After my run down of Whipper Snapper a week or two ago I told myself that I needed to try some more single distillery tasting flights to really try and understand the whisky making process better and how a new make spirit can be turned into the elixir of life, or absolutely destroyed by processes. So, I picked up about 20 different whiskies representing four distilleries and thought I’d start off with a trio of Kavalans. I opened a few days ago with a solid Kavalan and what I suspect wasthe most representative of the core spirit, the Solist ex-Bourbon cask strength. Now the natural progression, sherry casking. N: a thinly syrupy and ever so slightly acetone open. The classic sherry nose of dark fruit medley and oak spice is joined by a little marzipan. A little butterscotch-vanilla develops over time. P: A prominent ethanol burn is surprising for only 46%, but it delivers a slightly thick and syrupy-oily profile. The palate follows directly from the nose with raisins, stewed red fruit, classic sherry cask Christmas cake. A rounding softness from toffee and vanilla keeps things balanced. And over time the toffee becomes more akin to the brown-sugar note of the ex Bourbon Cask Strength I had last time around. F: Medium-long. Thick, syrupy and chewy. Sultana and red fruit continue with a little pepper spice and a notable cocoa runs throughout. Overall this is a fairly run of the mill sherry cask to me. I thought the nose would open more forcefully, but its gentle and a little subdued, whats there though is pleasant but nothing particularly special or novel. The palate delivers clean and sharp flavours but they are perhaps a little simple and lacking in nuance. I suspect the cask strength offering of this version would be somewhat better. There are some nice carry throughs from the bourbon cask, brown sugar and the peppery finish. The spirit burn isn’t ideal and I hope it’s not present for the next Kavalan I have lined up. Nice enough, but at a whopping AUD 190 there are, I think, better options, The Arran Bodega for a start… [No connection to Taiwan, but pictured here with this dram (because they happened to be out for their evening walk) is a brace of Asaphus kowalewskii. These critters are ~470 million year old trilobite from near St. Petersburg in Russia. Their long eye stalks were perfectly adapted for hiding in bottom sediments whilst keeping an eye, or two, out for predators] Distiller whisky taste #123