Kavalan Oloroso Sherry Oak

Kavalan Single Malt Sherry Oak is a Whisky art in a bottle.

If you have not heard of Kavalan yet, get ready to get your Whisky-loving mind blown away. Kavalan Distillery is located on the island of… Taiwan. Yep… and this relative newcomer to the pantheon of Single Malt deities is kicking some serious malted butt — it’s winning awards all over the world and beating grand master Whiskies coming out of Scotland in blind taste tests. Even Jim Murray himself has become a fan, along with many other industry luminaries.

The distillery is owned by the King Car Group in Taiwan’s Yuanshan Township. “Kavalan” is the name of an ancient indigenous people that inhabited the area around the Yin-Lan province. It was founded in 2005 as the dream of entrepreneur Mr. Tien-Tsai Lee. All we have to say is, “Well done Mr. Lee… well done indeed.”

Kavalan Single Malt Whisky Sherry Oak is a Sherry bomb of a deep mahogany color and layers and layers of fruit. And all the numbers line up too: no artificial anything and no chillfiltering, 46% ABV, and aged 100% in premium Oloroso Sherry casks from Spain.

And the good folks at Kavalan age all of their Whisky on site, in Taiwan’s moderate tropical environment. So there is more evaporation and a fast maturation cycle — giving this special dram an iridescent glow like it was a premium aged Rum. This is Whisky art if ever there was one.