I am wrapping up the reviewing year with an introduction to Taiwanese whisky. Just Liquor Cellars put on another of their great whisky dinners ($130/head) at Eaton Chinese Restaurant, which is just up the road from their Ashfield store. It is a low opportunity cost for a full Chinese banquet meal, that kicks off with steamed scallops and oysters, and comes with the chance to taste ten whiskeys that all retail for more than a hundred dollars a bottle. Necking cans of Taiwan Lager ($60/24) we listened to Wen unpack the key features of two of Taiwan’s main whisky producers: Kavalan Whisky and 南投酒廠 Nantou Distillery.
Kavalan, on the east coast of the mountainous country, started producing whisky in 2006. Running ten stills, they are currently the fifth biggest producer of single malt whisky in the world. We started with their Kavalan ex-Bourbon Cask ($175/700ml) that dilutes Solist ex-Bourbon to 46% using spring water from the neighbouring Syue-shan mountain range. It has a lovely nose with the aroma of honey, but in terms of taste, I much preferred the Kavalan Solist ex-Bourbon cask ($230/700ml) which had coastal salt and dried fruit flavours.
From the west coast of tropical Taiwan, Omar is made by Nantou Distillery, which is state-owned. They were established in the 1970s to make fruit liqueurs and brandy in three stills. They added four more stills to make whisky starting in 2008. The opening offering, Omar Bourbon-cask single malt ($140/700ml) 46%, was bottled in 2016 before the female master blender retired and it is her masterpiece. Despite the name it is partially matured in sherry casks and tastes of vanilla, caramel, tropical fruit, butter and cream. The connection to producing fruit liqueurs sees this distillery put out experimental products like Omar Lychee Liqueur Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky ($460/700ml). This sees single malt whisky that has spent three or four years in an ex-bourbon cask finished in a lychee liqueur barrel to give a floral, Chinese tea aftertaste. Rather than replicate Scotch whisky, this distillery really tries to produce the authentic flavour of Taiwan, using fresh lychees from the local mountains, in a tropical and sub-tropical climate where whisky matures three times faster.
