Taiwanese Whisky Wins Over Scottish in Shocking Blind Taste Test Results
In a blind taste test organized as part of Scotland's Burn's Night festivities a Taiwanese Whisky shocked everyone by coming out as the clear winner over its Scottish and English rivals.The contest took place in a hostelry north of Edinburgh and when the results were announced whisky connoisseur Charles MacLean exclaimed "Oh my God, is this an April Fools?" The scores tallied up with Taiwan's Kavalan receiving 27.5 points out of a possible 40, with the next place (the premium Scottish brand Langs) scoring only 22 points. The other competitors were Scotland's King Robert (20 points), England's St George (15.5 points), and Scotland's Bruchladdich X4+3 (only 4.5 points out of the possible 40).
Kavalan comes from Taiwan's first distillery, which was built by a firm from Banffshire, and uses Scottish malt in its production.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nilsvonre Jan 27th 2010 2:20AM
How do you say "cheers" in Chinese?
Bleh Jan 27th 2010 1:06PM
Just checking out the rest of the KAVALAN website, the other lines they have look very tempting indeed. Too bad under "Global Distributors" it only lists Taiwan and Shanghai. And to you NILS -- 干杯 （gan bei） [pronounced ghan bay]
Fungi Feb 6th 2010 11:38AM
Re: Cheers - Literal translation: "dry cup" - and most of the time they intend for you to finish whatever is in the glass.
Visited the Kavalan factory in Yilan County the other day. Nice little factory tour and a small sample afterwards. Little confused about their mission of providing a locally produced whiskey for the country's increasing number of whiskey drinkers (as per the tour soundbytes); the Kavalan brand runs $60USD at the low-end, when $10 will get you a bottle from any 7-11. Most of the whiskey drinkers I know here are the old fella's in the quick-fry places who would clearly opt for the lower price, even with a local alternative.
Either way congrats to Taiwan (and King Car) for the successful production.