Taiwan, Yilan. Distillery operational. Owner: King Car Group.

Two extraordinary personalities are responsible for Taiwan's first independent distillery, Tien-Tsai Lee (TT Lee), founder of the King Car group and owner of Kavalan, and Dr Jim Swan, the consultant behind a huge number of the distilleries opened across the world over the last 15 years, including Penderyn (Wales), Cotswolds (England), Victoria Caledonian (Canada) and several other projects in Scotland, such as Clydeside (Glasgow) and Lindores Abbey (Cupar). It was in 2006 that Kavalan distilled its malt for the first time. Since then, the distillery has frequently caused a stir with bottlings that reflect its perfect mastery of ageing in ex-bourbon casks and Oloroso and Fino sherry casks below subtropical latitudes. Like new distilleries, Kavalan has released numerous single cask and cask strength bottlings to respond to massive demand around the world.

This whisky, a single malt from the island of Taiwan, is matured for many years in bourbon casks, imparting unrivalled aromas and flavours. This whisky equipped with refined notes of vanilla, cocoa, chocolate and iodine is fresh and precise on the nose, culminating in a long and exotic finish. Indeed, the spirit is characterized by an exotic profile manifested in notes of pineapple, mango and passion fruit. On the palate, lots of energy driven by aromas of fruit and citrus fruit, as well as mineral aromas, bring further length. The palate, which is characterized by the rich roundness of bourbon casks, is outstanding.