Rim Of Fire

Partly because of the climate and partly because Japan proved it could be done, non-traditional countries on the Pacific Rim have begun upping their whisky game.

- Anish Trivedi

Let’s blame it on Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun is responsible for the increasing interest in new-world whiskies, ever since Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible slaughtered Scottish makers in 2015 and gave the No 1 ranking to a Japanese single malt, Yamazaki Sherry Cask. Indian malts have also been appearing on the list, raising almost as many eyebrows as they have glasses. It’s gotten to the point where Murray has added a category for Asian whisky of the year, handing out this year’s top spot to an expression from Taiwanese maker Kavalan.

The first time I was offered Kavalan was at Singapore Duty Free. I brushed it aside, dismissing it as just another travel trade gimmick. But at a recent whisky tasting, I tried its Soloist, a powerful Oloroso sherry cask maturation that weighs in at 57.8 per cent ABV. It’s an impressive whisky – more so since it comes from a part of the world where single malt is known to be drunk with green tea. Skip forward a few of those drams, and the conversation turned to other Asian lands that produce whisky.

One of the things that separates Asian whiskies from their occidental counterparts is the speed at which they reach maturation. Distillers contend that the climate, particularly the heat, fosters faster evaporation, making that marriage of newly made spirit and cask move along that much quicker. The result is a whisky that’s ready to drink in three to four years, instead of 10 to 12. (Japan, with its almost Scotland like weather in Hokkaido, where most of the distilleries are, doesn’t get quite as much of an advantage.)