Worthy of the hype? | Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique REVIEW 

Was in Taipei last week. Test drank it and it was wonderfully delicious. Bought my Vinho Barrique at TWD3,080 (after special discount 12%)

Great review, Jeff! This is my all time favorite of Kavalans!

“Vinho” is read “vigno” like in “cognac”. It’s Portuguese word for wine, similar to “vino” in spanish but with that difference.

Love your reviews Geoff. I go through many whisky reviews but I think my nosing/pallet senses align very well with yours and everything you recommend are spot on with my tastes. Subscribed and you have my support! Please keep it coming and can't wait for your solist port review. I was about to order the port first but saw this and decided to go for the Vinho first.

Great review and great score

I love kavalan solist bottles. I have 2 sherry, 2 vinho barrique, and 1 port solist. I recent bought Kavalan Vinho Barrique CNY 2020 and the bottle looks spectacular. I still remember every WhikyLive events yearly i always stopby at the Kavalan booth and try all the botrles especially the Solist lineup. Well worth it. One of the best whisky in the event and a great way to taste the whole lineup and what Kavalan has to offer.

Great to watch this series. I need to go to my store and take a picture of their selection and do some research... It sounds like if I see Solist..I should pull the trigger.. Cheers..

Tasted two batches of this one, while there were distinct batch variations, both were very good. In terms of depth and nuances, my favorite from the Kavalan range (that I have tasted) is the Amontillado single cask. This one is a little sweet for my liking but you were spot on in your description that it holds its own and does not impact the distillate. Cheers!

Hi Geoff, a good review of a whisky I can’t get and when, it’s too damn expensive. Slàinte Geoff, nice one.

Been sipping a sample of it and when I started I had some trouble with it. Found it too harsh even with water. But after some time and oxidation, even with a sample, it worked. It is a wonderful whisky. The red wine is so noticeable (I understand it was also matured in white wine casks but of course red wine is always stronger). The finish is so long, so creamy and fruity. I must get a whole bottle.

I've tasted several Kavalans, all of which were enviously good, and this one is my personal favourite so far ahead of the port cask finish. The price tag however means that they are still very nichey over here in Europe but with prices of quality single malts going to the moon, there is a maybe chance for Kavalan yet.

Wish I can get my hands on a reasonably priced soloist, but here in Canada that is an exercise in futility. Btw, not sure if you've tried the Tamdhu batch 6 yet, but you're in for a treat. It isn't the highest abv out of all the batches, but I recall hearing it going through more of a process, so while you'd be correct to say the newer batches are more "shiny" and "refined" (and no argument here) bottom line, is that with a blind tasting I had between batches 1 and 3, 6 beat them both based on just how incredibly dense and sweet (and older/rounder tasting) it (batch 6) was. I really would love to see you review batch 6 and get your thoughts, but don't be influenced by my praise, though I do think you'll love it. Also I just KNOW you will LOVE Port Charlotte PAC: 01 2011. It is so good that I got 3 of those bad boys which I can't even afford it! lol Slainta!

Thanks for another great Review. (Just focused on the Whisky without any blablabla, exactly as a Review should always be) Add: Finally i got one of these Bottles in 2023 🥳

Nice make sure to do a final blind rundown and sum up at the end of the series

Been living in Taiwan for the last 3 years and have had the pleasure of visiting Kavalan distillery. They are really offering some of my favorite products when I want something a little bit different, all of their Solist expressions are incredible, and all have an interesting dark fruit flavor. Fantastic stuff. Even with the Vinho, with a bit of water, you can get those tropical notes so typical to Kavalan. Love them so much, dreading moving away and having to pay a premium to get them haha

God damn Geoff ,, I went straight to the liqor store, after seeing your review, to buy one. My first kavalan ever! Man this is good,,in fact so good I went back and also bought the port-version! Also very good, i only regret two things,, 1: not discovering kavalan earlier 2: an empty bankdiscount ha ha ha,,, slainthe!!

When started drinking, I aim to try as many diff whisky as possible. Hence usually I don’t buy the same bottle twice no matter how good they are. However vinho is the only 1 of the 2 whisky with repeated purchases. $150 for 1000ml, duty free here. Worth the price for such “complex” drink. not really for beginners to fully appreciate it. Love this drink and has nothing to do with the best whisky award gimmick.

Last year, ex-bourbon, vinho and sherry SOLIST came to Ontario - all priced over 300 $CA : no one buying , now, Jan 2024 prices drop 26-28% each to 200-260. Great + helpdful review : will get the SHerry SOLIST (235$CA ~ 160 US ~ 130 UKP )

Thank you for this review Geoff. Have you had the chance to try the Brandy cask by any chance. If you did, any comments?

The tasting profile sounds really interesting! I have tried that Glen Scotia 10 Red Wine Cask, and it's ok for me. How would you say about the difference?

Geoff good rewiev. I saw thet whisky on one site and it costs 139 euro, i think i will buy it .

Also for those planning to visit the visit is free there’s no charge you can walk through the main building which is very nice it has these huge windows from which you can look down upon the factory floor so to speak and there are charts that explained the process then you can go over to their tasting room and get a tasting of their normal entry-level whiskey which was quite good I’m not sure tours to the warehouse are available there are guided tours at certain times of the day as well which are also free it’s a great visit Definitely go if you get the chance

Loving the reviews and you've definitely piqued my interest in Kavalan! I don't suppose you know of any stores in Taiwan that do international shipping? Thanks

I've not tried a kavalan yet. Should probably start with the Distillery Select but a cask strength Sherry cask just came back in stock. Mucho money.. Question is:. Is this non Soloist any less of a whisky? It's also a CS single cask. I think the soloist bottles are double at $400.

For this Vinho, we have to thank the STR process for it. Without STR, I think it would be too acidic without sufficient oak to balance the spirit against the cask sufficiently.

I prefer the sherry over vinho/bourbon/port cask, personally I think the vinho is overrated, but my friends think vinho is better. Great review though, looks like Kavalan is going to have some loyal customers.

Great review! After kavalan port can you rank them, even if its gonna be hard from 1-4! Thanks 👍😁

I can´t confirm that all Kavalan Solists are good: I opened a Solist Bourbon on Christmas Eve 2019 and it is still almost full... 😞 Important detail in that context: I never have more than 30 bottles open in my bar.

I'm curious if that "disappointing bottle" was from 2012? I have one from July of 12 and it seems a bit rough for what Kavalan usually produces. Nothing like the sherry cask bottle I have.

This one is a mystery to me, I don't really see the "worlds best" in this one, mine needs tons of water before it gets to a level where it is really enjoyable and then it has a lot of exotic fruits. But.........it is weird to me, I rarely drink it and when I do I am not able to understand/enjoy it so much, it tastes.....weird(?)

~200 euros in Bulgaria. I don't see myself paying that money for a bottle which is lacking a gloryhole, pardon my French. Or at least say 100 euros tucked in the carton. I have no doubt in the quality of the malt though. As for the "Best whisky in the world" I remember Chris Goodrum saying something about it in a video on his channel. I believe Chris has been judging "World Whisky Awards" by the time this Solist Vinho Barrique was awarded. So he said that judges have fairly limited time to taste and assess numerous whiskies and by the end of the day their palates are totally fatigue. So, in order a given dram to stand out and be awarded it has to be very, very intense and in general no whisky matured in say refill bourbon casks stands a chance. In other words, in those contests subtlety is not a virtue :) Cheers!

It’s only fairly priced at the distillery itself And only the Solists are really worth the hype Everything else is economy class That seems to be what I’ve heard

"Somone called this the best whiskey in the world..." Uh, bro...look at the front of the packaging. It was World Whiskies Awards, rofl. It's straight up on the packaging.

But to be fair I am not a whiskey expert and in fact my first tasting of their whiskeys even the solist I didn’t understand them and didn’t really know how to appreciate them that much My visit to their distillery was in 2009 when many of the expressions available today weren’t even available then so honestly I have yet to try many of the expressions that are available today because they’re not really readily available here in California and or they are very very expensive too much for me In 2009 when I was there the big bottles were about $100 each for the whiskey one what you call the ex bourbon , the sherry and the vinho while the Fino was $200 I didn’t buy that one They had all sorts of sizes for all of the expressions except Fino which only came in the 200 dollar 750 mL bottle everything else was available in half bottles and even tiny sampler bottles Not being a whiskey expert I only got tiny bottles of everything I could get my hands on I wish I had gotten bigger bottles because they were very unique even though I did not know anything about them I knew they were unique Previously only having drunk the likes of Johnny Walker black and old par and Jack Daniels I’ve watched a lot of reviews about them since and I sort of came to the conclusion that only the single casts are really worth the hype the regular expressions may be a bit too expensive for what you get out of them but I may be wrong Looks like one should be part of the 1 million visitors a year to this distillery and once there buy large bottles of every single cask expression that you can afford or two bottles because the prices are the best at the distillery Unfortunately Taiwan is still closed off due to Covid and no visitors are allowed on the island as yet far as I know Also not all expressions are available at all times even at the distillery so I have been told

I'm surprised you devote 25% of your review to a straw man argument; that of the kavalan vino varying wildly as a draw back where in reality it is the defining feature of single, cask strength expression. I've had perhaps 2 dozen vinos and, while it's not my favorite kavalan expression, a few of them, maybe three or four, were outstandingly balanced and complex. None of the mediocre ones didn't respond to a few weeks opening up when past the neck pour. Like you said, I did have a kavalan solist expression, a sherry, that disappointed after opening and after 3 months open. In my case, it probably was caused by an improperly seasoned barrel which was remedied by 6 months on the shelf.