Kavalan King Car 40th Anniversary Edition
Rich, Dried Fruits2022-08-20
The bottle comes in a 1.5 litre size and has a cap studded with Swarovski crystals, which is shaped like a crown to emphasise the exclusivity. The whole thing is packed in a high-quality wooden box. The presentation is actually quite impressive.
Smell
The Single Malt Whisky from Taiwan opens extremely powerful and intense. Strawberries, blueberries and cinnamon are the dominant aromas. Dark grapes, blood orange and notes of marzipan follow. In the background, there is a lasting peppery note. We also perceive other spices, but are unable to classify them exactly.
Taste
Very fruity-sweet, similar to good toffee fudges, the taste spreads very voluminously in the mouth. Oily and at the same time dry, we taste delicately bitter oak, orange zest and clearly perceive the wine character of the Whisky. Here, as well, the composition is accompanied by hints of a peppery note in the background and rounds off the flavour profile.
Finish
The Taiwanese Single Malt finishes long and sweet into a very pleasant bitter oak note.
Thoughts
We tasted an excellent bottling worthy of the occasion. It is balanced, really intense and powerful. It is wonderfully elegant and rich at the same time but we are missing the final touch. A certain complexity can be attributed to the whisky matured in red wine casks and the presentation is certainly nice to look at, but the 40th Anniversary Edition slips just short of a world-class rating.
We do not give a rating in regards to money-for-value, as you have to pay a lot for the packaging alone.