True but largely irrelevant. It’s the water, malting, distilling and aging process that gives whiskey its flavour.
Scotch prducers buy grains from outside Scotland.
Best single malts have their own barley and water, the flavour comes from the scottish peat bogs and proper whisky doesn’t have an “e”.
Hi, I’m from Australia visiting in late May, Is anyone able to give me some updated prices on Soloist series in Taipei stores / Kavalan distillery in Yilan? Particularly interested in Vinho Barrique and Amontillado, as well as samplers.
1 Like
Amontillado is 8000 ntd at their outlets next to Mr. Brown Coffee.
I thought Vinho was hard to find ?
I understand that it is in shortage but if I can find it Id be keen to know what price it is/ where so I can look for it.
Kavalan is selling for $620 Euro (NT$22,000) on the street in Paris. If you have any, put it online for auction, make a nice profit.
I don’t know why my picture is cut off at the bottom. But if you click picture, you can see the price tag.
It’s probably in those malls where they sell things to Chinese tourists.
They are probably Chinese bad copies. 
I think it’s rather done well. I personally like it and I rarely drink. A sip here and there. My friends in the US love it and I frequently bring back bottles from duty free for them.
But I guess how much someone likes it depends on the persons tatste. It certainly isn’t a bad whiskey and I feel like there are some that will always walk into it biased because it’s not scotch. Hell I got people that swear by single molt but I’ve actually found many blended malts better like Ballantine. And I don’t get the love for Jhonny walker. Even the blue label I just never liked it.
1 Like
They have this year’s winner at Costco for 2600, and a fancy Solist for 5600 or so. Little gift wheel of several trial sizes at 2600 too.
1 Like
Kavalan indirect reference is in the showtime series “Billions” series S01e06, where they are drinking some new whiskey and the response is “well, the Taiwanese do upend the Scots these days”.
4 Likes
So previously her majesty (the wife) passed through Narita duty free on her way back from jkt and I had her buy me a $90 ,I think it was, bottle of kavalan ex sherry
That bottle did not last very long between me and a buddy of mine that was visiting
the air got very dry when my friend Joe was in town so the bottle had a very short life
Now 100 is about the max. I’m willing to spend for a bottle of whiskey. Or a bottle of anything really
This time, friend of hers went on a trip back home to Taiwan, and I asked her to have her friend buy me two bottles of kavalan ex Sherry or any other kavalan two bottles they must be Solist
Her instructions to her friend was obviously not clear. She obviously just said here’s $200 buy kavalan solist
Well now I got a 200 bottle of kavalan manzanilla
Well, here’s the thing one bottle does not two bottles make
And I told her I wanted two bottles, one for me and one to gift to one of my buddies who hosted a very expensive dinner when he visited last time
And again, one bottle does not two bottles make
No, I feel this bottle is too expensive for me to drink. I am after all not a Russian oligarch.
And it’s also too expensive for me to give away
Manzanilla sells here for 600 to 650 for a 700cc
Maybe I can sell it ?
I will keep it until I decide what to do with it
Instructions to wives have to be extremely clear from now on
One : two bottles is not ONE bottle
2 : do not buy whiskey that comes packaged in a wooden box. Mucho dinero
2 Likes
Asking a friend (and not even yours) to bring two bottles of alcohol for you is asking a lot…
- they are heavy.
- one person can only bring one liter duty-free legally.
- bottle can break and make a mess.
Be thankful that someone is willing to do this, especially with a wooden box adding additional weight. Next time, be specific about the price range and only ask for one bottle (if at all), otherwise you might cost your wife a friend.
1 Like
Yes true that !!
I shall probably have to just drink that bottle as ‘punishment’ to atone for this sin of treating a wife’s friend as a beast of burden
1 Like
Drink it, it’s decent whisky. 
2 Likes
Invite the friend to drink it with you. Problem solved.
2 Likes
As @quandary has already said, this is probably impossible because you’re usually only allowed to bring one bottle (well, 1L) into the country. The friend did the best they could with impossible instructions. This is on you, not your wife, and certainly not on the friend.
1 Like
All this talk of Kavalan whiskey is making me thirsty. I did visit the factory a few years ago and did like the samples I tried. I’m thinking about picking up this summer when we visit Taiwan. Is the easiest method to get it at the duty free store at the airport when I fly back to the States? I understand the duty free liquor should be packaged in a tamper proof bag that I can then take on the plane as carry on, but what about when I get back to the US and have to transfer to a domestic flight to my final destination, can I still carry that as carry on? Anyone have experience/advice with this?
1 Like