Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia – August 2019

30 AUGUST 2019 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

THE QUEST

supernatural secrets to the brand’s success,

however, according to Chang.

“We’ve won many awards and earned a

reputation, but it has been hard earned,” he

says. “Ten years ago, people still believed the

idea of Kavalan was impossible because there

was no other distillery operating in a climate

close to ours. So there was a period in the early

years when all we had was a commitment to

making this first Taiwanese whisky a success,

together with all the hard work and persistence

to pu l l us t hrough.”

Taiwan’s whisky-drinking tradition is

nothing new. Business lunches have long been

lubricated by multiple drams. In 2015, a bit

surprisingly, the country ranked as the fourth

largest market by value for Scotch behind the

U.S., France and Singapore, according to the

Scotch Whisky Association.

The emergence of Kavalan and of a

smattering of specialist whisky bars in Taipei

and other Taiwanese cities such as Tainan and

Hualien, though, indicate that drinkers on the

island are moving away from the “bottoms up”

culture of throwing back hard liquor to a more

sophisticated segment of savvy connoisseurs. I

learn more about this evolution over drinks at

Ziga Ziga, a sleek bar/restaurant at the Grand

Hyatt Taipei, my palatial digs in the island’s

capital. The venue uses Kavalan expressions

(varieties) as a base for all its whisky cocktails.

Young professionals and moneyed tourists

perusing the drinks menu, meanwhile, belie

the popular conception of hard-drinking

businessmen loosening their ties and knocking

back a bottle of Johnnie Walker at a nearby

karaoke lounge.

“Whisky represents a certain level of social

sophistication,” explains Amanda Kuo,

assistant beverage manager at the hotel as we

sup on whisky sours. “Even in today’s declining

market, whisky brands still invest heavily in

marketing and consistently rank among the top

10 advertisers on the island.”

THERE ARE FEW BETTER places in Ta iwa n to

further your whisky education than at

L’Arriere Cour, one of the capital’s longest-

serving whisky bars. Hidden down a secluded

alley, the veteran bar is heaven for single-malt

lovers w it h more t ha n 40 labels to choose from

including all the homegrown drops. Sharply

dressed barmen offer recommendations

curated to your taste.

“I think it’s fantastic that Taiwan is

producing such high-quality single malts,”

FROM TOP: Surveying the barrels at

Kavalan Distillery; Ziga Ziga, at the Grand

Hyatt Taipei, caters to local whisky lovers.

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