<div><p>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 on Monday.</p><p>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.</p><p>"Oh. My. God," author and whisky connoisseur Charles MacLean told the paper when the unexpected result was confirmed.</p><p>The newspaper organised the test itself, in what it called a "piece of mischief-making" inspired by the last November's launch of an English whisky called "St. George's".</p><p>Its hope was to catch the experts out with the tipple from Scotland's traditional "Sassenach" rivals -- the Scottish term for the English -- but to their surprise it was the Asian whisky which came up trumps.</p><p>"It's tropical fruits. Tropical fruit jam," said MacLean, chairman of the panel, after Kavalan -- which is not marketed in Britain -- came out top with 27.5 points out of a possible 40 maximum.</p><p>Langs, a three-year-old Scottish premium blend, scored 22 points, followed by King Robert -- also from north of the border -- on 20 and the English three-year-old malt on 15.5.</p><p>Last came quadruple-distilled Scottish blend Bruichladdich X4+3, on only 4.5 points, described by MacLean as "Not cooking oil. Not diesel oil. Sewing machine oil."</p><p>In a commentary, the Times noted: "Asians are not only some of the world's most sophisticated consumers of Scotch, but have begun distilling malts that compete with the best Scottish distilleries."</p><p>Burns Night, named after 18th century poet Robert "Rabbie" Burns, competes with St. Andrew's Day as a focus for traditionally whisky-fuelled celebrations in Scotland and by Scots around the world.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67741141&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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