Page 60 - Microsoft Word - miniz-digest-126-129.docx

KING CAR DISTILLERY

Thanks to fellow club member Hugo Nami I am the proud owner of 10 single malt whiskies
from this Taiwan distillery. When a connoisseur like Hugo says these beautiful bottles need
to be better known, who am I to argue.

The King Car distillery was built in 2005 and the name roughly translates as to Drive Wealth.
The name is very apt as the founder Lee Tien-Tsa and his son Albert run a large and
successful food and drink empire.

In 1995 they wished to enter the alcohol business and build their own distillery. However the
Taiwan government had a monopoly on the alcohol production business and did not want to
share it. The result was 10 years of arguments. Two factors led to a solution. The first was in
2002 when Taiwan joined the World Trade Organisation. The WTO do not allow
governments to have a monopoly. The second was that King Car stated they would only
produce single malt whiskies. Permission was finally granted and, after taking only 8 months
to build, the distillery opened in 2005.

The first whisky was bottled in 2008. This may
appear to be a short time but the heat in
Taiwan speeds up the maturation. A whisky
that takes 12 years to mature in Scotland only
takes 6 in Taiwan. The climate also has an
adverse side in that it is party time for the
angels, with the angels share being 15% per
annum.

At first the whisky was only sold locally but
exports started in 2012. It is now available in
over 20 countries (including New Zealand) and
whisky commentators have been kind in their
comments. They have also won numerous

- 27 -