rate) during our maturation takes away more than 10% of our spirits, as against only 2% from other distilleries.”
Kavalan has a five-storey storage warehouse that is used to mature the whiskies. “During summer, our top floor can go as high as 42°C, while our ground floor is at around 27°C,” Ian pointed out in his slide presentation. “We have different temperatures per floor and our casks are brought to mature in their respective floors based on the size of the cask. For example, our sherry casks are sent to the 4th floor because these are 600 liter size barrels, while the smaller bourbon casks are placed in the ground floor. The larger the casks, the more time it needs for maturation.”
Kavalan is doing extremely well in Europe and in the United States, but is more challenged actually here in Asia where the age-statement of single malt whiskies is quite important for consumers. Regardless, of the Asian reception, Kavalan is already manufacturing over 5 million liters, and has more capacity of up to 9 million liters to meet growing demand.
Kavalan has 18 different expressions at the moment and with more variants to come. Cask selection and cask investment have been key to Kavalan’s meteoric rise, and now I heard that it has secured casks from Grand Cru Bordeaux wines like Chateau Margaux. Now I am attentively listening... and waiting. To the whisky snobs, please lower your eyebrows, Kavalan is here to stay!
Kavalan whiskies are exclusively imported and distributed locally by Grand Cru Wine & Spirits Inc. For more information on Kavalan, its available single malt variants and its prices, please e-mail Sandy Morales at sandy.morales@grandcru.com.ph.
More on Kavalan and my amateur whisky tasting notes on future columns to come.
The author has been a member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux since 2010. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.