Whisky Live Singapore has a special ‘Collector’s Room’ where the unique, rare and exclusive whiskies reside.
Which ones did we chose?
Then had a bonus Bruichladdich 10 year 58%.
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Kavalan has been sweeping global awards – garnering top World Whiskies Awards, dominated the Malt Maniacs Annual Awards 2016 and many more.
So what did I have the pleasure of perusing in Singapore?
Kavalan Classic Single Malt 40%
Kavalan ex-Bourbon Oak 46%
Kavalan Sherry Oak 46%
Kavalan Solist ex-Bourbon B100924087A Bottle 008/200 59.4%
Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S1001290048 Bottle 102/489 57.8%
Kavalan Solist Fino Sherry Cask FI1007070264 Bottle 441/575 57%
Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique W120727102A Bottle 213/231 57.1%
There is little doubt that in many circles Kavalan is indeed ‘King’ of whiskies at the moment. Even better – it remains accessible and even in the more affordable category versus others who have reached such heights.
Related Kavalan posts:
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Next up after the Teeling trio at the Whisky Live Singapore was Nikka. It was such a treat to try their whiskies side by side in this way… my previous experiences were all separated by months or years, in quite different contexts where it would be impossible to make a connect between the different whisky characters.
With the exception of the Nikka 12 year, all were NAS – a trend that cannot be helped with the popularity of Nikka Japanese whiskies over the years.
Nikka Whisky from The Barrel 51.4%
No regrets stopping by to sample the Nikka whiskies however I hope their popularity does not eclipse the possibility of giving a bit more time to let their single malts mature…
For more details on earlier Nikka tasting experiences, check out:
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My Whisky Live Singapore tasting experience kicked off with a decided Irish air with a trio of whiskies from Dublin’s new Teeling distillery established near Walter Teeling’s old distillery from 1782.
Tasting notes are sparse as my approach was to sniff, sip and spit… then move on to the next dram. A sacrilege to many, but worked for me. Hence most of my scribbles are more impressions than proper tasting notes, providing more of a teaser of what is in store than proper evaluation.
Teeling Single Grain Wine Casks (08/2015) 46%
Teeling Small Batch Rum Casks (11/2015) 46%
Teeling Single Malt (09/2015) 46%
A light, sprightly start to tasting adventures…
Wanna read about more Irish whiskies? Check out:
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It is finally time to sit down before the year comes to a close and share tasting notes from whiskies acquired from the 2016 Winnipeg stash. These four come from a friend’s whisky collection – in his own words “I don’t collect stamps.”
Naturally I selected an eclectic range of whiskies not yet sampled…
I then added to this mix, a score from Winnipeg’s Cabinet:
Curious about the 2015 Canadian sampling ‘score’? Read more here…
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Another from the archives… from June 2013 and my 1st whisky post on EverydayAsia. Hope you enjoy!
Tasting Notes from 20 June 2013
Following our standard format, we blind tasted before revealing the whisky. This month featured: Oban 14 year, Deanston 12 year, The Six Isles and Yellow Spot.
“Oh us fortunate few! What an evening it was!”
Oban 14 year – Golden amber colour. A light fruity sweet nose. Unexpectedly oily, chewy body with a spicy bite yet smooth. Short finish. Felt familiar, nice yet not exceptional.
Deanston 12 year – A little ‘extra’ brought out by our host for those who missed trying it in an earlier meeting. Nuanced nose with over ripe fruit, sweet and spicy on the palate, lovely finish with a hint of spice that slowly dissipated. Delightful!
The Six Isles – A vatted malt with single malts from the Scottish Islands: Islay, Jura, Mull, Arran, Skye and Orkney, this one kept us guessing! Quite peaty on the nose with hints of spice and other elements. Burnt ash, rich, oily on the palate yet with only a drop or two of water transformed into an exquisite smooth sweet whisky that would even pair well with desert. A lovely mellow finish. What a wonderful surprise!
Yellow Spot 12 year – From Ireland, a single pot still Irish whisky produced for Mitchell & Son of Dublin, matured in bourbon, sherry and Malaga casks. The nose was fresh and sweet with hints of a complexity to come. On the palate, initially a blend of sea salt and honey, it rounded out with chocolate to fruit, supported by a woody robustness. The finish was particularly superb! Complex, with a gorgeous flavour that lingered…
It has garnered some very well deserved praise from Jim Murray (and us)! An exceptional whisky that hit all our favourite counts for a wonderful malt.
Any different opinions? Any recommendations along the lines of Yellow Spot?
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I was clearing through some old drafts and happened to find one from an evening I hosted in February 2013 – a few months before I started chronicling our monthly tasting adventures on Everyday Asia.
It was from an email that contained no tasting notes, merely a thank you for the whiskies contributed and the two guests who joined our session.
The evening featured:
Years later I couldn’t remember the Indian single malt we tried… just that it was neither Amrut nor Paul John. Surprisingly, I recently found a note that it was McDowell’s Single Malt?
However, I distinctly remember being soooooo excited to try the Kavalan Concertmaster – given my efforts to track it down during a trip to Taipei. And being equally disappointed til we contrasted it with the Kavalan Solist… an experiment that was repeated years later with the Whisky Ladies.
I also remember the story behind Ardbeg’s Galileo… a whisky released in ‘celebration’ of Ardbeg’s space experiment yet not actually containing a drop of galactic wandering whisky. Instead a mix matured in ex-Marsala wine and ex-Bourbon casks leaving a smoky sweet impression.
It was also one of our early encounters with European whiskies and one of our few samplings of a Rye whisky.
Our guests were two well-known figures in the Indian spirits industry who added more merriment to the mix… Overall leaving an impression of world whisky fellowship of great people and good drams!
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Quite a few of our Whisky Ladies were off traversing the globe in October and November. Which meant our American Adventures in October was sparsely attended and our November session felt like long lost friends getting together for a much overdue reunion!
Thanks to one whisky lady’s ‘prezzies’ from Canada was an opportunity to compare the difference between tasting whisky in the industry standard Glencairn glass vs the novel engineered Norlan glass.
It also meant we had an interesting assortment for our ‘contributors choice’ evening… where the only planning that went into deciding which whisky to sample was someone putting up their hand going “Me! Me! I have something to share!”
And what did we try?
Check out the links above to find out what we thought of each spirit plus our ‘expose’ on whisky tasting in Glencairn vs Norlan glasses.
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Here’s another from our whisky archives… this time from May 2013…
Following our standard format, we blind tasted samples before revealing the whisky. This month featured: Singleton, GlenDronach, All Malt and the Belgian Owl.
The Singleton – We found it tasted better when chilled otherwise a fairly ‘standard’ whisky. A Speyside offering from the Auchroisk distillery.
THE SINGLETON (PHOTO: THE SINGLETON WEBSITE)
GlenDronach 12 year – Unique on the nose and on the palate. Another Speyside worth revisiting.
GLENDRONACH (PHOTO: GLENDRONACH.COM)
Nikka’s All Malt – A beautiful offering that which was quickly categorised as a `woman’s whisky’ for its delicate, nuanced character. Refreshing to sample a whisky from Japan!
ALL MALT (PHOTO: NIKKA WEBSITE)
The Belgian Owl – Nothing exceptional and not even up to our regular standards. Perhaps it needs to perch itself longer in the cask maybe? Sigh… or maybe our Belgian friends should stick to beer? Pity this eco-friendly, colouring free whisky isn’t…. well… better…
THE BELGIAN OWL (PHOTO: UNITED INTERNATIONAL)
Our favourite of the evening? It was a toss-up between the All Malt and GlenDronach – both delightful in their own way.
For more posts on our tasting sessions and whisky explorations…
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With our next sample, our Nordic exploration shifted countries from Sweden to Norway.
Audny means ‘hope‘ and is produced by Det Norske Brenneri (‘The Norwegian Distillery’). They were the 1st private Norwegian distillery, opened in 2005 distilling different spirits and then, in 2012, launched their first single malt.
Audny Series 3, 4 year Single Cask 46%
Spoiled by young yet interesting whiskies like Kilchoman, we will admit we hoped at 4 years there would be something more going on.
The nose had some promise but overall it simply didn’t come together.
However these are early days yet… perhaps the promise can be fulfilled in a more mature or different avatar.
*** Whiskies courtesy of
For more information on Mackmyra whiskies, do read Thomas’ posts on Whisky Saga. Specifically:
A fascinating journey so far with our Nordic whisky experiences:
With another four to go, our appetites for Nordic whiskies has indeed been whetted.
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