Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique

Kavalan was founded in 2005 in Yilan County, Taiwan by the King Car Group, with the name paying homage to the local indigenous people. The distillery was completed in just 9 months and the first spirit ran on the 11th March at 3.30pm. It wasn’t plain sailing as Kavalan did experience issues with its distillate, going so far as to purchase new stills that were only in use for a couple of years before being retired. The distillery still has some of these early spirit runs in maturation that are under observation, but unlikely to be released. Today, the distillery is a major tourist attraction, boasting over a million visitors annually and the Kavalan range is exported internationally, thanks to expanded capacity. After much experimentation and having to overcome the sub-tropical weather system, Kavalan is releasing well-received whiskies while trying to limit the angels share that their warehouses experience; a year in Kavalan is roughly equal to 3 years in Scotland. Thanks to the efforts of the late Dr Jim Swan, Kavalan is using its unique location to its advantage.