Yushan Single Malt

About the Yushan Single Malt

Yushan Single Malt is a Taiwanese single malt whisky from Nantou Distillery. The Yushan name comes from Taiwan's highest mountain, which rises above the island's central spine. This bottling matures in bourbon casks and goes into the bottle at 46% ABV. There is no added colouring and no chill filtration. What reaches your glass is the spirit as the warehouse left it. Nothing is stripped out for looks. Nantou Distillery sits in central Taiwan, and Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation opened it in 1978. For its first three decades the site made other drinks, not whisky. Distilling of malt spirit only began there in 2008, which makes this a young operation. Taiwan's heat works fast on a cask. Spirit there matures at a pace Scotland's cool warehouses never reach. A few years in the tropics carries real weight. The nose opens floral and fruity, with pear and green apple leading. A cereal note sits underneath, dry and grainy like a bakery. On the palate the bourbon wood takes over. Sweet oak and toasted oak bring honey, vanilla and caramel, with a lick of spice behind them. The finish holds that spice, then settles back into vanilla and warm wood. It is sweet without turning sugary. Yushan Single Malt is the bourbon cask core of the range, next to peated and blended malt versions. Bourbon wood is what gives this one its bright fruit and its clean, sweet edge. Peat would cover that. The bare bourbon cask leaves the distillery character exposed. The 46% strength keeps the texture full without shouting. If you want to know what Taiwanese malt tastes like before smoke enters the picture, start here.