COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Taiwan whisky beats Scotch in blind taste test

A Taiwanese whisky beat a trio of top Scottish blends in a connoisseurs' blind taste test organised to mark Scotland's annual Burn's Night festivities, the Times reported Monday.

The Taiwan-distilled Kavalan brand, described as a "Far Eastern incomer", came top in a test against three Scottish and one English whisky in a historic hostelry in Leith, north of Edinburgh, said the paper.

"Oh. My. God," author and whisky connoisseur Charles MacLean told the paper when the unexpected result was confirmed.

The newspaper organised the test itself, in what it called a "piece of mischief-making" inspired by the launch of an English whisky, "St. George's" last November.

Its hope was to catch the experts out with the tipple from Scotland's traditional "Sassenach" English rivals -- but to their surprise it was the Asian whisky which came up trumps.

Full story http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100125/od_afp/britainscotlandtaiwandrinkalcoholoffbeat_20100125115058

It has to do with the water it's made from. Japanese whisky is very good for the same reason.

What few people realise is that whisky is not meant to be drunk until it has been aged in the barrel for at least fifty years. The legal limit is three years and most Scotch is at least twelve years old. You can't compare three-year-old whisky with twelve-year-old Scotch let alone with fifty-year-old whisky from any country.