Kavalan, a lot, Part Four


October 6, 2023

Kavalan, a lot, Part Four

Kavalan 2008/2016 (54.8%, OB, sherry cask, cask #S081229027, 496 bottles)

No doubts here. Colour: copper amber. Nose: chocolate and cherries and sherry and walnuts and metal polish and just a tiny bit of 'gun sulphur'. With water: sour wines, manzanilla, retsina, vin jaune, mustard, green walnuts, curry… Mouth (neat): oh ten times more brilliant on the palate, with phenols and estery rums, bacterial stuff, olives, and so on. With water: it's back! Stones, slate, pepper, umami sauce, mustard, more green walnuts… Finish: rather long, mustardy, bitter, perfect. Very fino-y. Comments: not easy but love it.
SGP:372 - 88 points.

I remain completely unable to describe Kavalan's distillate; it's almost entirely a matter of cask policy, at nearly 100%. That seems like a rewarding option, but only time will tell… Did they do mizunara already?

Kavalan 2011/2016 (57.1%, OB, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask # B110422008A)

Kavalan 2011/2016 (57.1%, OB, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #B110422008A)

This one sent by Ian Chang at the time, an extraordinary human being (I mean it, Ian). Colour: full gold. Nose: some dumb yet great bourbonness. Vanilla custard, tinned pineapple juice, coconut water, mango ice cream, brioche and croissant dough… With water: cassata and panettone doughs. But why always the Italians? È solo un piccolo scherzo, amici. Mouth (neat): total, extreme, incredible fresh fruitiness, on all-vitamin fruit juice, papayas in total extasy, and just a few wee pink bananas. With water: total fresh fruit juice. Very fine barrel. Finish (neat): medium, ultra-sweet and full of mangos, bananas, papayas and acacia honey. Comments: it's excellent, it's just a bit boring because thousands of distilleries today use these fresh bourbon casks that were previously first used for grain whisky. Times are changing...
SGP:741 - 87 points.

Right, that could have been any 'unpeated' distillery that's producing upper-average batch-distilled barley malt whisky.

Kavalan 2009/2016 (57.8%, OB, for Fortune, sherry butt, cask #S090102001, 498 bottles)

Frankly, why always 57.8%? Is there something symbolic in this proof? Colour: office coffee. Kojak etc. Nose: extreme raw chocolate and ground coffee, tart, excessive sloes, crazy plums (damsons), and just damp crushed slate and chalk. Some used matches. First time this shows up - tough boy. With water: typical roughish/leafy sherry, nothing to write home about. Mouth (neat): total coffee, chocolate, clove and cracked pepper. With water: ooh this has gotten better, but it's brutal stuff, booze's top MMA fighter, with pepper, nuts, salt and lemon, and some massive clove that would tend to make this baby really very excessive. Finish: very long, very peppery, very tough. Nicer aftertaste, on orange blossom honey. Comments: it bites you a little too much.
SGP:5872 - 80 points.

Kavalan 2007/2016 'Peaty cask' (58.6%, OB, 1st Fill Peaty Barrel, cask # R070521006, 810 bottles)

Kavalan 2007/2016 'Peaty cask' (58.6%, OB, 1st Fill Peaty Barrel, cask #R070521006, 810 bottles)

A different packaging here. I believe the distillate was not peated, only the cask's previous content was. Colour: amber. Nose: a feeling of smoked cognac at first, loads of raisins, battelman, some peppery sweet sauce (English brown sauce)… With water: some shoe polish, metal polish, fumes, warm candlewax… Mouth (neat): very rich, thick, peppery rather than smoky, but smoky as well, this time with a feeling of aquavit at 80% vol. It really creams for water. With water: going toward amaro I would say. Artichoke. Finish: long, rather on Italian bitter liqueurs. Comments: the addition of water incredibly raised the temperature. It's a known phenomenon, but to this extent! Very unusual style of Kavalan.
SGP:663 - 84 points.

Kavalan 2010/2017 (59.4%, OB, The Seven Virtues of Bushido, Port cask, cask #0100505013A)

Kavalan 2010/2017 (59.4%, OB, The Seven Virtues of Bushido, Port cask, cask #O100505013A)

Colour: red amber. Nose: lovely varnish and ripe red berries, with a lovely rancio. With water: pipe tobacco and, once again, a little metal polish. Touches of camphor as well, which is awesome in this context. Mouth (neat): full, rich, with sultanas and touches of liquorice, plus some sweet rum, 'sweetened Demerara-style'. You could almost call it El Kavalano (that was stupid, S.) With water: sweet, with some pepper liqueur and triple-sec, as well as hints of old genever. Finish: long, perfectly balanced, with a perfect hotness in the aftertaste, towards sweet chili, or rougaïl from Réunion or Madagascar. Comments: absolutely excellent, one of the best recentish ex-portwood malts.
SGP:642 - 89 points.

Kavalan 2010/2016 (57.1%, OB, 1st fill Sherry barrel, cask #S100303052A, 519 bottles)

Colour: dark red amber. Nose: dazzling furniture polish, varnish, roasted chestnuts, black currants, milk chocolate, shoe polish, pipe tobacco… There's nothing to throw away. With water: fumes! Tyres! Old cars! Mouth (neat): exceptional sherry, with a perfect wee rubber at first, then walnut wine, liquorice, tobacco, heavy honeys… Nah, it's perfect. With water: even more perfect, with a little smoke this time. Finish: rather long, creamy, with more sweet roasted nuts. A drop of tar liqueur. Comments: sweet Dr. Swan passed away in 2017, so he may have been behind this cask. No wonder…
SGP:652 - 90 points.

Kavalan 2008/2017 (58.6%, OB, for Asia Palate Association, sherry butt, cask #S081217041, 476 bottles)

Colour: very dark reddish amber. Nose: a tad more austere, a bit steely, metallic, but walnuts and dried figs and prunes are doing their jobs. Lovely touches of rubber once more – we're talking good rubber, naturally. With water: Maggi and Bovril! And our Viandox! Astounding. Mouth (neat): love it when you have many dried fruits and a touch of rubber indeed. Marmalade, dates, pepper liqueur, green walnuts (nocino)… With water: even more rubber. I agree that could be a little segmenting, but I, for one, love it. Finish: long, perhaps a tad too green now, a notch too rubbery, maybe. Comments: let's say this one was a little less consensual.
SGP:461 - 89 points.

Kavalan 2009/2017 (58.6%, OB, sherry, cask #S090306031, 481 bottles)

Colour: coffee. Nose: cherry liqueur, guignolet, maraschino, prunes, old Ténarèze (once more), chestnut honey… You see. With water: tends to become a touch soapier, but that would go away. Puréed chestnuts, armagnac, old tools, metal polish… Mouth (neat): oh perfect, once more. Punchier, more on bitters, Montenegro amaro, hoisin sauce, with a tiny touch of rosewater, otherwise varnishes and even the most wonderful touch of acetone… With water: clove and more amaro. Fernet Branca, bitter vermouth... In short, stuff by the Italians (love them, naturally). Finish: a touch drying, perhaps. Being picky once more. Dark chocolate reigning supreme now. Comments: for the ones among us who love bitters.
SGP:561 - 89 points.

Kavalan 2009/2016 (57.1%, OB, sherry, cask #S090306012, 498 bottles)

Overall winner at the Malt Maniacs Awards 2017. Never tried it (go figure). Colour: polished mahogany. Nose: extreme dry sherry, full of menthol, tobacco, chocolate, walnuts, liquorice and beeswax/propolis. With water: sublime, with very old Sauternes, Spanish rancios, Rivesaltes, Maurys, Banyuls, and of course 'that solera that was started in the 19th century'. Stuff by Barbadillo. Oh and thin mints. Mouth (neat): the best batches of the old Mac 10 C/S. Includes the faint peatiness and the minerals. With water: herbs, sage, bay leaves, bouillons, marrow, parsley and chive, and even those 'crystal dim-sums' we love so much. Check the Bleu Bao restaurants when in Paris! Finish: long, tighter, more on marmalade, orange oil, bergamots… Comments: twelve experienced tasters tasting 100% blind and without any communication just cannot be wrong. We must bow down to Dr. Swan (even if we keep liking spirit-driven whiskies better!!)
SGP:462 - 91 points.

Kavalan 2009/2017 (58.6%, OB, Tiger's Finest Selection, sherry, cask #S090306024, 461 bottles)

This one won the 'premium sherry' category at the MMA. Colour: dark red. Nose: old armagnac, peonies, varnishes, morello cherries. Simple. With water: literally tons of chocolate, ganaches, chocolate truffles… Mouth (neat): extraordinary 'brandymalt'. Deep, thick, shock-full of spicy jams and jellies. I'm even finding it a tad tiring, or at least challenging because of this high concentration. With water: it's almost like having 24 truffes au chocolat. No, say 36 of them. Finish: very long and extremely chocolaty. Comments: this one for dear Voltaire, he who was only swallowing chocolate during the last years of his life. By the way, did you know he owned vineyards in Alsace?
SGP:551 - 89 points.

Once again, it seems we have been surprised by the tide. Good, I think that's enough Kavalan. Many have been extremely impressive, which was to be expected because of their fully scientific approach of whisky maturation. I don't think any detail is/was left to chance, but honestly, even if the approach is far from romantic or poetic, the result is there. It's pretty rare for a Kavalan single cask to score below 85 points in my humble little rating system. But yeah, that's just me. Peace. -S.

		Kavalan and the Malt Maniacs Awards
		It must be said that for a few years, we received a lot of Kavalan at the Malt Maniacs Awards, which led the brand to hoard a lot of medals, somewhat like Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans some years. There were far too many of those, but they were indeed the fastest and most reliable. It was somewhat the same with Kavalan, all tasted 100% blind, which doesn't exist elsewhere in other awards by the way (not knowing about either the whiskies, of course, or any categories they might be in during the tasting). I myself have been on the juries of several other awards, and honestly, when you know in advance that you have in your glass a Speyside malt less than 10 years old aged in sherry and bottled at 43% ABV, that's not really 100% blind tasting, is it?