Susannah Rosenblatt, who reports from Taiwan, landed a centerpiece story for Monday's International Herald-Tribune (the global NY Times edition) on a Taiwanese firm trying to make Scottish-style whisky. It is, she reports, a pretty good effort. From her story:
YILAN, TAIWAN — In a sweltering, five-story warehouse on this subtropical island, T.T. Lee’s brash ambitions are ripening in 35,000 aged oak barrels.
Laboring against climactic conditions and established Western competitors, Mr. Lee, a beverage magnate, has built Kavalan, the first whisky distillery in Taiwan.
Kavalan might seem like a quixotic attempt to vault Taiwan into the $41 billion global whisky business, given that the island is about as far from the Scottish highlands as one can get. But it is producing nine million bottles annually at its facility with mountain views.
Yet to connoisseurs’ shock, the upstart brand managed to beat British labels at a blind tasting in January during a Burns Night, which celebrates the poet Robert Burns — a public relations coup that the company says has tripled sales. Industry watchers are starting to take notice.
“That place gets my pulse racing because of the possibilities of what they’re doing there,” said Jim Murray, author of the book, “Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.”Rosenblatt, a former L.A. Times staffer and political campaign reporter, is based in Taiwan, where she has written on a wide range of subjects, including the occasional movie review and book review, and blogs at Hsinchu Asked.
Comments