Kavalan Single Malt Tasting Notes and Ratings.

Kavalan Single Malt

Added on Saturday, Sep 11, 2010 at 09:18 PM

Bottler:

Age:	N/A	Type:	World
Vintage:	N/A	Subtype:	Other
ABV:	40.00 %	Region:	Taiwan
Price:	$95	Availability:	Overseas Specialty

Aka "Kavalan Classic". Kavalan is a single malt made in Taiwan from barley imported from Scotland. Chill-filtered and color added. The flagship single malt from Taiwan's Kavalan. Only operating since 2005 they have wowed the world with their young but full flavoured whisky, concentrating on their signature flavours of tropical fruit.

Newer versions of the product are bottled at 43% ABV.

Member Ratings and Notes

Sku

This has a nice nose, sweet and fruity with pears and some brandy notes, a bit of malt as well.

The palate is very straightforward with a sweet, maltiness, not unlike what you would find in the basic Glenlivet or Glenmorangie 10. It's fairly unexceptional, but certainly not offensive.

Adam

Juicyfruit gum in the nose. Palate... ewwwww. Alcoholy, with something fleetingly sickly sweet, then more alcohol. Finish has an odd, minty-chemical quality. Very disagreeable.

Fuji

Very sweet and almost generic. Wood really shows on the palate.

Andy

n: Fresh cut bowl of melons.

p: Sweet, with a fruit and floral mix. A tad thin on the mouthfeel. Perhaps a hint of metal on the finish.

Altogether very drinkable. A great base malt for the company.

B-/B

Curiously the only English written on my bottle, translated in parenthesis, are "Malted Barley" and "Caramel".

Dan

Deep gold-red color. Very fresh malty nose, a tad fruity, but overall not too much going on. The palate is not what I was expecting. Light, yes, but a very mild citrus zest, some grain and some vanilla. Finish dissipates too quickly. Overall very solid though. 43% [1/5/14]

Ries

n: soft and warming - full of honey and raw brown sugar. Mostly bourbon influenced nose with a hint of tropical fruit and ripe red berries at the back.

t: follows nose nicely, good viscosity and the sweet side really shows in the middle. Dry finish where the barrel starts to show with a hint of leather and more of the tropical fruit lingering. This develops nicely and has full flavour.

[B/B-; ratings for new release 43% ABV]

I tried the 40% ABV and it is quite different than the current 43% ABV version. I would give the 40% a C, but they must have changed the formula and age on the most recent version for the better!

Josh

Nose: Caramel, touch of smoke, tropical fruits, cherry liqueur, chemical bite

Taste: Low smoke, soft grains, toffee, big caramel, honey, pears, vanilla slightly artificial taste

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