Taichung Sorghum Cask Strength Single Grain Taiwanese Whisky (2023) 70cl

I have relied on Dramface for this one. Many thanks! TLDR - Mindblowing Whisky out of Taiwan

Taichung Distillery has made frequent moves in recent years. Following the launch of wheat bourbon casks and wheat sherry casks last year, two types of Grain Whiskey single grain whiskey, two batches of new Grain Wing single grain whiskeys have been launched recently, namely "Wheat New Oak Casks" As well as "Sorghum Bourbon Casks", Taichung Distillery has been able to release refreshing works one after another. In fact, it has accumulated a lot silently and waited for the right time to achieve today's results. In the past, at the beginning of whiskey brewing, there was also a period of exploration. For example, the way of distillation has gone through three stages of evolution.

A couple of things caught my attention. Firstly, it is rare for Taiwanese whisky to carry an age statement (OK it doesn’t actually carry an age statement, but the vintage information on the label indicates that it is 10 year old whisky), let alone a double-digit one; secondly, Sorghum whisky? Let’s dig a little deeper.

While technically a whisky can be distilled from any grain, it's commonly accepted that whiskies are made from one or more of four main grains: corn, rye, wheat, and barley. This has led to ongoing debate about whether Japanese rice whiskies should be classified as whisky. To my knowledge, this issue remains unresolved and might never be settled. Given its limited global presence, it’s not something that keeps many awake. Similarly, this whisky is not distilled from one of the four traditional grains, rather, it is distilled from sorghum, also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, among other names. This is also the base grain of the traditional Chinese spirit baijiu, Chinese for “white spirit”.

I have never encountered whisky made in this way before this bottle, so as I’m trying to inform, I’m also learning. In fact, let me link you to the official product page, although I suspect most of you will require a bit of Google Translate.

My understanding is that sorghum has similar properties to corn, which puts this whisky one step closer to a bourbon. However, bourbon by law needs to be matured in new oak, while this sorghum whisky was aged in ex-bourbon casks, which means it’s not going to have to “break in” the new oak, so I expect that it would be less oaky than a typical bourbon. Additionally, it is often said that the sweetness of bourbon works well with new oak; since the sorghum spirit carries a similar sweetness as corn spirit, it may be able to better combat the subtropical climates of Taiwan better, and so it can also stand the challenge of time, thus it is able to withstand 10 years in cask.

Anyway, all of the above is speculation, what’s important is whether the liquid actually tastes good.

Nose

Sandalwood front and centre, caramel, vanilla, toffees, all to the side; leaving it for a while and coming back to it, and that sandalwood is still ever present, expressing itself in a slightly fragrant and herbal way. This may sound a bit one dimensional, but I can smell this whisky all day.

Palate

Herbal, almost like a rye, but without the spices, nicely honey coated palate, again with the caramel and toffees to the side, the honey morphing into a syrup on the development, something like pancakes, very mouth coating, and again, the sandalwood loiters, almost transporting me to an antique furniture shop. The finish is where the spices show up, mostly herbal, and it lingers. Overall this is a sweet whisky, but not sickly sweet, it’s a moreish dessert kind of sweet. The experience is akin to having a bite of a pancake, and raring to go for the second bite.

The Dregs

The Taichung distillery is owned and operated by the state-owned Taiwanese Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL), which also owns the Nantou distillery producing whisky under the brand of Omar. The government producing good whisky? Most of us may find this absurd, but the TTL doesn’t only produce whisky, also part of its portfolio are beer and rice wine, and as the name of the entity suggests, they also produce a brand of cigarettes named “Long Life”. Oh the irony.

Back to the whisky, there are so many suggestions of transition whiskies for Scotch drinkers dipping their toes into bourbon and vice versa, but I think this is the actual perfect gateway. It’s got the sweet flavours of bourbon and the understated cask influence of Scotch, although some may consider this neither here nor there. And while some categorise Taiwanese whisky as Scotch like, this is an exception. Whether you think sorghum whisky should be classified as whisky is up to you, but for me, this aged spirit is bloody amazing.

In fact if we had decimal places in Dramface scoring, this would be an 8.75, why have I not rounded it to 9? Because I’d rather err on the low side as I don’t want to score something higher than I actually rate it. But unofficially this is now the second highest scoring whisky I’ve reviewed on Dramface, closely behind the recently reviewed Longmorn 16, and it’s distilled from sorghum, my mind is really blown.