Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique (57.8%)

I tasted a sample bottle first and was put off by a weird spiciness. Few months later I picked up a bottle. It was remarkable experience and I went on to buy it over and over again. Different casks.
Nose has a lot of melon. A bit of banana. Sweetness of wine.
On the palate, its great. Thick. Full. I compared a 3yr (w12..2015) bottling to a 5yr bottling (w12..2018) and found the latter had some spice & oakiness.
Finish is tremendous. Delicious.
No wonder it won the award in 2015. A great whisky.

21st March 2018

Strong, balanced truly unique

14th January 2017

Inviting and warm - with just enough smoke to balance to caramelized sugars, followed by a refreshingly sweet, trailing surprise of melon and apricot-like flavor. Definitely one of the best out there.

25th June 2016

Amazing taste. More complex and balanced than The Solist Sherry expression.

21st February 2016

I was truly stunned by this bottle. It has so much to offer. Complex and sweet. Dried figs and some bananacake. Strong and in no need of water.

29th December 2015

I was stunned by the full and powerful flavor of this whisky. It can compete with some verry good Scottish whisky's out there.

7th July 2015

I believe the winning cask number is W090220051 58.6% from Whisky Magazine.

27th June 2015

To those stating the winning cask number, how do you know this? I cannot find those details anywhere??

22nd June 2015

This is a fantastic whisky. I almost couldn't believe how young it is.

Do note: This is a single-cask whisky (this means that every individual cask will produce a whisky with a slight difference.) The winning cask at the World Whisky Awards 2015 was cask number W120120021A with an ABV of 58.6%

26th May 2015

The nose is very welcoming, not brash, but inviting. You can smell fruity aromas from a variety of fruit like a fruit cocktail. You can smell the wine influence in the nose. Subtle on the palate, no real spice on the tongue until you sample, and a bold presence hits you that isn't overpowering but feels like red wine/ cognac like an armagnac. Almost like a cabernet sauvignon. Dark fruit, plums, red apples, blackberry. Delightful to smell, great dark color and thin legs on the glass. Maybe 8yr-11yrs. Overall, very enjoyable. Grab a bottle.

23rd April 2015

Taiwanese whisky is said to mature faster than scotch because of the weather being hot and humid. "Angel's share" is around 10%.

This whisky is an amazing expression of the King Car Distillery.
Best single malt in the world 2015. "tastes like bourbon infused chocolate milk".

19th April 2015

Gave it a try a number of times.

Appearance:
caramel / dark amber / red

Nose:
Fresh fruity notes with vanilla, honey and raisins.

Taste:
Big hit of alcohol with dark chocolate, dried plums and raisins. A bit peppery.

Finish:
Pepper fades into a warm feeling of burnt caramel and vanilla and quite quickly disappears.

Personal opinion:
This whisky seemed fabulous at first, but then the feeling went away. The taste comes with a lot of alcohol, adding the water does not help this liquor, and the finish is too short. Overall this seems like a quite young whisky and could use a bit more of aging; it is being easily beaten by my favourites in the 'wine cask maturated' category.

16th April 2015

Had my first encounter with this whisky yesterday and it was a night to remember!

Nose:
Endless discoveries when nosing this one. Honey, chocolate, cafe latte, and a really nice bourbon feel to it. Adding water will give you dark tea, toffee, burnt sugar and sweet corn.

Taste:
Really intense dark chocolate at first, a lot of vanilla and honey, burnt sugar, cream and spice! Adding water decreases the taste of this whisky.

Finnish: Not the longest finish but really and very pleasant. The chocolate follows trough amazingly as well as the cream and burnt sugar

2nd April 2015

Kavalan SOLIST Vinho Barrique:

Appearance:
Caramel, golden brown

Nose:
Chocolate, toffee, raisins, vanilla, bourbon, fruitcake, stewed fruit is right, malty, maple doughnut, honey


Palate:
Instant impact, numbing the tongue
Sweet, spicy, cinnamon, bitter chocolate, raisins, pepper, fire


Finish:
Medium-long
Fire gives way to comfortable warming, dried fruits and chocolate

Conclusion:
Consistent from nose to finish, very tasty, big, bold,


Not worth the $200 I paid, but still a good one.

26th March 2015

Try it. Seriously.

I love both the Sherry cask one and this one, but if I had to choose I would pick this one. Much more original and balanced.

Kavalan is surely becoming one of my favourite distillery !

31st July 2014