From Friday, 1st November, the Kilchoman Visitor Centre & Café will be open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 – 16:00. Closed on Mondays.

The Café is open from 10:00 – 15:30 for teas, coffees, and home baking. Lunch is served from 12:00 to 14:30; booking is advisable for lunch.

On Saturdays and Sundays, afternoon tea will be available alongside our craft workshop weekends. Full details to follow.

📞: 01496 850 011
📧: tours@kilchomandistillery.com

As every farmer knows, success in agriculture is often at the mercy of the weather, and 2024 proved to be no exception.  We started ploughing on 7th March in the Smiddy Field, but the unsettled weather meant we took longer than normal and this delay impacted our sowing schedule.  Typically, we begin sowing barley around the 15th of April and finish within five days. However this year, the cold and wet soil meant we couldn’t start until the 27th of April in the Flat Field. The final field, Creag Field, wasn’t completed until 8th May but we remained hopeful that it wouldn’t have a significant impact.

In total we sowed around 155 acres, growing two varieties of spring barley – 50% Diablo and 50% Laurette. We’ve had success with both varieties in previous years.  Not only are they high performing in the field, but they also create a balanced flavour profile for our single malt.

The weather continued to throw challenges our way during the growing season with a mix of cold, damp days and a lack of warmth.  The barley in lighter soils struggled as the weather alternated between being too dry and then too wet – farmers are never happy with the weather!

Harvest time brought a welcome change. We were starting to wonder if the barley would ever ripen, but fortunately, the weather improved just in time. While we usually start harvesting at the end of August, we didn’t begin until 17th September due to the later sowing and mixed weather over the summer.  Once we started combining, we had nine consecutive days of ideal conditions – the best weather we had seen all year! This allowed us to harvest the crop efficiently and without interruption, a rarity in farming.  It’s always a good sign when Islay is happy with the dusty ‘stoor’ clouds around the combine!  Stoor while we’re combing means that the barley is really dry, the combine can work more efficiently and we can cover the ground quicker – ideal conditions for better yields.

Both barley varieties, Diablo and Laurette, performed very well.  They produced a good yield and grain size despite the difficult growing conditions and the straw this year was better and longer in length than last year.

We are thrilled with the outcome of this year’s harvest, having produced 321.22 tonnes of barley under less-than-ideal conditions. This will go on to create 800 barrels of whisky, contributing to our unique Single Farm Single Malt – 100% Islay, from ‘Barley to Bottle.’

Here’s to another successful year, overcoming all the challenges the weather threw our way.  The planning for 2025 is already underway!

Back on the road again! Taking The Batch Strength Tour to some new parts of the world. After a cancelled train, a broken suitcase and a delayed flight I finally landed in Japan with a bag full of Batch Strength t-shirts, Kilchoman tweed, a few samples and a couple of 12 foot flags… The tour kicked off in Fukuoka at a very busy tasting and where I was treated to my first experience of authentic Japanese food, before a short drive to Bar Coda for some Batch Strength highballs and a very competitive game of rock, paper, scissors for a cask strength sample of the new 100% Islay release!

Almost recovering from the jet lag, I hosted a trade seminar for some bar and shop owners before getting on my first ever bullet train to Kobe where we visited some phenomenal whisky bars. The bars in Japan were like nothing I had seen before. From the outside they looked like we were walking into a small house but open the door and you will see floor to ceiling collections of some incredible whiskies.

Kicking things off in Kobe with another trade seminar, and the most spectacular view overlooking the city, really making me realise what a small little corner of the world I live in. We then headed to Bar Cask for two back-to-back seated tastings hosted by myself and our very own Japanese Kilchoman Ambassador – Mr Maekawa, who was in charge of translating my complicated Scottish explanation into an understandable Japanese one and also making Machir Bay highballs!

We made our way to Kyoto for one night to host a tasting at Bar Bacchus as well as visit the incredible Kiyomizu Temple. We then headed to our final stop on the tour which was of course Tokyo! Some more delicious Japanese food was eaten as well as some delicious whisky for my last event in Japan before reluctantly leaving and finding every excuse as to why I had to come back.

The tour then took me to Taiwan where I was met with the outer bands of a typhoon. I have never seen rain like it and that is a big statement coming from someone who grew up on Islay. Although as quickly as it came it left again and we were back to regular 35 degrees and sunny. I got the train down to Kaohsiung, so I spent the whole time admiring the beautiful Taiwanese scenery before starting things off with three 1-hour long sessions at a variety of liquor stores.

With a small shop up first we had to improvise, hosting the first tasting using tables and chairs outside on the street, which was definitely one of the most unique setups for a tasting but allowed a lot of people passing by to join in and ended up being very well attended. I thought this might be the way forward back home until reality hit and hosting a tasting in Scotland on the street at night may not be quite as enjoyable…

We moved further north to Taichung where I was joined by Anthony Wills for two of the tastings as I was heading back home the next day and he was continuing the tour in Taiwan. A great start to the Batch Strength Tour in Asia and two incredible countries that I had the pleasure of visiting and chatting all things Kilchoman!

To find out where else you can come and visit us as we travel through Asia click here

The Port Cask Matured limited edition was aged for the full term of its maturation in ruby port hogsheads. Casks were selected from two contrasting ages, the youngest being 6 years old.

The 2024 edition will be the third release of a Kilchoman Port Cask Matured limited edition. The first release in 2014, was matured for three years in fresh port casks. The second edition, released in 2018, was a combination of three and four year old casks. This, the 2024 edition, was matured in refill casks used for both of the previous two releases.

Unlike most port cask releases from other distilleries, this is not a port cask finish, the whisky has only been matured in port hogsheads. Whilst being more challenging to get right, Anthony’s full term maturation approach is something he’s committed to continuing.

“When we started Kilchoman, we always wanted to do things slightly differently, some distilleries do release full maturation bottlings, but most tend to do finishes. Full term maturation is fun because you don’t always know how it’s going to work out. We’re fortunate that the Kilchoman spirit character lends itself to bind together with experimental casks very nicely.

Port casks and Kilchoman just works, the natural citrus and sweetness of Kilchoman balance nicely with the red berries and cinnamon influence of the port casks. This latest edition, being older and refill casks, has a little more depth of character compared to past releases, I’m very pleased with how it has come together,” Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder.

The Port Cask Matured (70cl, 50% vol.) will be available across Europe from this week. For those further away, it’s on the way, best to contact your local stockist to make sure they keep a bottle for you when it does arrive.

Contact us by email for more information – admin@kilchomandistillery.com

To be amongst the first to hear about all our new releases click here to sign up and join the Kilchoman Club for free

The BATCH STRENGTH Tour Continues – Next Stop: USA!  🇺🇸

Having taken the Batch Strength Tour through Europe and Asia earlier this year, James is heading to the US.  Starting in Massachusetts on Oct 14^th he’ll be travelling through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, DC, and Maryland, finishing on Oct 26^th in Florida.

Have you tried the Batch Strength, our new colossal core range expression?  Though bottles have been in the US for a month or two, the tour will mark the official launch of Batch Strength in the US.

The Batch Strength release was added to our core range earlier this year. Matured in a combination of re-charred red wine casks, oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, a few drops of water were added post maturation to produce a Batch Strength of 57% vol.  The result is a colossal dram combining the natural peat smoke and citrus character of Kilchoman with dark fruits, rich spices and salted caramel sweetness.

Like our bull Rory, BATCH STENGTH typifies the rugged power and intensity of Kilchoman.  It possesses all the character that typifies a classic Kilchoman; fresh, vibrant peat smoke, citrus sweetness and a balance of fruit and spices. However, with the influence of re-charred red wine casks, there is an abundance of red fruits and caramel, and at 57% vol. rather than the standard 46%, it has a weight and power that makes you stand up and take notice.

On the US Batch Strength Tour we will be bringing along our special Tour Edition bottles – same delicious whisky but with a special label and carton design, available exclusively at tour stops.

Join us at an event near you.  Come along and sample our latest core range release, meet James Wills, hear some behind-the-scenes stories from the distillery and of course, enjoy a few fantastic whiskies.  Plus, we’re bringing a few special treats from Scotland for you to take home!

A full list of the venues we will be visiting are listed below.  For more information about events, please contact office@impexbev.com

MASSACHUSETTS

14th OCTOBER – Hadley, MA – Four Seasons Wine and Liquor
15th OCTOBER: Norfolk, MA – Norfolk Wine and Spirits

RHODE ISLAND

16th OCTOBER: East Providence, RI – Town Wine & Spirits

NEW YORK

17th OCTOBER – Brooklyn, NY – Travel Bar
18th OCTOBER: Lawrenceville, NJ – Joe Canal’s

NEW JERSEY

19th OCTOBER: New Jersey – Drammers

WASHINGTON DC

20th OCTOBER: Washington DC – Jack Rose Dining Saloon

MARYLAND

21ST OCTOBER: Charlestown MD – The Retriever Bar and The Decoy Bottle Shop

PHILADELPHIA

22ND OCTOBER: Philadelphia, PA – Whisky Blasphemy at Holt’s Cigars

MARYLAND

23RD OCTOBER: Elkton, MD – State Line Liquors

FLORIDA

24th OCTOBER- Longwood, FL – Five Star Liquor & Wine
25th OCTOBER: Melbourne, FL – The Mansion Home

The first edition of Kilchoman’s Shake the Farm cocktail competition is now over and we have crowned the winner.

After holding heats in Edinburgh, Manchester, and London the winners of each heat were invited to Islay, not just for the final, but to spend 2 days at Kilchoman learning about everything we do to make our delicious Single Malt.

Kuba, Alex and Glenn spent day 1 going around the Distillery and also local landmarks that we have named our whiskies after. Their highlights included tasting Machir Bay on Machir Bay and tasting the latest 100% Islay in one of our barley fields.

The prize for the winner was to select a cask of Kilchoman that will be bottled exclusively for the UK. Robin took them into the warehouse to taste various casks and select the one to be bottled.  Keep an eye out for more details of that coming soon…

The following day was the main event, the final. The judging panel included Ken, Emma and Robin. Each contestant not only had to make their cocktail, they had to explain the reasons for their choice of ingredients. Our Batch Strength was the whisky featuring in the cocktails and each contestant had to use at least one farmed or foraged British ingredient.

First up was Alex with “The Play Barn” a delightful combination of Blackberry leaf liqueur, hay soda and Batch Strength, garnished with a Blackberry leaf and fruit lollipop. Robin was a particular fan of the Lollipop!

We then had Glenn with “Eidyn” which included brown butter washed Calvados, an apple, bramble, and rhubarb infused honey syrup topped up with a rhubarb and honey soda. This was served with a side of “leftover” crumble re-using all the ingredients.

Last up was Kuba with his drink “Lil’ Love Affair” combining Batch Strength, rhubarb cordial 3 ways (fresh, stewed and fermented), Brioche liqueur and a few drops of horseradish distillate served with a slice of dehydrated rhubarb.

Ken, Emma, and Robin agreed that all three cocktails were delicious, with creative ingredients and impressive presentation. However, there could only be one winner… Alex Holmes with his drink, ‘The Play Barn.’

The cask that Alex selected was cask 932/2016 which was a bourbon cask that has been finished in Brandy for 12 months. This Cask will be bottled and exclusively available for bars and restaurants throughout the UK later this year.

Thank you to everyone that entered the competition, and congratulations to Alex and we hope you all enjoy his Single Cask when you try it.

The 100% Islay 14th Edition was distilled from our 2013 and 2014 barley harvests before being matured in selected bourbon and oloroso sherry casks for a minimum of 9 years.

This year, Anthony Wills, Kilchoman founder, has decided on a cask ratio of Bourbon 9:1 Oloroso Sherry.  The combination of bourbon and sherry cask maturation has created layers of vanilla, butterscotch, and rich fruity character that balance beautifully with the natural citrus sweetness and floral peat smoke of our 100% Islay spirit.

“Our 100% Islay releases are the culmination of efforts made at each stage of the process, from sowing the barley back in 2013 and 2014, through harvesting, malting, distilling and maturation, all done on-site here at Kilchoman. This year we selected a combination of bourbon and sherry cask maturation. In my eyes, the contrasting influences create a lovely balance of richness and light floral character,”

Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder.

Our Distillery is situated on Rockside Farm which covers around 3,000 acres on the north-west coast of Islay. The parish of Kilchoman is home to some of Islay’s most fertile ground.  It is here, in the fields surrounding the distillery, where we can grow up to 440 tonnes of barley each year for our annual 100% Islay range.

Sown each spring, once Islay’s 50,000 geese have migrated, our farm team care for the barley over the summer months before harvesting in early September.  Harvest time represents the start of the whisky-making process which sees our Kilchoman grown barley malted, distilled, matured and bottled here at the distillery, eventually becoming Islay’s only Single Farm Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

The 100% Islay 14th Edition (70cl, 50% vol.) will be available from your local stockists in the UK and across the world from this week. For those of you who live in countries further away, bottles may take a few more weeks to find themselves on shelves.

Contact us by email for more information – admin@kilchomandistillery.com

To be amongst the first to hear about all our new releases click here to sign up and join the Kilchoman Club for free

We are very excited to announce that we’ll be offering a limited number of private casks exclusively to our Club Members through a ballot system which opened on Wednesday 21st August and closes at midday on Tuesday 3rd September.

If you aren’t already a Kilchoman Club Member, then you can
sign up for free here

With the exception of 15 casks auctioned in 2020 to celebrate our 15th Anniversary, our production capacity has meant offering private casks has not been possible since 2008. Our stillhouse expansion in 2019 changed that and we now have the capacity to offer Club Members the chance to purchase their own cask of Kilchoman!

A limited number of first fill ex-bourbon barrels will be made available for £5,250 per cask. These casks have been filled within the last few months with our 50ppm heavily peated spirit, the same spirit that forms the basis for our Machir Bay and Sanaig releases.

The cask ballot will open on August 21st and close at midday on September 3rd. Once the ballot closes, winners will be drawn at random and all entrants will receive an email within 48hrs confirming whether they have been successful or not.

Click here for more information or to enter the ballot

The semi-finals of our Shake the Farm Cocktail Competition are now complete and we are all set for the finals which will take place on Islay in September.

We were overwhelmed by the incredible levels of creativity and skills that candidates showcased across the competition.  Selecting only one bartender per heat to advance to the final stage was an extremely difficult task. Each contestant poured their heart and soul into creating a unique and meaningful drink, making it a delight to taste them all.

The competition rules were simple; bartenders across the UK were asked to create a drink that showcased Kilchoman Batch Strength alongside at least one British farmed or foraged ingredient. The brief resulted in an eclectic range of cocktails which was exactly what we were hoping for.

The first heat took place in Edinburgh where the bartenders each presented their cocktail creations. Tucked in Lady Libertine’s basement bar, the semi-finalists took us through the story behind their drink and explained the reasoning for their ingredient choices.  A wide variety of farmed and foraged ingredients were selected, and some truly ingenious methods were devised to use them.  We’ve seen all things from nettle infused vermouth to toasted oats and banana tea.

The one drink that stole the show was ‘Eidyn’ by Glenn Murray. His presentation was spotless and sprinkled with a lot of knowledge of Kilchoman. His creation was served with a side of crumble made up of all the byproducts of the cocktail ingredients, nothing was wasted.

The second heat took place in Manchester at the Whiskey Jar.  Everyone who took part in this heat had travelled from outside of the city so we salute their engagement and thank them for taking the time to come along and participate.

Choosing a winner was no easy task once again. From bone-marrow infused Batch Strength to brown butter and fig cream, we were served with an array of delicious cocktails made with “out of the box” ingredients.

But Alex Holmes’s drink, ‘The Play Barn’, really took us on a sensory journey. Who would have thought that a three ingredients cocktail could be so complex and so delicious! The story behind it was linked with Alex’s past so it was a very insightful trip down memory lane. Well done!

For the last leg of the semi-finals, we headed to Swift Borough in London.  Once again, we were left humbled by the levels of flair and creativity. We tasted hand-pickled strawberry brine, beetroot shrub, fig leaf and sweet woodruff soda… some of the ingredients were made with tools only scientists would normally use!

After much deliberation, the judges chose Kuba Korzynski’s drink, ‘Lil’ Love Affair’ as the winner. It was the combination of amazing ingredients used and great knowledge and presentation that made Kuba’s drink stand out.

Our finalists, Glenn, Alex and Kuba, will come to the distillery to compete in a final head-to-head cocktail making challenge to become the first ever Kilchoman Shake the Farm competition winner. The winner will then select an on-trade exclusive Single Cask which will bear their name and leave with a case of it!

If you fancy giving any of the winning cocktails a go yourself, here are the ingredients used …

Eidyn by Glenn Murray

35ml Kilchoman Batch Strength Whisky
25ml Brown Butter Avallen Calvados
25ml Apple, Bramble and Rhubarb infused Blossom Honey Syrup
70ml Rhubarb Honey Soda

The Play Barn by Alex Holmes

30ml Kilchoman Batch Strength
20ml Blackberry Leaf Liqueur
70ml Hay Soda

Lil’ Love Affair by Kuba Korzynski

30ml Kilchoman Batch Strength
25ml rhubarb turbo-cordial
15ml brioche liqueur
Dash wild horseradish distillate

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the bars that hosted us during the semi-finals and also the judges, Stefanie Anderson and Kat Stanley-Whyte who really helped us with their insights and experience.

We will update you on how the final goes in September!