I tried this Kavalan Port Cask at a friend’s place recently which I was both excited and reluctant to do after my experience with the Kavalan Concertmaster a few years ago. It was my least favorite of the night and came across far too sweet for me to really enjoy it. The people in our group who like sweeter things seemed to enjoy it but for my tastes, it was a bit too much. Though each barrel is a different experience so I was cautiously optimistic.
In Kavalan’s Words: Kavalan Port Cask
“Port is a Portuguese fortified wine that is robust and sweet with a fuller and richer body. It is therefore usually served as a dessert wine or digestif. Kavalan Solist Port Cask is fully matured in Portuguese Port barriques under the subtropical climate to create the multiple fruity flavours such as plum, blueberry, blackberry and strawberry just to name a few, with chocolate as the main background note.”
Because I put the score on the image the result is not much of a surprise, but check out the Kavalan Port Cask review below for all the sweet details.
Kavalan Port Cask Info
Region: Taiwan
Distiller: Kavalan
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Port
Age: NAS
ABV: 57.8%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Barrel: o090629012A
Price: $150
Kavalan Port Cask Review
EYE
Ruddy purple
NOSE
Port heavy aroma with some light nuances of dried dark fruit, brown sugar and nutmeg. The dark sticky port is nearly all I can smell.
PALATE
Grape and brown sugar smeared on toast and wow is it heavy. Layers of malty sweetness, nuts, blackberries and copper hide beneath but they’re faint.
FINISH
Medium drop of grapes, pepper and orange peels.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Not fully balanced, medium body and an oily feel.
OVERALL
Argh. I want to love the Kavalan Port Cask, because I like so many other port cask whiskies, but I just… don’t. This is the third port cask I’ve had from Kavalan and they all suffer the same over-porting to me. I even got some samples sent to me from the distillery and in writing up my notes to them they were nearly identical with the same “over-porting” issue.
Water does open theKavalan Port Cask up a tad and allow some of the malty notes to show up on the aroma and palate and a more blackberry-like profile to also arrive on the palate. Still, the port overshadows the aroma and palate a bit and keeps it from coming across as fully balanced.
SCORE: 83/100 (B)
