In January 2010, one of the distillery's products caused a stir by beating three Scotch whiskies and one English whisky in a blind tasting organised in Leith, Scotland, to celebrate Burns Night. [5] [6] Reflecting Kavalan’s deep roots in Taiwan, the early bottles were shaped like Taiwan’s tallest building, Taipei 101. It’s name is taken from an aborigine group that used to live in the area. For its part, Kavalan will continue to spread the message of Taiwanese whisky around the world. The brand’s biggest market is Europe, but it wants to gain a footprint in North America and Japan – it now has enough liquid to do so. “We have reached a good point in terms of production capacity, so the next stage is to push for sales in more markets,” says Chang. “But we also need to maintain the quality and complexity of our products. These are our two main priorities.” International Whisky Competition Official Results". International Whisky Competition. 17 June 2023 . Retrieved 19 June 2023.

However, with growth comes the need for greater regulation, he says, and a definition for Taiwanese whisky. Chang highlights the example of Japanese whisky, which, despite its rapid growth, has no law preventing distillers from importing, blending and bottling bulk whisky from abroad. “As a producer you want to protect your reputation and the reputation of your whisky,” he says. You Won't Believe Where the World's Best Whiskey Comes From". Time. 23 March 2015 . Retrieved 25 March 2015. Stout, David (23 March 2015). "You Won't Believe Where the World's Best Whiskey Is Made". TIME.com . Retrieved 25 September 2015. Sorry, Scotland! Taiwan's Kavalan named world's best single malt whisky". NY Daily News. 23 March 2015 . Retrieved 25 March 2015. a b Quartly, Jules (9 January 2019). "Kavalan Finds Further "Ginspiration" ". topics.amcham.com.tw. Taiwan Topics . Retrieved 9 January 2021.

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Kavalan was also the first distillery to use Swan’s now famous STR cask treatment, which stands for shaved, toasted and re‐charred. The method was developed as a way to combat the shortage of refill casks in the global whisky industry between 2009 and 2013. Chang explains: “Refill casks play a huge role in terms of complexity, particularly oxidisation, so we needed to think of something to solve this problem.” Swan therefore came up with the idea of buying ex‐ wine casks and removing their organic acids by shaving, toasting and re‐charring the wood. Buxton, Ian; Hughes, Paul S. (2014). The Science and Commerce of Whisky. Cambridge, UK: The Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 9781849731508. Taiwan’s leading distiller, Kavalan, has been a pioneer in world whisky. Now, it is planning on scaling up its ambitions and reach. Swan worked with Kavalan for more than 10 years, helping the distillery establish its “fruity, oily and complex” style. “Where Dr Swan influenced Kavalan the most was in wood policy and what kind of casks would influence the flavour of the whisky best,” says Chang. Swan taught Chang and the Kavalan team that American oak should be the brand’s preferred cask type, since European oak would “result in something that’s quite bitter and astringent” because of the effects of the local climate. Whisky maturing in barrels

Following in Kavalan’s footsteps, more Taiwanese distilleries will enter the fray. The island is home to one other whisky producer, the government‐run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation. Chang says another will open this year and he has heard that one more is in the planning stages. He says this is good news for the Taiwanese whisky industry, which has been almost single‐ handedly sustained by Kavalan. “Hopefully, similar to Scotland, we can have many whisky distilleries in Taiwan,” he enthuses.The distillery is based in Yilan County, south of Taiwan’s capital, Taipei. The area’s high temperatures (averaging 33 degrees Celsius in the summer) and sweltering humidity accelerate the interaction of the liquor with the wood barrels. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( January 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Kavalan Distillery ( Chinese: 噶瑪蘭酒廠; pinyin: Gámǎlán jiǔchǎng) is a Taiwanese whisky distillery. It is owned by the King Car Group and is located at Yuanshan Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. [1] History [ edit ] Whisky Distillery 1, King Car Kavalan Distillery June 2021). "The Distillery That Put Taiwan On The World Map – Kavalan Distillery". 88 Bamboo . Retrieved 15 May 2023. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link) Nestled in the lush green surroundings of northeast Taiwan is a distillery that has been making major inroads into the global whisky scene. Since it opened 15 years ago, Kavalan has become the darling of international tasting competitions, shaping the nascent Asian whisky and broader world whisky movements in the process.

Rosenblatt, Susannah (14 June 2010). "In Taiwan, a Bit of Scotland Matures". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 May 2014. The distillery is named after the old name of Yilan County. The distillery was completed in December 2005, produced its first spirit in March 2006, and released its first bottling in December 2008. [2] [3] The distillery has been recognized as one of the highest rated spirits during the World Whiskies Awards. [10] Taiwan is one of the world’s largest single malt markets – tied with France behind the US – and is thus a very developed and sophisticated market,” says Keeling. In 2016, Kavalan's Solist Amontillado Sherry Single Cask Strength was named the World's Best Single Cask Single Malt Whisky in that competition. [11]

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In 2012, Kavalan's Solist Fino Sherry Cask malt whisky was named "new whisky of the year" by Jim Murray in his guide, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. [7] Lee, who runs King Car with his son, Yu‐Ting Lee, gathered a team of engineers and food technologists to research how whisky is made around the world. According to Ian Chang, Kavalan’s master blender, Lee Sr was heavily inspired by the “traditional Scotch style and traditional producing methods”. Single malt was the inevitable direction for Kavalan. Lee and his team sought the ideal location in which to build the distillery, settling on County Yilan because of its plentiful water supply and subtropical climate, ideal for whisky maturation. The distillery, which had a capacity of 2.5 million litres of pure alcohol a year, with four copper pot stills, was built in just nine months. “It took just 45 days to do the installation and commissioning of all the production equipment, so we were up and running in less than one year,” says Chang. The distillery was named by Whisky Magazine as the World Icons of Whisky "Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year" for 2011, and its products have won several other awards. [3] The maturation process is cut down by a third, from four to six years versus the 15 or 25 years of its Scottish counterparts.

After its first few runs Kavalan bought a new set of much larger German stills to expand production. After experimenting with these stills from 2008-2010 they decided to retire them as they produced an alcohol which was too processed and didn’t allow them to work with texture and flavor. [4]This masterful approach to maturation means Kavalan’s whiskies are often seen as having a complexity that belies their tender age. The distillery started accumulating international trophies from 2010, when its whisky could have been no more than four years old. Kavalan does not list age statements on its whiskies, but Chang says the distillery plans to expand its line to include age‐stated expressions in the future. The distillery even moved into an entirely new spirit category in 2019 with Kavalan Gin, which is made from the same malted barley spirit as Kavalan’s whiskies and contains locally sourced kumquat, star fruit and red guava. The line will expand this year with the addition of a cask‐aged variety, while 2021 will see the launch of a colourful, flavoured iteration. In 2015, Kavalan's Vinho Barrique expression was named the world's best single malt whisky by World Whiskies Awards. [8] [9]