Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique

Kavalan from Taiwan has enjoyed immense popularity, particularly for its singular Solist line of cask-strength single cask single malts with different finishes. Some years ago, our Mumbai-based whisky clubs had a bit of a love affair with Kavalan. From a notable evening dedicated to trio of Kavalan Solist Brandy, Port and Sherry to a terrific zip through nearly their full collection in Singapore at Whisky Live in 2017!

The Bombay Malt and Cigar lads decided to crack open three in May 2024. Ideally, I would have brought my Kavalan Solist Bourbon to join the Sherry, Vinho Barrique and Port! However, alas this was yet another Mumbai tasting that I missed. Kindly, our host set aside some generous samples which I had the pleasure of sharing a year later with our Nürberg Whisky Explorers group – what fun!

Kavalan Solist Sherry

Nose – Oh my! Rich coffee liqueur, sherry, intense and dense
Palate – Flavour packed! Sweet, very dense, a real sherry bomb with tobacco, a nutty chocolate, bursting with sweet spices, wood was also prominent, and above all rich, chewy, strong coffee
Finish – A very long finish with black licorice
Water – Helps make it plumper, juicy fruits on the nose with dried figs and dates on the palate

This was a classic Kavalan Solist – highly compacted and complex. It is sweet without being overly so. Intense and interesting yet not overwhelming. A rich, beautiful dram bursting with character.

Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique Cask No W160331032A 57.1% (201 bottles)

Nose – What a contrast from the sherry! There was a delightful, sweet mahogany wood on the nose, warming into a creamy, buttery chocolate chased by sweet jasmine
Palate – Fruity, juicy, smooth chocolate, really quite voluptuous! Oily, tobacco joins the fruit
Finish – Long and luscious

Curiously, we were not in the least interested in adding water – it was perfect just as is! Perhaps we should have started with this one – it is almost too polite after the robust sherry.

Kavalan Solist Port

Nose – Sharp and makes you work! Tobacco, molasses, sugary chocolate-covered coffee beans, then fresh wood… as it opened, it was joined by fruit
Palate – Strong, very dry, furry on the tongue, chocolate raisins
Finish – A long finish
Revisit – We came back to this expression after some time and found a rather delicious sweet caramelized onion, almost like bacon jam – yum!

In some ways, this was the “smoothest” of the trio. It became sweeter the more time it spent in the glass. From memory, the last Kavalan Solist Port I tried clearly had a fortified sweet wine element, whereas this was not so distinctly Port per se.

For me the highlight was sharing these intense, highly concentrated cask strength expressions with a new audience in Germany. None other than I had tried Kavalan before with this trio a terrific introduction for seasoned whisky aficionados.

A pity we didn’t have the exact cask numbers and alcohol strength for the Sherry and Port, however, they were likely purchased around 2021 – 2022. Whereas the Vinho Barrique was bought in June 2022 for Eur 125 in Germany, then traveled back to the UK and on to India.

Other Kavalans tasted over the years….

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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%

Light, fresh nose, smooth on the palate with a slightly sour bitter quality
Was like sipping a blend of bourbon, sherry and wine

Kavalan Concertmaster 40%

What can I say about this one? Tried it many times… nothing wrong but also nothing exceptional… reminded me that while pleasant, simply doesn’t float my boat whisky wise
Ex-bourbon cask, matured for 2-3 years with a Port finish

Kavalan ex-Bourbon Oak 46%

Nose was sweet honey delight, bright, uncomplicated
While clearly not sophisticated, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the ‘watered down’ version… having previously only been exposed to the ex-Bourbon’s cask strength cousin

Kavalan Sherry Oak 46%

Lots of sherry berry nose, round soft on the palate with a bitter, dry finish that stays
Surprisingly enjoyable, nice long finish – much more than anticipated

Kavalan Solist ex-Bourbon B100924087A Bottle 008/200 59.4%

Sweet and sassy on the nose, tipping to the softer bourbon notes, palate has substance and the finish is well rounded

Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S1001290048 Bottle 102/489 57.8%

Familiar territory with this one! Rich, sherry, berry, bursting with flavours, lots of liquorice in this one with a great big sweeping finish

Kavalan Solist Fino Sherry Cask FI1007070264 Bottle 441/575 57%

I wanted to go “Wow!” but found this almost too dry and bitter for my taste, an interesting experiment and quite distinctive but not an easy dram

Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique W120727102A Bottle 213/231 57.1%

Much more my style – some of the rich fruity elements yet more subtle than the sherry, a nice spice, dash of nuts, even a puff of smoke

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.