Kavalan Gin

Kavalan has gained notoriety in recent years primarily for its whisky which they’ve been making in Yilan County, Taiwan since 2005. But we reckon the gin is note worthy in itself.

The Yilan County used to be called Kavalan, which is where this brand gets its name. Tien-Tsai Lee, the founder, travelled to distilleries in Scotland and Japan to learn the art of whisky making. Since then, the distillery’s whisky has won awards each and every year for over 10 years ago

The Kavalan Gin was released in 2018, with the company fusing its whisky-making expertise with gin by using a single malt base spirit (fermented from malted barley exclusively). The spirit is distilled in large copper stills from Germany that were initially purchased to distil whisky. However, the spirit produced wasn’t fruity enough for the whiskies they wanted to make, and were repurposed in 2012, with gin-making in mind.

Yilan is famous for its zesty kumquats and sweet red-flesh guavas, while Taiwan as a whole is well known for its succulent starfruit. All three are used as botanicals and form the Taiwanese backbone of this gin. It is fresh and fruity, to mirror the subtropical climate it is made in. ‘Refreshing and elegant’.