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Warm Your Winter Nights With Kilchoman
If you happen to live in Tasmania or Victoria you would have experienced near zero temperatures over the last few days. The cold has hit Australia’s south and alpine regions so we recommend exploring the Kilchoman Distillery for an excellent winters dram.
This farm distillery is one of the most modern in Scotland having being officially opened in June 2005, during that year’s Islay Whisky Festival (Feis Ile). They released their first single malt four years later. The distillery is the first of its kind to be built on Islay in 124 years and draws its water from local springs. It now produces over 200, 000 litres of malt whisky annually and it’s one of Scotland’s smallest distilleries.
This small distillery is very economic with regards to outlay and overheads and this may now point to future trends in distillery building and whisky production. A return to distilleries of the past where it wasn’t about large quantities being made but more about growing from the agricultural community and over centuries, where individual farms would have their own stills.
Expect peaty smokiness, aniseed and citrus fruits, hints of weathered oak and sea salt.
The distillery produces three whiskies in its standard range, the Machir Bay, Sanaig and the 100% Islay. These whiskies are produced in batches and are quite different in smell, taste and style.
Machir Bay
The Machir Bay range is Kilchoman’s core expression, first launched in 2012 when it won the prestigious IWSC 2012 Gold Award – Best in Class. Bottled once a year, each release contains more mature casks allowing Kilchoman fans to follow the development of the unique Kilchoman malt as it matures. Matured in a combination of both bourbon and sherry casks, Machir Bay has a well-balanced combination of rich tropical fruit, peat smoke, light vanilla and intense sweetness.
Tasting notes and purchase here
100% Islay 6th Edition
The 6th release of this much loved single malt is now in Australia and surprised us on how consistent the barrels of this creation have been. Every batch has offered bottling at 50% abv and characteristics of light, smoky and fresh.
If you prefer a Laphroaig and wish to branch out and explore something different then I would be choosing this single malt which is 100% created on Islay. It displays the best in the grass-roots traditions of malt whisky distilling – from barley to bottle.
All parts of the production process for the 100% Islay has taken place at the distillery – from barley to bottle. The barley is grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled at Kilchoman making for a unique character. Bottled at 50% abv and peated to a lower level to that of other releases, 100% Islay has a lighter, fresher feel to it. Citrus and lemon notes come through with soft peat smoke and a long smooth finish.
Tasting notes and purchase here
Sanaig
Sanaig is the name of a small rocky inlet just north of the Kilchoman distillery. It’s very fitting to name this expression Sanaig as the inlet is an excellent place to explore and develop your love of Islay. Salty sea air, seaweed, dancing fields of barley. The fine sands and rich luscious colour of sunsets blended with the howling winds. It’s simply a stunning experiencing, nature at its finest.
The whisky is certainly one not to miss out on and once you’ve purchased a bottle you’ll wish you had purchased two.
Maturing the whisky in about 25% bourbon barrels and 75% sherry barrels. Malting the barley so it has just the right amount of smoke. The distillation is light and fresh as always. It’s non chill-filtered and is natural in colour. Bottled at 46% abv and recommended by distillery founder Anthony Wills.
Tasting notes and purchase here
The distillery also produces limited edition bottling’s which are bottled in very small numbers and do not last long especially when reviewed by an online blogger or critic.
Loch Gorm
A delicious Islay whisky which has been fully matured in sherry casks. With a wonderful balance of peat smoke, spice and sweetness, this whisky is another show stopper from this young and creative distillery.
Tasting notes and purchase here
2011 Madeira Cask
The lads and lassies at the Kilchoman distillery have again produced an exceptional limited edition single malt whisky. Prepared with peated malted barley they distill their beautiful fresh spirit and then select some of the best casks around.
This time they have sourced 17 casks which previously held Madeira and matured the spirit in these for 4 years. The flavours of the Kilchoman spirit have married perfectly with the flavours from the cask and produced a whisky of small yield but exceptionally tasty.
Distilled in 2011 and bottled in 2015, it has been bottled at a perfect 50% abv and has not been chill-filtered. This whisky is something extra special.
Tasting notes and purchase here
2011 Sauternes Cask
This time they have fully matured their unique spirit in Sauternes casks for 5 years, bottling only 6,000 bottles at 50% abv in 2016. This highlights a great balance of the sweetness from the Sauternes casks and the smoky flavours and aromas from the distilled spirit.
A great collectors item, early evening dram or something to share with friends.
The Kilchoman Sauternes Cask follows the Port cask matured and Madeira cask matured single malts. The first time the distillery has used Sauternes casks in production.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman founder and Managing Director stated; “Although only making up a small part of our range, full term wine cask maturation in Port, Madeira and now Sauternes has produced fantastic results. The combination of peat smoke, fragrant Kilchoman spirit and full maturation in fresh Sauternes casks makes for a truly unique single malt.”
Robin Bignall, Kilchoman Production Manager; “Having spent its full maturation period in fresh Sauternes casks the whisky has inevitably taken on the textured white age influence associated with Sauternes casks however it remains balanced with an intriguing mix of maritime peat smoke, sweetness and citrus vibrancy.”
Tasting notes and purchase here
Original Cask Strength Quarter Cask
The Original Cask Strength Quarter Cask is a special edition Kilchoman bottled at natural cask strength, presenting the whisky in its purest form with un-paralleled intensity of flavour and texture.
The whisky is matured in quarter casks which is roughly a the size of quarter a 500 litre barrel. This allows for increased whisky to wood ratio within the barrel. The increased wood contact simply means bigger vanilla and caramel flavours in the whisky.
The unique Kilchoman spirit has matured in these casks for over six years and is the second edition in this series of whiskies.
95 quarter casks have been vatted to produce over 12,000 bottles of this limited edition single malt whisky. ‘The combination of these smaller casks and the fruity, peat smoked Kilchoman spirit is remarkable.’
Tasting notes and purchase here
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