Product description
The Yuan Shand Distillery, producer of Kavalan single malt, was built in 2005 in Yilan County, Taiwan by King Car Food Industrial Company.
The whisky debuted three years later and immediately started winning various whisky competitions. The success of the brand was so great (it scored 180 medals and awards) that in 2015 the owners decided to increase capacity from 1.5 million to 4.5 million liters of spirit per annum. In 2017 another expansion was completed, which increased number of stills to 20 and capacity to over 9 million liters. The Solist range consisting of single cask whiskies aged in various types of wood was launched in the late 2009. The one presented here comes from ex-Oloroso sherry cask no. S 140813o13A, which yielded 345 one-liter bottles of cask strength whisky (58.6% abv).
Nose: clean and complex, dried apricots raisins and sultanas, honey-roasted almonds, vanilla, toffee, cocoa powder, nutmeg and sherried oak.
Palate: slightly oily, strong sherry notes, dark chocolate, crème brûlée, raisins, prunes, bitter orange marmalade, hazelnuts, cinnamon, touch of tobacco and oak.
Finish: fairly long, with notes of dark dried fruits, chocolate, mixed nuts, toffee, nutmeg, dash of black pepper, sherry and oak.