Well if it was MY sixty million US dollars, I would be pretty dang sure.
Maybe they’re selling it at 2400NT per bottle to make it feel more premium.
After all, for most people image has more of an effect on the enjoyment of premium drinks than the actual taste. People enjoy their drinks more if they are more expensive. There have been plenty of blind taste studies showing this for wine.
Be nice if one of your enterprising fellows would mosie on over to the Whiskey factory and take a tour and taste some whiskey and give us some feedback?
[quote=“greenmark”]Maybe they’re selling it at 2400NT per bottle to make it feel more premium.
After all, for most people image has more of an effect on the enjoyment of premium drinks than the actual taste. People enjoy their drinks more if they are more expensive. There have been plenty of blind taste studies showing this for wine.[/quote]
Then again, most people know squat about good booze. The snobs (who run after price tags and names) might say the same of me… 
I drink red wines from Chile, Argentina and South Africa (including the odd Spanish, Italian and French vintage) that are quite cheap, but which I think tastes a lot better than many expensive French wines. Not a big whiskey drinker, but if I go that way I don’t mind a nice Glenfiddich, Macallan or certain Johnny Walker labels. Probably just mid-range grog and not what the connoisseurs are after, but they suit me just fine.
I remember, as a young naval officer, we went on a wine tour (a misguided attempt to ingrain some “culture” in us or something, in the end we all just got rat-arsed and had to call for a rating to fetch us because none of us were sober enough to walk straight let alone drive…) and at one tasting we had what was apparently a very expensive “high quality” export Chenin Blanc. The lady was waxing lyrical about it’s colour, palate etc and asked us what we thought regarding it’s “nose” She wasn’t pleased with my reply, “Um… to be honest… It’s reminiscent of water that has been left in a black plastic bag in the summer sun for a week…”
Ultimately, taste in liquor is very objective. If paying NT$2400 for 3 year old shite blows your hair back… I’ll stick with my mid range single malts and “affordable” Chilean, Argy and Saffa reds (Especially Cabernet Sauvignon). :lick:
And you’re totally spot on here:
Also true for any brands, not just liquor.
Just want to share a small story with you guys:
In the engineering department of my company there are quite a few whisky lovers, who regularly gather to taste and discuss. Since one of them I know a bit and like him a lot, I decided to surprise him with a totally unexpected delivery of a bottle of KAVALAN. A coworker was visiting here for a few days, and took the bottle home to the tasting group. I meant it only as a curiosity for their collections, knowing that for example the Slyrs Bavarian Single Malt Whisky (an equally exotic location to get Whiskey from, in my opinion) they totally shot down. So I didn’t expect anything except for some giggles, even though the bottle was featuring a silver medal from some SF tasting competition.
Classic KAVALAN Single Malt Whisky, Aged 3 years, ~NT$ 2000 @ Carrefour for a 700ml + 300 ml gift box set.
To my total surprise, they really liked it. I very much doubt it is worth the money when all you are looking for is a good tasting whisky, but just for the shits & giggles here some of the tasting notes I got back from them:
Nose: Wonderfully aromatic, intense, floral, fruity, sweet, balanced spiciness. In total: intense and pleasant.
Mouth: simply a very pleasant taste, wonderfully balanced, mature, complex, really good, mild
Tastes of aromatic Butterscotch, diverse fruits, a hint of peat, almonds, honey, some dry elements (whatever they mean by that), essences of herbs, spicy
They would place the KAVALAN somewhere between the Island whiskys and the classic Highland malts, with the latter being more prominent.
Of course I didn’t tell them how much it was (almost 50 €, which probably can buy some pretty good genuine Scottish drops), so maybe they would have been much more harsh in their judgement had they known that it’s made in Taiwan, but not cheap. And consisting of mostly Germans, what do they know of whisky anyway 
The morals of this story: If you know some whisky buffs at home, and want to surprise them with something from the island you live on, probably you will not totally fail pleasing them with bringing this KAVALAN as a present.
Some locals here in TW and I plan to go to the distillery, I’ll be sure to report back after we did. But don’t expect any useful info except for photos from me… I am practically a whisky illiterate, even though once in a while I used to enjoy some 15 years old Glenmorangie I happend to get as a gift…
I went for a tour of their distillary and was so irritated by all the lousy English on the plaques that I refused the taste sampling. With the money they spent on everything else they could afford an editor. :raspberry:
Did you tell them about it?
Yes.
The attendents were not able to understand my irritation so they shuffled me around to different managers until I eventually found my way to the office of the president. He offered me a cigar and we sat out on the balcony (they have a lovely balcony - you should visit sometime) smoking cigars and drinking whiskey and I told him all about my plan for a solar powered fleet of water taxis on the Danshui river system. We got so drunk I forgot all about the English signs until today whwn I happened upon this thread.
[quote=“bob”]Yes.
I eventually found my way to the office of the president. He offered me a cigar and we sat out on the balcony (they have a lovely balcony - you should visit sometime) smoking cigars and drinking whiskey and I told him all about my plan for a solar powered fleet of water taxis on the Danshui river system. We got so drunk I forgot all about the English signs until today whwn I happened upon this thread.[/quote]
I’d say that should definitely have taken the edge off the irritation 
Where is this distillery and who do i complain to
I dunno. I was pretty drunk but the wife says we were in Yilan somewhere and I remember hoping we might be on the road that eventually becomes the north cross island highway, from whence it would be possible to scout the upper reaches of the Danshui river system and locations for the upcoming he left right brain film studio and language school production entitled, of course, “The Danshui River System.” I am really interested in the Danshui River System. Whiskey, not so much.
Bis -
Tommy Two-Shoes is correct in this. They are starting an very aggressive advert campaign in Japan right now and have plans to move it into mainland China in late summer.
They do have plans to move a lot of their whisky. It will be marketed on Taiwan, of course. But remember that the Taiwan market is still a small demographic.
Pricing for the “green bottle” Kavalan whisky is around NT$1800 per bottle. If you’re paying more its your own fault. Keep looking.
They currently have 4 choices.
Olm -
Good story. An important thing to keep in mind is the ‘familiarity level’ of the target market for this whisky.
Hey…look how much Japanese whisky is sold. I think the same comments about Kavalan could be applied to Japanese whisky in its early years.
“Find a market and fill it !”
on another note:
Last night I flew to the moon and sampled green cheese and lunar wine with the head guy with the big smile…
(of course this is not true…either)
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][They are starting an very aggressive advert campaign in Japan right now and have plans to move it into mainland China in late summer.
They do have plans to move a lot of their whisky. It will be marketed on Taiwan, of course. But remember that the Taiwan market is still a small demographic.[/quote]
They sure seem to have good timing.
[quote=“The Wall Street Journal”]China Slams Luxury Goods’ Quality
…While the immediate financial impact of the sanctions against the luxury brands is likely to be limited, the negative publicity could be damaging. Foreign brands sell at a huge premium to local brands, justified in part by the perception of quality.
The China market has taken on greater importance to the makers of luxury goods in recent years as sales in other major markets have declined. In an October forecast, consulting firm Bain & Co. said it expected luxury-goods sales in mainland China to increase by 12% last year, to €6.6 billion, compared with declines of 16% in the U.S., 10% in Japan and 8% in Europe.
…One of the weakest aspects of China’s economic development has been its failure to build its own brands. With a few exceptions, such as Tsingtao beer and Haier white goods, Chinese brands are virtually unknown in Western markets. The fact that foreign brands dominate the China market rankles with central government economic planners, and could embolden local officials to take this kind of action, analysts say.[/quote]
Flike -
Good find!
Adds a good twist to it all.
However, one should remember, Taiwan is a “renegade province” in their eyes…
Tel: (886) 3-922-9000#1104 Miss Lin
Address: No.326, Sec. 2, Yuanshan Rd., Yuanshan Township, Yilan County 264, Taiwan
Here’s a map. kavalanwhisky.com/about/order.aspx
quote from skytrax
China Airlines customer review : 4 May 2010 by Peter Cross (UK)
Trip Rating : 8/10
Recommended:
Value for Money:
Cabin Flown:
Business
London-Taipei return. Good level of attention from crew but levels of spoken English may be a problem for non Mandarin speaking passengers, even on this new UK route. Food passable, with the exception of new Taiwan beef noodles soup option which was excellent. Drinks in good supply, and Taiwan premium whiskey surprisingly good. Decent amenity kits. Overall a very good experience on both legs. I agree with other comments that China Airlines Taipei lounges are notable for their complete absence of natural daylight.
unquote
Seems China Airlines may be serving the Kavalan whiskey! Good on them ! Wonder if EVA is doing the same, they should .
I asked about this Taiwanese whiskey at the local whiskey store (those hole in the wall stores that sell nothing but whiskey) and the owner and his assistant gave me this odd look and said exactly three syllables, “很難喝”…
:roflmao:
[quote=“bismarck”]I asked about this Taiwanese whiskey at the local whiskey store (those hole in the wall stores that sell nothing but whiskey) and the owner and his assistant gave me this odd look and said exactly three syllables, “很難喝”…
:roflmao:[/quote]
translation pls? NOt all of us can read langue de chine
[quote=“tommy525”][quote=“bismarck”]I asked about this Taiwanese whiskey at the local whiskey store (those hole in the wall stores that sell nothing but whiskey) and the owner and his assistant gave me this odd look and said exactly three syllables, “很難喝”…
:roflmao:[/quote]
translation pls? NOt all of us can read langue de chine[/quote]
Yucky.
[quote=“tommy525”][quote=“bismarck”]I asked about this Taiwanese whiskey at the local whiskey store (those hole in the wall stores that sell nothing but whiskey) and the owner and his assistant gave me this odd look and said exactly three syllables, “很難喝”…
:roflmao:[/quote]
translation pls? NOt all of us can read langue de chine[/quote]
Loosely translated as, “Tastes like cat piss…”
[quote=“bismarck”]I asked about this Taiwanese whiskey at the local whiskey store (those hole in the wall stores that sell nothing but whiskey) and the owner and his assistant gave me this odd look and said exactly three syllables, “很難喝”…
:roflmao:[/quote]
All that tells me is that they probably shouldn’t be trying to pass themselves off as knowing diddly-squat about whisky. 
It doesn’t taste bad at all. Its grossly overpriced for what it is, but is certainly is VERY far from “很難喝” They’re just a couple of ignorant hicks with no clue what they’re talking about.