I have a number of friends who are very knowledgable about whiskey and they rate Kavalan Whiskey, from Yilan on Taiwan's north-east coast as being among the world's best, if not the best, I have visited the distillery several times and spent several hundred dollars on whiskey each time. I intend giving most of it away, so I can share it with my friends, but I will keep at least some of i for myself. I'd rate Kavalan as being at least as good as Jameson's or Bushmills, which I tasted in Ireland..

You can see the process of how whiskey is made. We are not big drinkers and did not try the free samples after the tour (too early in the day?). There is a coffee shop upstairs from where they have the samples and a "gift shop". It is intereting to learn how whiskey is made and to see the equipment used.

Without knowing much about whiskey, I was totally surprised by this distillery, especially seeing the many rewards they have won throughout the years. They had whiskey tasting at designated time which we attended. Just not for me. The tour was self-guided with good signage. A huge gift shop/restaurant/coffee shop inside another building. Quite a fun visit.

Never been to a whiskey distillery so we couldn’t compare with the distillery tour. Anyway it was great to learn how whiskey was made. They had whiskey tasting package of 100 or 200 TWD which comes with vouchers that we can use to discount off the whiskey that we bought later. Overall experience was still ok until when we wanted to call a taxi back to town and we approached the counter for help. They helped us called this taxi company 777 which they had cooperated with. Told us to wait for 20 min, and when the taxi driver arrived he wanted to charge extra for driving over to the distillery, without going according to the meter. We were quite disappointed with his haggling but since there was no other taxi services and it was near our boarding time for our train we had no choice but to take it. After the trip we call up King Car to complain and they pushed the responsibility to the taxi company and give us the number to call them. Didn’t you said you guys had cooperated with this taxi company for transportation out of the distillery? Anyway we called up the taxi company to complain but the reception just told us that they will take note but we doubt they are going to do anything. Anyway please arrange own transport or get another taxi company to help. Don’t go for this taxi company 777 in Yilan Taiwan.

I've been a fan of Kavalan for years and was excited to check it out with my family. The whiskey is amazing and deserving of all the accolades. Our experience at the distillery, on the other hand, was absolutely terrible. The staff was unhelpful and rude, particularly our private tasting lead, who was gruff and sullen. She hadn't shown up at the 3:30 pm tasting time and we had to ask the cashier at the gift shop about what to do. 10 minutes later, she came to the tasting area with a huff and seemed frustrated that we would even want a tasting. After pouring our 4 whiskey tastings, she hid behind the counter and clearly did not want us to bother her. It was very awkward and we tried to shrug it off. We then had a strange experience in the convention center. Though the staff there helped us call a taxi, after 15 minutes of us sitting there, they started packing up and then shut the lights on us while we were mere feet away from them. We're fine with them wanting to leave if it's closing time, but not letting people know you are closing and just shutting all the lights on them while you walk out the door is very strange and quite rude. Our whole experience was soured by the sense that these people hated their work. This is not how you showcase world-class whiskey. What a wasted opportunity.

For non-whisky lover - Educational & Informative For whisky lover - remember to enrol for DIY class where you get to blend your own Personal whisky (300ml) with a fee of NT$1200

Kavalan Single Malt took the whiskey world by storm by grabbing pole position in the 2015 World Whiskies Awards and prestigious accolades by renowned Jim Murray. Thus a visit to Taiwan without visiting Kavalan Distillery by King Car is sacrilegious. Kavalan Distillery is easily accessible and it’s key distinction from other distilleries is that it incorporates a huge Mr Brown cafe (of course owned by King Car too) on the 2nd floor that whiskey thirsty fans like us can leave our underaged youths and kids to entertain themselves whilst the adults indulge ourselves. Hence it’s a family friendly destination. The self or pre-appointed guided tour of the well laid out Distillery is highly informative and is a visual feast especially the rows of barrels seen from up high. One will definitely emerge wiser and with a deepened respect for Taiwanese tenacity and whiskey talents after this tour. The highlight of the tour is certainly not the free whiskey tasting (this was a low light actually as the group tours were noisy and simply gulped down the, albeit, lacklustre samples or left them untouched! Our highlight was to pay a fee at the adjoining whiskey retail outlet to taste the the few select award winning Solist series and pricey Premium single cask Sherry series (eg. Kavalan’s Solist Vinho Barrique) at the quiet tasting room on the 2nd floor. This was a mind blowing earth shaking experience in whiskey heaven! The retail outlet obviously offers the largest range of offerings in different shapes and sizes that you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere at the most attractive pricing. It’s worthwhile buying here and carry around with you as they are also generous with complimentary gifts. Alas I have to withhold 1-star because of the poorly designed and managed free tasting gallery as we felt shepherded and hurried with an obviously non-appreciative crowd.

We waited in line for half hour to enter the mass tasting hall of KaVaLan whiskey, after being made to watch a corporate video on King Car and a short walk-through of their distillery. The tasting took less than 5 minutes. Visitors were given a shot of their entry level whiskey. Visitors were not allowed to choose which whiskey to taste even if they were prepared to pay for the shots. This place is not for serious whiskey drinkers with an intention to buy their whiskey. The crowds looked like they were there more to buy King Car's Mr Brown Coffee and other snacks while getting a free whiskey shot at the same time. Those who were interested to buy whiskey had to buy "blindly" based on a whiff of displayed samples in small containers. Quite a joke really, considering that KaVaLan isn't a known brand at all but sold at higher prices than established Scottish brands. You can give this place a miss unless you have time to kill.

This distillery located in Luodong, Yuanshan Township produces the famous Kavalan single malt whisky. There are regular whisky tasting sessions in the showroom plus sales counters to attend to your purchases. We also too a tour of the GMP whisky factory where the fermenting and distilling processes are explained in detail. Worth the visit to increase your knowledge on barley and whisky-making.

First things first. This is very far from Taipei ~3hrs in the car with a driver on a Saturday morning (despite only being 20miles). Quite the commitment with only 4 days in Taipei but my husband is a whiskey nut and it was his birthday. The distillery is setup in an 'intersting' fashion buy the King Car company... it has so much potential but is totally under utilised. The cavernous space is largely dedicated to a 'Mr Brown Cafe. It was full of locals, but noone in the whiskey tasting or distilling rooms. Very bizarre. It ended up being almost a private visit for my husband and i but the setup could do with being separated our into dedicated spaces.