Master distiller Ian Chang once led Kavalan, Taiwan’s single malt whisky, into an award-winning, global success

“There is no such thing as a perfect whisky,” Ian Chang declared in his measured, unhurried style. He was addressing a whisky-loving audience at Garibaldi restaurant on Purvis Street, gathered to celebrate Komoro.

The audience was rapt, and deservedly so. Ian Chang is a whisky icon. For 16 years, Chang led the whisky-making at Kavalan, Taiwan’s single malt whisky, where he was instrumental in turning a subtropical whisky into a multi-award winning, global success. He was awarded Master Distiller of the Year in 2015 by Whisky Magazine and Master Distiller by IWSC in 2017, and those are just two of the many accolades he’s garnered over the year.

In 2020, he left Kavalan and joined Komoro, a new Japanese distillery in the Greater Karuizawa region, a region mired in whisky lore. (More on this later.)

We were about to taste three unreleased whiskies from Komoro – a transparent peated-new make whisky fresh off the pot still, another transparent and unpeated new make whisky and lastly, an amber-hued barrel sample of a one-year whisky, distilled and matured in Japan. The rapture grew double fold.

The samples were not market-ready, but they illustrated Chang’s ideology. “We are always seeking perfection. Whisky can only be as close as possible to perfection, but never perfect,” he added.

THE ROAD TO KAVALAN

Before joining Kavalan in 2005, the 49-year-old Taiwanese national had no prior background in whisky. He had just returned home from the UK with a degree in food technology. The plan was to join his family’s meat business, which fell by the wayside when his father suffered a massive stroke and was forced to shut down his business. Chang had to find a job.

One night, he chanced upon an erstwhile advertisement posted by Kavalan on a local job website. “They were looking for a whisky researcher,” he recalled and applied immediately, thinking the recruiters might put some stock on his education in chemistry and flavour compounds. Three interviews and one extensive whisky aroma test, Chang found himself propelled into the spirited world.

Kavalan was constructing a distillery then, and Chang studied whisky through books. The following year, Kavalan engaged the renowned Scottish whisky expert and consultant, the late Dr Jim Swan and Chang found an “extraordinary mentor” to guide him through this journey.

In 2009, Kavalan released its first whisky, the Classic Single Malt and over the next few years, a steady stream of awards started to pour in.

ONCE A TEACHER, ALWAYS A FATHER

Chang believes in the Japanese concept of Shu-Ha-Ri. The three-stage concept of ‘learn-detach-transcend’ developed from Japanese martial arts but also applicable to any learning journey. “It has shaped my personal and professional journey in a profound way,” he added.

The first concept of Shu focuses solely on learning. “It reflects my first 10 years at Kavalan, where I faithfully and repeatedly executed the teachings of Jim Swan without deviation or doubt. It was a period of dedicated learning, refining my craft day by day.”

The relationship developed over visits to Scotland and cask makers. However, an accident deepened the ties. Chang has never before talked about the time he nursed and cared for him after Dr Swan fell and fractured his hip in Taiwan. The fracture required immediate surgery in a foreign country, and Chang stayed by his side, inadvertently forming a lasting bond with his patient.

In his interviews, he recalled Dr Swan frequently and shared that he considered Jim Swan like his second father. “In Mandarin, we say, ‘Once a teacher, forever a father’."

UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE JAPANESE ALPS

The next stage of Shu-Ha-Ri concept, Ha, Chang explained, relates to detachment, innovation and adapting to new environments.

After a fortuitous 15-year spell at Kavalan, Chang had come into his own and developed his blending philosophy.  But he was also ready to move on.

“COVID started, and I thought that was a perfect timing to stop,” he said, reflecting over his decorated career’s inflection point.

His dream was to create an age-statement whisky, an impossible feat to accomplish in the heat of Taiwan, where whiskies mature too quickly.

Serendipitously, in Japan’s husband-and-wife team, Koji and Yoshie Shimaoka had just set up a new distillery in the Greater Karuizawa region and were looking for a master distiller to take on the new project. They sought out Chang and offered him complete creative control.

At this point, it is important to understand the gravitas of the Karuizawa name. Karuizawa is the name of a resort town in Nagano, Japan and its eponymous distillery. The Karuizawa distillery was demolished in 2011 but has since gained cult status. The whiskies left in stock are still in circulation and command staggering prices at auctions.

Koji Shimaoka, a longtime resident of the Karuizawa region, longed to restore this region’s old whisky glory and found the perfect spot near Karuizawa town. His new distillery is located in the town of Komoro. Like Karuizawa Distillery, Komoro sits under the shadow of Mount Asama and shares the same water source. But it’s not a story of imitation – far from it. Komoro is primed to reflect the terroir of Komoro. If anything, the new player pays tribute to the legacy of Karuizawa.

RI, THE STAGE TO TRANSCEND

Chang considers Komoro to be the natural extension of his whisky journey. Only, he’s working in very different conditions.

“Japan is the opposite of Taiwan. Taiwan is very hot, similar to Singapore. We have to cool things down in Taiwan, but in Japan, we have to heat things up,” he explained.

The winters mimic Scotland, and he estimates a 2 per cent to 3 per cent loss of whisky in angel’s share (a measure of the natural evaporation when whisky is aged) compared to an 8 per cent to 15 per cent loss in Yilan, Taiwan.

Besides the differences in terroir, Chang prefers to mature his whiskies in various casks from Japanese mizunara wood, to bourbon, sherry, port, tequila and wine. His guiding principle: Komoro is about blending.

In the early days, though, the true essence of Japanese whisky evaded him. He asked many people till he found an answer he could work with. According to his close friend, Suntory’s master distiller, Shinji Fukuyo, Japanese whisky is about harmony.

“In my understanding that means balance. So basically, what I tried to make in Japan is to have that balanced flavour and character for everyone to enjoy,” Chang surmised.

The cutting-edge, environmentally savvy distillery was completed in 2023, and the first whisky will be released in late 2026.

In his innate humility, Chang is not yet ready to claim that he’s in the last stage of Ri, meaning transcend, a stage achieved by blending learned wisdom with personal interpretation. But if the smooth, fruit-laden new makes and the complexity developing in the one-year-old amber whisky are any indication, Ian Chang is well on his way. He’s quietly and assuredly developing a stellar whisky in his unique signature style.