Kavalan Concertmaster Port Cask Finish is a whisky I feel a little double with. On the one hand I really like it and on the other hand there are things that repel me.
It’s different, which I like. It is easily drinkable and gives some flavor nuances that are not in other port wine cask-aged whiskies, I also like that.
One of the points where it has some turn off for me, is a perfumed scent which has tones of universal glue. The taste is a bit the same, but to a somewhat more subdued extent.
Port Cask Finish is the first release in the Concertmaster Series.
The name Concertmaster comes from the founder of Kavalan Mr. Tien-Tsai Lee’s passion for Classical Music and he has used other music termes to name Kavalan’s whiskies, like Solist and Conducter.
The concertmaster leads the entire string group, mediates the contact between conductor and orchestra and performs solo violin passages in an orchestral work. This is the finish of the whisky taking the lead in taste.
It has no age statement and you will see that in many of Kavalan’s whiskies. The warmer weather means that evaporation is somewhat greater in Taiwan than e.g. Denmark and Scotland. This contributes to a faster maturation of the whisky.
In Scotland, the angels share is approx. 2% per year and in Thailand it is between 10-12% and can reach as high as 15%, so a lot disappears in a few years, which also means that they can not store for many years.
With the faster maturation, it is said that the maturation in Taiwan will be equivalent to multiplying the years on the barrels by 2.5. So in this case where the whisky is approx. 4 years old, with the increased maturation rate, it would be comparable to a Scotch whisky of about 10 years.
With the maturation in both ex-bourbon and port wine casks you get at whisky with the vanilla notes and the notes from sweet ruby and the more dry tawny port. It says that also Vintage port casks have been used, but I don’t know which influence this will give other than it looks good on the lable – but I am also just a happy whisky drinker, so what do I know about Vintage Port ๐
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๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ง๐ฎ: Kavalan – King Car Group
๐๐๐ข๐: Port Cask Finish
๐๐๐ง๐๐๐จ: Concertmaster
๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐: Single Malt
๐พ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ: Taiwan
๐ผ๐๐: NAS (maybe about 4 years)
๐ผ๐ก๐ %: 40
๐พ๐๐จ๐ ๐จ: Ex-Bourbon barrels ( about 3 year) and finished in Ruby, Tawny and Vintage Port Barriques (about 1 year)
๐พ๐๐๐ก๐ก-๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐: I think it is
๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ก๐ค๐ช๐ง: Yes
๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฃ: ?
๐ฝ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฃ: 2018.06.19
๐๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐: No
๐๐๐ก๐๐๐จ๐๐: First time released was in 2009
๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐: โฌ 54 (50cl), โฌ 78 (70cl) Prices in Denmark
๐ ผ๐ ๐๐ ฐ๐๐๐ ธ๐ ฝ๐ ถ ๐ ฝ๐ พ๐๐ ด๐
๐: Vinous, winegummies, perfumed, pear, vanilla, lemon, glue or varnish, fruity. With water you downtone the perfume and varnish and becomes more pleasant.
๐: Fruity, sweet, a touch of dried fruits. With water the fruityness dies out
๐: Short, light black pepper, some oak
๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ (3/6)
Maybe I have been a little hard in my judgement, but at some point I wanted to give it only 2 two ๐ฅ๐ฅ but then again there is something about it I like. I will definitely drink it again.
๐ ผ๐ ๐๐ ฐ๐๐ ธ๐ ฝ๐ ถ ๐๐๐๐๐ ด๐ ผ
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ – ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐ผ ๐๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐๐ช๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ – ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ก๐
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ค๐ค๐ – ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ข
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ – ๐’๐ก๐ก ๐๐ค ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฎ
๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐๐ช๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ค ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ
๐ฅ – ๐๐๐ฉ’๐จ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐จ๐๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ฉ