13 August 2014 Ruben * World

Kavalan Solist sherry (for LMdW)

Name: Kavalan Solist sherry (for LMdW)
Brand: * World
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

This Kavalan Solist is a sister cask of the one bottled for TastToe. Both sherry casks were filled on the same day, 21st of August 2006 and bottled one day earlier in 2013.

Kavalan Solist Sherry (57,8%, OB for La Maison du Whisky 2013, sherry cask #S060821047, 497 btl.)

Nose: really profound, big yet elegant sherry. Prunes, dates, lots of cherries and raspberries. Toasted nuts and cinnamon. A big fruitiness covered with layers of turpentine, camphor and varnished oak. Chocolate and Balsamico.

Mouth: big and powerful again. There’s still a fruity side (plum jam, blackcurrants, some exotic hints like baked banana) but also a dry and slightly bitter side. Dark chocolate with fleur de sel, cocoa powder and cloves. Pepper and liquorice roots. Very intense.

Finish: long, slightly tannic, with coffee powder, cassis and tobacco.

Quite excellent, just like its sister cask. Slightly engineered and very overpowering but highly attractive. Around € 150. Still available from LMdW, although it’s unclear whether it’s actually the same cask.

Score: 90/100

6Comments

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1

Gal(WhiskyIsrael) on 13 August 2014 at 08:58

Love those kavalans. but price.. OOUCH
2

Tony on 13 August 2014 at 20:05

Funny how they are all 57.8%. Yes it is a single cask (but don’t let’s get stuck on whether that means it was ever a different cask, or even mixed casks, before it came out of the last single cask) – but “cask strength” obviously means “the sort of general abv% that comes out of a cask” rather than “the actual abv% that came out of this cask”.
3

WhiskyNotes on 13 August 2014 at 20:16

I’ve regularly asked myself the same question and I’ve discussed this with insiders who were actually a bit suspicious as well. Either they’re an example of utterly efficient whisky engineering, or they’ve come up with “creative procedures”, some of which may not be allowed in Scotland (but why would they care in Taiwan).
4

Björn Scholz on 13 August 2014 at 22:09

There is nothing in the Scottish whisky regulations to “stop” them from adding water and still call it cask-strenght!
5

Tony on 14 August 2014 at 00:15

Indeed – it seems to me that any strength above 40% could conceivably be labelled “cask strength”, and any combinations of different casks and cask types can be poured into one cask and called “single cask”. A bit of a joke really given the strict definitions of other terms.
6

Tony on 14 August 2014 at 00:27

Anyway, am just drinking a dram of this (though not the exact same cask I don’t think) and struck by the marked dark fruits (cassis, raspberry, dark cherry) and the (pleasant) bitterness (high cocoa dark chocolate with fruit filling). Pretty extreme sherry – how much actual sherry was left in the cask before they added the spirit I wonder?! Lovely – pushing 90 points indeed – but I don’t see how you can drink a lot of this. Its like you took a Glendronach and reduced it to make a coulis. A sample dram or two is enough for me!

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