Kavalan Concertmaster, Solist Bourbon & Vinho Barrique Reviews

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not being active recently, been on holiday and life’s been busy buying a house and all.

In the meantime I have more Kavalan to get me to 10 and get that sweet, sweet flag I’ve been chasing!

Kavalan Concertmaster 40%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Quite dense, rich dried fruit- Raisin, plum, fig, grape and cream.

Taste: Sharp at first then creamy and fruity, quite dense again with fig and plum then oak developing and going into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. Oaky.

Finished in port barrels. Amazingly rich for 40%.

72/100

Kavalan Solist Bourbon 57.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fresh and fruity. Alcohol burn, lemon, vanilla, mango, a little spice.

Water: More classic Scotch style. Caramel, toffee, oaky spice,

Taste: Cooling creamy arrival, building spice, fresh fruit, juicy mango, melon, vanilla, cooling menthol and mint, then more lemon, lemon sherbet, quite zesty into the finish.

Water: Almost quite dull arrival, builds more slowly with plain oak planks and oaky spice, ginger.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Lemon zest and some plain oak, oak planks.

B090901025A. There's nothing special about this one really. Interesting to see as we all know Kavalan does well in intense casks.

67/100

Kavalan Vinho Barrique 57.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Odd in a good way, burnt BBQ sauce, hot coals, big juicy fig note, plum and blueberry, honey glaze.

Taste: Dry, hot coals, strangely mineral then big balanced fruit followed by plenty of spice, fig, plum, cumin and coriander, nutmeg, vintage Port, big oak.

Finish: Long length. More vintage Port, some spice, big Bourbon-like caramel.

2012-2016. Big stuff, if a little odd.

79/100

Distillery: Kavalan

Average Score: 72.2

Distillery Ranking: 44th/ 66 places

Up/Down: 45>44 (Up 1)

Thanks for reading!

Taiwanese Reviews #8-#10

Whisky Network Review #763-#765

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Kavalan Sherry Oak Review

Hi everyone,

Kavalan has a lot of fans of their very big style of whisky, taking as much from the casks as they possibly can.

Am I huge fan? Probably not. I am a big fan of balance in a whisky. When you’re messing with big flavours it doesn’t always do wonders for the balance, which tends to be why I am not a big fan of Bourbon.

Kavalan Sherry Cask 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Brandy. Not a Brandy-like note, this actually smells exactly like a Brandy. Armangac, artificial raisin, red grape, chocolate powder.

Taste: Dry, astringent, quite acidic and bitter, red grape, bitter charcoal, weird Brandy.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Weird, rubber, bitter.

Not a good whisky, although not a terrible Brandy! This is example of getting a bit too much from the casks, completely eradicating any whisky flavour.

57/100

Distillery: Kavalan

Average Score: 72

Distillery Ranking: 40th/ 60 places

Up/Down: 32>40 (Down 8)

Thanks for reading!

Taiwanese Review #7

Whisky Network Review #747

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Kavalan Solist Trio: PX, Sherry & Port

Hi everyone,

Haven’t actually put a lot of my Kavalan reviews up yet, although I do have a few that I’m sure I’ll get round to at some point. Probably.

I’ve never been (sorry) super impressed, as other seem to be, with Kavalan. I always found it was a little out of kilter despite having a lot of intensity and sweetness, it needs to be balanced. Then trying the very expensive Fino I was put off, as I found it super weird. Kavalan just wasn’t for me I thought.

This was confirmed recently when I very briefly (although didn’t review) the very expensive Amontillado Solist and again, wasn’t impressed.

This all changed in Frankfurt. When I had a chance to try the very expensive PX Solist.

Kavalan Solist (Premium) Pedro Ximenez 55.6%

Colour: Dark-af

Body: Full

Nose: Dense rich fruit, slightly meaty, plum, apricot, bortrytis wine (which is a lovely note to get), I’m thinking Sauternes in particular, meaty raisin. Not too complex but nice nose.

Taste: Dry start, rich and intense, then restrained sweetness, builds beautifully, loads of sweetness and fruity layers, complex, meaty raisin, plum, cherry. The restrained sweetness is key here to creating the balance.

Finish: Long length. Lovely, goes on and on, chewy fruit and berries with great spices.

2011-2016. My first Kavalan I've been really impressed with. Amazing when I first tasted it (I think I gave it 86ish), it then developed some heat with time. Which is a shame but maybe you could just drink it quick.

83/100

With a new found motivation to try more Kavalan I tried another of the Solist Sherry, which I’ve reviewed twice before but being all single casks can be very different from each other as this one shows…

 

Kavalan Solist Sherry 57.1%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Deep, dark, intense and rich. Praline and chocolate, more nutty than the other Sherry Solists I've had. Chestnut, wood polish, brandy.

Taste: Soft and intense, old wood, nutty Sherry, rich spices, saffron, chestnut, dried fig, dry oak.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dense raisin, dry oak, espresso.

2009-2017. A good cask this one. A little more interesting than the other ones I’ve tried that provide JUST Sherry at a massive strength.

79/100

 

And a bonus:

Kavalan Solist Port 58.6%

Colour: Amber, Purpleish

Body: Full

Nose: Intense and sweet, lots of red berries, blackberry, blueberry, a little earthy, stewed fruit, quite dry.

Taste: Intense and sweet of course, little red berries, sour blueberry, sour blackberry, oak but quite juicy, a little chalky, ginger spice. Quite sour but just about balances with the sweetness and spice.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Juicy, mouth watering, some tingling spice and oak.

2009-2017. I quite like this, but not as good as the Sherry which seems to work very well with the Kavalan profile.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Taiwanese Whisky Reviews #4-#6

Whisky Network Reviews #654-#656

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Kavalan Fino Sherry Solist Review

Hi again everyone,

We are coming to the end of my tasting notes for the whisky exchange show 2016, only a few more left. This whisky, unfortunately, was the biggest disappointment of the show for me. I’ve had some Kavalan’s before, but none have really impressed me (yes, even the Sherry Solist).

What I should have done is tried the new Solists from Port, PX, Amontillado, etc. Instead, I went for the previous top of the solist range: The Fino Sherry.

Kavalan Fino Sherry Solist 57.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Ugh. Bakery, yeasty, a very weird meaty citrus note, like rotting limes. Quite offputting.

Taste: Citrus tang to start, lime, intense lemon, prickling then yeasty with a very weird oak note. Not really sure how to describe it, rotting oak fungus? Not that I’ve eaten any before.

Finish: Long (Unfortunately). Unbalanced, with weird rotting citrus notes continuing. Ugh.

I had a sip of this and immediately poured it away, really not for me. I hope this was just a bad batch, but I found this very very weird. It’s actually not terrible, or even bad, it’s just all over the place. But the thing that makes it the most disappointing was the price, £250 or something, just crazy.

61/100

Review #258

Network Average: 76

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Kavalan Solist Sherry Review

Hi everyone,

Just a quick one today for another community review on r/WorldWhisky.

Kavalan is the cult Taiwanese distillery, but I've never been really impressed by their stuff. I tried the Fino Sherry recently and didn't like it at all and that's meant to be the top of the solist range, actually I liked the Concertmaster better.

Anyway, the solist's are from single casks/barrels and at cask strength. 

The 2 numbers after the S are the year distilled, so gives you an idea of the age.

These are my notes from 2 different batches I've tasted.

Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask Batch S081219016 57.8%

Colour: Dark brown

Body: Full

Nose: Rich, very intense Sherry. An intense marzipan note with cake, some rich exotic spice- Cinnamon, nutmeg, a touch of coriander, intense clove, oak integrated with the spice. Stewed tea, big Oloroso Sherry everywhere. Very sweet but the fruit is in the background- Raisin, date, fig, more plum, stewed rhubarb with brown sugar (think crumble). Mulled wine and intense red grape.

Water: A little less intense but it loses something, more leathery, tobacco, a bit rubbery, more feinty, settles down a bit but not a lot.

Taste: Huge, intense, very sweet, lots of Sherry then the alcohol coming in with a cooling note, the sweetness then returns gradually with brown sugar, plum, date, clove, lots of spice and oak, then a little creaminess and finally going dry with a LOT of tannins into the finish.

Water: A lot more creamy arrival, to the point of watery, then quite a lot of Balsamic vinegar and rubbery oak which goes into the finish too. Tobacco and leather too.

Finish: Long length. Sweet and drying, oaky spices with a lot of dry tannins.

Without water this had a great nose but it fell apart a bit when diluted.

74/100

Kavalan Solist Sherry Batch S060703030 57.8%

Nose: Intense Sherry and raisin, coffee beans, stewed fruit, aromatic wood spice.

Taste: Intense, very sweet, stewed fruit, coffee, biscuit, syrup, honey, warm aromatic spices building.

Finish: Medium length. Fruit fades leaving spice and some oak.

Think this one is meant to be one of the better batches but still didn't blow me away.

74/100

Review #174

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 91

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent