The Finest Single Malt Whiskies From Taiwan, India, and Extra

Starward Nova

From Melbourne, Australia, Starward Nova is a fruit-forward single malt that’s produced from native barley and aged in ex-Barossa Valley wine casks, says Jonathan Adler, beverage director at Shinji’s in New York Metropolis. “It’s a phenomenal whisky which stands up by itself and even in a Manhattan.” 

Amrut Fusion

Khokhar usually recommends Amrut Fusion to friends. “It exhibits how Indian producers use local weather and mixing in a extremely good manner,” he says. Khokhar says that it combines Indian and Scottish barley, which provides the whiskey weight, malt sweetness, spice, and only a contact of smoke. It’s nice by itself, however Khokhar additionally likes to combine it right into a Sandalwood Previous Usual. The whiskey has sufficient construction to face as much as the sandalwood aroma, which retains the drink spirit-forward and layered.

Paul John Edited

Paul John Edited, which features a trace of peat, is one other Khokhar favourite. “It’s simple to take pleasure in, however [it] nonetheless has character, with tropical fruit, comfortable smoke, and mild spice,” he says. “I’ve used it in a tropical whey highball, the place these fruit notes and lightweight smokiness work very well with the refined richness and acidity of clarified whey, completed with soda. It’s clear, refreshing, and a superb instance of how Indian single malts can work simply as nicely in trendy cocktails as they do on their very own.”

Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique

This single cask, cask-strength expression is a good illustration of what Kavalan, and Taiwanese whisky, does finest, says Pu. “The whisky is completed in re-toasted wine casks, and the result’s extremely layered: ripe tropical fruit, darkish chocolate, toasted nuts, comfortable spice, and refined oak char, with a protracted, structured end,” he says. “What stands out most is the readability of the spirit beneath the highly effective barrel affect. Regardless of the depth and richness, it by no means feels heavy or overly candy.” 

Pu says that this expression exhibits how Kavalan makes use of aggressive maturation circumstances to construct depth with out shedding the spirit’s inherent class. He says that Solist Vinho Barrique is certainly one of Kavalan’s most persistently compelling single-cask releases. He calls it “a benchmark expression for collectors and first-time drinkers alike who wish to perceive why Taiwanese whisky has develop into so globally revered.”

Revéz Blue Label Whisky

Agave is an iconic image of Mexican identification, however corn occupies an equally profound and important place within the nation’s cultural heritage, says Salvador Guzmán, head bartender at Zapote Journey Bar at Rosewood Mayakoba, a luxe resort on Mexico’s Riviera Maya. He says that Mexico is residence to an unlimited range of native corn varieties that encourage artistic expression from distillers and bartenders.

“A exceptional instance is Revéz Blue Label Whisky, crafted with 80% native blue corn,” says Guzmán. “This grain, past its cultural significance, presents the next protein content material in comparison with hybrid or genetically modified corn and is grown by means of ancestral agricultural practices preserved over a long time.” 

The whisky is aged for six years in French oak barrels, which Guzmán says “authentically captures the character of blue corn and brings a recent, significant narrative to trendy Mexican cocktails.”  

L’avia Mexican Craft Whisky

This tremendous small-batch whiskey is produced from a singular mix of corn, barley, and oats, a mix that Guzmán says “supplies construction, sweetness, and a clean, rounded texture.” He says that the whiskey makes use of an unusual maturation approach — reflux condensation getting old with American oak chips — akin to spending two years in barrel, however with out ever seeing the within of a conventional cask. Each step is dealt with in-house, from mashing to bottling.

L’avia is made in Riviera Maya and doesn’t purpose to copy basic whisky areas. “As a substitute, it proves that Mexican identification may also be distilled,” says Guzmán. “It’s an sincere, intimate, and deeply private whisky, one which stands by itself with a personality that doesn’t must resemble the rest.”

Kavalan Basic Single Malt

This flagship expression from Kavalan will get the nod from Anthony Baker, head bartender of Warren Road Bar & Restaurant in New York Metropolis’s Tribeca neighborhood. The Basic Single Malt is loaded with tropical fruits and florals that embody mango and coconut, but it surely by no means will get too candy. Baker calls this whisky a favourite “notably for its dryness and clean sipping capability.”