Page 10 - IWSCReport2017

RAPID ascension
This year’s Distiller of the Year trophy was awarded to Taiwan’s Kavalan Distillery, which, despite being just over a decade old, is already making its mark
DISTILLER OF THE YEAR:
KAVALAN DISTILLERY
This year the IWSC named Taiwan’s Kavalan Distillery Distiller of the Year – an impressive feat given that it’s been in business little more than 10 years.
Founded in 2005 in Yilan County in north-eastern Taiwan, Kavalan is the long-held dream of entrepreneur Tien- Tsai Lee, who is also the founder of the beverage company King Car. Stepping into the drinks category in 1979, Lee’s King Car group first became known for its Mr. Brown brand of canned coffee, and later diversified from beverages into everything from bottled water to orchids. But Lee always had the ambition to produce a Taiwanese whisky.
It wasn’t until 2002, when Taiwan joined the World Trade Organisation, that it became possible. Three years later, Lee, together with master distiller Ian Chang and the late Scotch whisky expert Dr Jim Swan, embarked on a mission to produce a Taiwanese whisky and founded the Kavalan Distillery – the only family- owned distillery in the country.
Kavalan has been dedicated to the production of single malt whisky since its first expression was released in 2006. However it wasn’t until 2010 that the Kavalan Distillery shot to global prominence, after one of its malts beat a trio of premium Scotch whiskies in a blind tasting organised by Time magazine on Burns Night. In 2015, Kavalan’s Solist Vinho Barrique was named the World’s Best Single Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards.
Today, its distilling operations are overseen by master distiller Ian Chang, who joined Kavalan in 2005 and is also the whisky producer’s brand ambassador, director of global business development and head of research and development.
Nearly all of Kavalan’s whiskies are aged in American oak barrels, with the distiller earning a particular reputation for the quality of its whiskies aged in ex- Sherry casks. Chang credits the distillery’s success with Sherry casks to the Lee family’s approach to sourcing its barrels, with Chang flying to Spain every year to visit its suppliers and inspect every cask to ensure quality. All Kavalan whiskies are aged in its warehouses in Yilan, where temperatures average 33oC in the summer. Combined with intense humidity, which accelerates the ageing process, maturation can be cut down by a third, with four years in the Taiwanese heat comparable with around 10 to 12 years in Scotland, depending on the warehouse location and cask. All Kavalan releases are No Age Statement, but four years in cask is the brand’s minimum.
At the end of 2016, Kavalan announced a huge expansion project as King Car’s whiskies became more widely exported to North America and other markets. That expansion saw it build a second distillery at its Yilan site, doubling its number of copper stills to 20, all constructed in Scotland by Forsyths, and its production capacity to nine million litres, making it one of the largest single malt whisky distilleries in the world.
This isn’t the first time that Kavalan has been recognised by the IWSC. As well as receiving the prestigious Distiller of the Year Trophy, this year the producer was also named Worldwide Whiskey Producer of the Year for a second year running, adding to an impressive line-up of accolades that includes winning the IWSC Asia Pacific Spirit Producer of the Year award four times in a row from 2011.
“Kavalan Distillery has earned some of the highest awards ever seen across all the products entered into the competition, as well as winning the Worldwide Whiskey Trophy. For a young distillery, Kavalan has done exceptionally well at becoming a serious international contender,” commented the IWSC judges. db
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