Discover the Kavalan Distillery
Discover the Kavalan Distillery
Whisky of the World
The hourlong drive from Taipei to Kavalan leads through the Hsuehshan Tunnel—one of the world’s longest at 12.9 kilometres—and traverses the mountain range separating the capital from Taiwan’s Pacific coast. The road then opens out onto the Lanyang plain: the fertile farmlands of Yilan County, which is famed for its hot springs, rice paddies, and tea plantations. It is here, near the Lanyang River, that Kavalan distillery stands: an ultra-modern sixteen-acre estate surrounded by natural beauty, founded by the King Car group in 2006. It offers a spectacular view of the Snowy Mountains, with the Xueshan range—whose highest summit culminates 3,800 m above sea level— looming in the west.
◊ Acting as a preamble to the visit, the Art Barrel Project exhibit in the distillery’s garden is an unexpected artistic detour. The path leading to the cooperage is lined with a dozen casks painted by young Taiwanese artists, including Yu Ting-Yen, Yang Chun-Chun, Sul-Han, Chang Lih-Shin, Hu Wei-Hsiang, and Xiao Po-Wen. The illustrations depict the stages of whisky ageing, the distillery, and its natural environment.
◊ The most spectacular part of the visit is most likely the Cask Recharring Station. Employees can be observed shaving, toasting, and recharring the casks: this ‘STR’ method was developed by whisky expert Jim Swan, who acted as advisor when the distillery was being designed. Shielded from the intense heat behind great glass windows, visitors can watch the impressive display of barrels being charred using flamethrowers.
◊ A stark contrast to the usually austere décor of Scottish cellars, the barrel-heads in Kavalan’s cellars are colour-coded, displaying a variety of hues: green for the port casks, pink for madeira, blue for the Vinho Barrique recharred wine barrels, brown for sherry, red for oloroso, purple for the peated whiskies… The choice is yours!
◊ The bar at the grand Kavalan Garden Hall has a selection of cask strength bottlings from the Distillery Reserve range on offer, including some unusual ageings in rum or madeira casks. Vinho Barrique, which cemented Kavalan’s reputation, is the obvious choice here.
◊ Kavalan Whisky Bar sits on an unremarkable side street in the Taipei neighbourhood of Zhongshan, and serves the entirety of the distillery’s range straight from the casks. Decorated with barrel-heads, the bar feels like a livelier version of Kavalan’s own cellars.
◊ While in Taiwan, why not discover another of the country’s great sources of pride: oolong tea. West of Yilan County lies Wenshan, a region famed for Baozhong—a light, floral, lightly-oxidised variety. Some of Asia’s finest oolongs are cultivated slightly further south, up to 2,300 metres above sea level.
◊ The King Car group’s orchid garden, located 1.5 kilometres from the distillery, grows thousands of orchids within its vast greenhouses. It is open to the public, and houses many Taiwanese varieties including rare species and hybrids. The orchid is a symbol of Taiwan, and the inspiration for Kavalan’s Lan bottling.
◊ Do not miss Taipei’s Lungshan Temple. Founded in 1738 in the historic neighbourhood of Wanhua, Lungshan is the island’s principal Chinese Buddhist sanctuary. It is chiefly dedicated to Guanyin, goddess of compassion, who is worshipped with offerings of incense.
Kavalan
Kavalan
KAVALAN
KAVALAN 7 ans 2018 Port Cask Itinéraires
54%single malt whisky70cLtaiwan/yilan county
Ref: 68948
In 2016, following major expansion work, Kavalan joined the very closed circle of the ten largest distilleries in the world. Equipped with five mash tuns, forty stainless steel washbacks where fermentation lasts between 60 and 72 hours, ten wash stills and ten spirit stills with a respective capacity of 12,000 litres a...See more179.00 €
KAVALAN
KAVALAN 7 ans 2018 Vinho Barrique Itinéraires
57.1%single malt whisky70cLtaiwan/yilan county
Ref: 68951
Construction of the Kavalan distillery finished on 31 December 2005. On 11 March 2006, at exactly 3.30 pm, the first new-make spirit left the distillery’s stills. Marking the beginning of Kavalan’s rapid rise on the international whisky scene, a Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique was then named best single malt in the world...See more194.00 €
KAVALAN
KAVALAN 8 ans 2017 ex-Bourbon Itinéraires
56.3%single malt whisky70cLtaiwan/yilan county
Ref: 68945
Adding to the two vast concrete warehouses already in its possession, in September 2022 the Kavalan distillery opened a third warehouse equipped with a special ventilation system that significantly reduces the angels’ share. Spanning a larger surface area than the first two warehouses put together, each of which is fiv...See more175.00 €Fewer than 10 available items
KAVALAN
KAVALAN 9 ans 2016 Peated Malt Itinéraires
57.1%single malt whisky70cLtaiwan/yilan county
Ref: 68954
Whether simply matured in a cask previously used for a peated whisky or made with barley dried in a peat-fired kiln, peated Kavalans are produced in extremely limited quantities and almost exclusively reserved for the Taiwanese market. Peated to 10 ppm, this bottling is guided by a peat that integrates wonderfully into...See more189.00 €
