Kavalan Oloroso Sherry Oak

Please be upstanding for the Kavalan Oloroso Sherry Oak –  with nothing less than 5 Gold Awards since its release! If it isn’t compulsory to offer a huge Sherry Oak aged whisky with Christmas dinner, it should be! Our Members Extra for December is a Sherry Bomb of epic proportions from multi-award winning Taiwanese Distillery, Kavalan!

This massive whisky is an absolute screamer and is guaranteed to give you all those Christmas num nums we love even more when family, feasts and waaay too much food generally is on the menu!

This is the non-cask strength version of their legendary ‘Soloist’ Oloroso Sherry Cask that sells for around $300 (when you can get!). Aged in the same casks as the ‘Soloist’, it is cut using Kavalan pure spring water.

Bottled at 46% this is certainly no shrinking violet – big and chewy it’s everything you could wish for.. and more! If you are a fan of sherry matured whisky, you simply cannot go past this one.

So just how good is this one? Well – the proof is in the pudding – with 5 gold awards since it’s release at various international spirits competitions, this is a bonefide gold mine of fruit, sweetness and chewy finish to boot.

The Kavalan Olorosso Sherry Oak comes in a beautiful silk-lined gift box making it a brilliant gift for someone (well, someone you really really REALLY! love that is). Or grab one for yourself to share around Christmas dinner (or covet like a magic ring – your choice of course!) Do yourself a favour as the man used to say!

Nose: Very fruity nose with butterscotch and vanilla notes over an oaky backbone

Palate: Lovely rich and oily mouthfeel. Sultanas, Stewed fruit and Christmas cake, with delicious biscuit spices.

Finish: Sweet fruit notes swirl around a core of oaky-ness. Rich, looong and chewy!

A massive Sherry Bomb for your Christmas spread. This is an absolutely lovely dram and you’ll knock the socks off any guest who you’re kind enough to share it with! If they don’t know much about world whisky, just watch their faces when you tell them where it came from (cue totally surprised jaw drop!).

Matured in hand selected top quality Spanish Olorosso Sherry casks. Dried fruits and raison are the main characteristics of this unique single malt Taiwanese whisky.

Colour: Deep Mahogany
Flavour: Clean and complex with multiple layers of dried fruit, nuttiness and spices with some marzipan and vanilla touches to it as well.
Palate: Smooth, well-balanced natural sweetness, full of pleasant dried fruit and spices. The whisky leaves a beautifully elegant and long finish.
Tasting: A perfectly cooked steak would go beautifully with Kavalan Oloroso Sherry Oak. Chocolate and nuts also match well with Kavalan Oloroso.

Interestingly, the Kavalan distillery was established in 2005 – the same year as our club! It’s name comes from the old name of the province of it’s location in northeast Taiwan. Kavalan pays homage to the home of single malt whisky by using Scottish made pot stills for it’s whisky production.

It’s first new make spirit was produced in March 2006 and December 4th 2008 saw their first single malt release – the Kavalan Classic Single Malt Whisky. 2010 saw the awards begin to appear – starting with a first place in a Burn’s Night blind taste challenge organised by the Times newspaper. 2011 saw their first ‘International Wine and Spirit Competition’ (IWSC) title for ‘Asia-pacific Spirit Producer of the Year’.

Awards and medals have poured in in every year since and continue to do so. “World’s Best Single Malt” and “World’s Best Single Cask Single Malt” from the World Whiskies Awards together with “Distiller of the Year” from the International Wine and Spirit Competition and “Distillery of the Year” from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition are just some of the trophies in Kavalan’s pool-room. And that’s not even mentioning the awards for this particular expression.