Last day in Taipei

We already been here for almost a week and the time just been running away, tomorrow we are leaving for the Whisky Live in Shanghai!

First of all: the fair was absolutely great! It was over 20 000 visitors in two days and the interest for Swedish whisky (the pronouncement is like "raidjian wejtschichi" when you hear it in Chinese) was huge! It was a pleasure to see how well educated everyone was about whisky.

Steven, the manager for the fair, surprised me and Angela with a gift; two Viking helmets with plaits...  ;)

It was a very popular souvenir that a lot of people wanted to try...

Me and one of the visitors who appreciated the Swedish culture

Steven also took the chance to wear it and went up on our table, talking to the crowd about Swedish whisky, a much appreciated element at the fair...

A special thanks to Eric, Steven and Chloe who arranged this fair very well and was so friendly and helped us with everything!

The day after started our visiting program with the Swedish trade council. We had a meeting with one of Taipei’s most experienced whisky persons in the morning and the plan was then to go to the Kavalan whisky distillery, but the Typhoon canceled that so instead we had a meeting with Joel from Sweden that recently moved here and started his own business. 

In the evening we went to the Backyard whisky bar and met with the manager Mr. Steven Lin. Steven is a highly appreciated whisky connoisseur in Taiwan and have a lot of experience within the industry.

The day after we were able to go to Kavalan and we was guided by Joanie who showed us around in the big areas. It was a nice journey and it´s always interesting to see other distilleries. 

The Kavalan Distillery

We ended the evening at the Swedish restaurant called Flavors where we met with the newly started Swedish Chambers of commerce and one of the chairpersons for the Chinese network P1. It was a lovely evening and the chef, Ola, made us excellent food! 

Today, Wednesday, we were interviewed by the magazines Wine and Spirits Digest and The Whiskymag.

To sum up; A very good week that gave us some overview over the Taiwanese market, a lot of new contacts in the business and an understanding for the big demand of whisky here in Taiwan.

The suitcases are now packed again; ready for the flight to Shanghai tomorrow!

Cheers

Sanna