Kavalan

Kavalan Concertmaster

Kavalan Concertmaster

The name “Kavalan” refers to a Taiwanese ethnic group and means “people of the flatland.” This distillery is only ten years old, but made up for it hiring Ian Chang as master blender and Dr. James Swan to consult. Swan is also responsible for starting Penderyn, which we featured at 2014’s World Whisky Day, among other things. The Concertmaster is their second single malt release and their offerings have been garnering attention since 2010. By 2014, they’d amassed 100 gold medals from spirit competitions, including Best Whisky in the World at the 2015 World Whisky Awards (The Solist). We like the somewhat musical bent the names are taking. Is Kavalan Xylophone next?

World Whisky Day 2015

World Whisky Day 2015

World Whisky Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May, or May 16 this year. It was founded in 2012 by Blair Bowman, a Scottish graduate student at the University of Aberdeen and whisky enthusiast. It initially started out as a Facebook page encouraging others to enjoy a wonderful drink. It soon struck a nerve (or taste bud) and by 2014 an estimated 250,000 people participated in hundreds of events in over 40 countries including China, New Zealand and Azerbaijan.