The big news is that Machir Bay has been crown Best Islay Single Malt Whisky at this year’s International Whisky Competition… a bit of healthy competition between neighbours is never a bad thing! As well as the coveted 1st place in the Islay category, Machir Bay also secured 1st for Best Peated Whisky and 2nd for the marquee title of Best Single Malt Whisky.
Click below for a full list of results
www.whiskycompetition.com/2016-results/
Rockside farm is situated on the west coast of Islay. We are on the Gulf Stream which keeps our weather relatively mild and usually wet. In the winter we have strong winds and sometimes severe gales that whip in straight off the Atlantic.
We farm 2,322 acres of which only some 160 acres are suitable for growing barley and 1,738 is hill ground.
Islay is an important wintering ground for the Greenland barnacle goose and the Greenland white-fronted goose. In October/ November annually around 45,000 geese flock to the island and remain until mid April. The geese graze on grass and cause a large amount of damage as they tend to pull the root of the grass out and they “puddle” in any wet areas which can create a lot of muddy areas within fields that take time to recover. This results in several problems. The grass that should be there for the for sheep lambing in March and April is not a good as it could be due to the pressure caused by grazing geese. At Rockside we do not start lambing until c. 17th April to ensure that the geese have gone and the sheep get all the available grass which they need to produce milk for the lamb and to put condition back on after lambing. The presence of the geese also stops us from planting barley much before mid April as the geese will eat the shoots that emerge and will also eat the barley seed out of the ground. This delay in planting usually results in a later harvest than we would like, typically around late August and early September. Days at this time of year are starting to draw in and the weather windows for harvest are short so when an opportunity presents itself it needs to be taken.
This year we are planting c. 100 acres. Due to the very wet winter and the current ground conditions we have not started ploughing yet. We hope to start within the next week and would expect to have the planting completed within the next 5 – 10 days. This will tie in with when we hope the geese will leave. The colder weather at present is also not great for seed germination and with the rain we have had the ground conditions are far from perfect.
The financial risks for doing barley are considerable as all costs are paid at the time of planting and we totally rely on the weather for the crop. Why do we bother – just taste a dram of 100% Islay – makes all the worry and risk worthwhile!
The 2016 edition of Loch Gorm is now available! Loch Gorm is located to the north of the distillery and is very dark and peaty in colour, similar to the dark rich colour of our sherry cask matured single malt.
Loch Gorm has been part of our range since it was first introduced in 2012 and is the only release matured exclusively in oloroso sherry casks. This edition of Loch Gorm is limited to just 17 casks worldwide and was selected from a combination of fresh and refill oloroso sherry butts over six years of age, the oldest release of Loch Gorm to date. The added maturation and combination of fresh and refill sherry casks provide a balance of powerful rich flavours, spicy notes and peat smoke.
The updated packaging for the 2016 release features stunning views over Loch Gorm, just a short distance from the distillery gates.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director; “The whole range is developing year on year and it is exciting to release the next evolution of Loch Gorm. Maturation exclusively in oloroso sherry butts has given this release a beautiful balance of big, rich sherry flavours, smoke and softer fruits typical of Kilchoman.”
Slainte!
Spring has sprung on Islay after a period of pretty horrible weather. With spring comes the annual planting of our barley. It has now been sown and all being well (fingers crossed the good weather continues) come August we will be harvesting, drying and storing it ready for malting and distilling in 2016. The 100 tonnes we harvest each year is used exclusively to produce our 100% Islay release, the latest edition of which will be launched on Monday.
Growing, malting and distilling barley on Islay has its own unique challenges, not least the weather (it doesn’t always look like this!). That said these unique conditions create a truly distinctive single malt as a result, making all the extra work well worth the effort!
Monday 23rd
Founders Tour with Anthony Wills 2pm
An in depth tour of the distillery with founder Anthony Wills, finishing in our new tasting room where you will have the chance to taste some of our earliest releases and cask samples.
£40 – 12 places available
Tuesday 24th
Angels Share Glass Presentation 2 – 4pm
Angels’ Share Glass will be joining in the festival fun with their workshop at Kilchoman’s Visitor Centre on Tuesday 24th. From 2pm – 4pm they will be demonstrating how they use their amazing glassblowing skills to make their famous Whisky Angels’ but you’ll have to close your eyes as they seal in some of our festival release as this technique is top secret!
Manager’s Tour with George Wills 2pm
An in depth tour of the distillery with George Wills, finishing in our new tasting room where you will have the chance to taste some of our earliest releases and cask samples.
£30 – 12 places available
Wednesday 25th
Manager’s Tour with James Wills 2pm
An in depth tour of the distillery with James Wills, finishing in our new tasting room where you will have the chance to taste some of our earliest releases and cask samples.
£30 – 12 places available
Regular distillery tours are available throughout the week, please e-mail, tours@kilchoman.com to book.
Thursday 26th May
Kilchoman Open Day
Be a Bottler
9.30am, 11.30am, 3pm and 4pm
Join our bottling team and experience the time and care that goes into every bottle of Kilchoman. Fill and label your own bottle of Machir Bay using our hands-on approach, and get it authenticated and signed.
£50 (includes your personalised bottle of Machir Bay) 12 places available
Kilchoman Distillery Farm Tour with Islay Heads
11am and 2pm
General Manager Islay heads will give you a guided tour of how the Distillery and Farm work in harmony, including a tour of the barley fields and other parts of the farm. You will enjoy drams of 100% Islay and our new spirit while standing in the very fields the barley was grown.
£25 – 12 places available
Anthony Wills Masterclass
12pm
A masterclass with distillery founder, Anthony Wills, tasting a wide range of cask samples from the early days and hearing all about life at Kilchoman from the man who started it all. Anthony will hand select cask samples from the warehouse, guiding you through each one.
£40 – 50 places available
Club Members’ Masterclass
2pm
A masterclass exclusively for Kilchoman Club Members, tasting some of our sold out releases which are no longer available. Peter Wills, who was the first of Anthony and Kathy’s three sons to join Kilchoman, will talk you through the evolution of the distillery since he joined as a fresh faced 18 year old.
£30 – 50 places available
Blind Nosing Competition – Prize Draw 4pm
Test your knowledge of Kilchoman – buy a ticket for £2 – nose all the glasses THEN fill in your guess (or you may even be very sure) for each glass. All correct entries will be put into a draw and the lucky winner declared at 4pm. The prize is a bottle of Kilchoman’s Feis Ile 2016. All proceeds to charity.
Still House Visits
Throughout the day there’s the opportunity to visit the still house to chat to our production team. Get up close whilst the team collect our new make spirit as it runs off the stills.
(No pre booking required)
Tutored Land Rover Tastings
Taste through a range of current Kilchoman expressions with Anthony’s three sons, George, James and Peter. Available throughout the day.
£10 (no pre-booking required)
Live Music from 10.30am – 5pm
Trail West, Islay Pipe Band, The Blueswater & Reely Jiggered
Available throughout the day
BBQ, bar, café, gift shop, whisky!
All bookings must be made by phone 01496 850011 – a non-refundable deposit will be taken for each pre booking
A tribute from Anthony Wills, Managing Director.
In 2010 we were looking for a Manager, hoping to attract someone with experience beyond production to help us grow Kilchoman globally. We never dreamt that someone of Johns experience would believe in what we were doing so much that he would want to join us. He brought with him a wealth of knowledge, a dry sense of humour and a massive following within the whisky world, putting Kilchoman on the map.
John worked well with everyone but especially enjoyed working alongside the younger members of staff praising them when things were done well and encouraging them to make the most of their abilities wherever they worked.
On a personal note, I will miss his positive attitude, his support, his wealth of knowledge and a willingness to get his hands dirty helping in every area of the distillery, even clearing tables in the Café. What I have learnt from him will continue to help build Kilchoman and I will always be grateful.
My thoughts and those of everyone at Kilchoman are with John’s wife Lindy and their two children Rosie and Sandy at this desperately sad time.
A fund in honour of John has been set up for the Beatson Cancer Charity – https://www.beatsontributefund.org/fund/John%20MacLellan
We are delighted to announce the launch of Sanaig, a new continuously available release which, along with Machir Bay form our core range. Named after a rocky inlet North West of the distillery, Sanaig, has a predominantly sherry cask influence owing to the significant time spent in Oloroso sherry casks.
These aged Oloroso casks contribute a drastically transformed depth of colour and character compared to the mostly Bourbon cask matured Machir Bay. ‘Cask Influence’ bars now feature on the packaging of both Sanaig and Machir Bay to illustrate the differing flavour profiles of the two core expressions.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director; “Sanaig represents another significant step forward for Kilchoman, it is important to be able to offer customers consistently available releases, until now Machir Bay has been performing that leading role, Sanaig will now share the spotlight.”
John MacLellan, Kilchoman Distillery Manager; “Sanaig is a bold marriage of sherry and bourbon cask maturation. It is both a continuation of the classic Kilchoman style people know and love as well as a development fans of Kilchoman have yet to experience.”
Sanaig is now available from our website at £52.50 and on its way to your local shops and bars around the world. Enjoy a dram and let us know what you think of the latest edition to the Kilchoman range!
On the 14th of December last year, we auctioned the very first bottle of 10 year old Kilchoman in aid of The Beatson West of Scotland cancer centre in Glasgow which works tirelessly to support and enhance the treatment, care and wellbeing of cancer patients and their families. James Wills and Rosie MacLellan visited The Beatson last week to meet the team and present a cheque for £10,000 raised from the auction of the rare bottling.
Only one bottle of the first 10 year old was auctioned, the anonymous winning bidder paid £7,000 to secure this very special Kilchoman. The total was then topped up to £10,000 by the distillery and a handful of generous individuals.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and MD “We are delighted to support such a worthy charity who contribute so much to the care of cancer patients from Islay and across Scotland.”
Learn more about The Beatson and their work HERE
The guys in the Still house have done it again! We thought the IWSC awards might be the last of the year and while that strictly speaking is still the case, Anthony, John, Robin and the team can be very happy with the Kilchoman scores in Jim Murray’s 2016 Whisky Bible.
A full list of the results are below. It is very satisfying to think that the Kilchoman range as a whole avergaes over 94 points putting it in the category of “Superstar whiskies that give us all a reason to live”
A 3 year old whisky (Port Cask Matured) scoring 96 points should spark a bit of debate…
96. – Port Cask Matured
96. – Master of Malt Octave Single Cask
95.5 – 100% 5th edition
95.5 – 2007 vintage
95.5 – Single Bourbon Cask 473/2008
94.5 – Machir Bay
93.5 – 2006 vintage
93. – Machir Bay 2012
92.5 – Loch Gorm 2013
92. – Machir Bay 2014
90.5 – Machir Bay 2013
98-100 Better than anything I’ve ever tasted!
94-97 Superstar whiskies that give us all a reason to live
90-93 Brilliant
85-89 Very good to excellent whiskies definitely worth buying
80-84 Good whisky worth trying
75-79 Average and usually pleasant though sometimes flawed
70-74 Usually drinkable but don’t expect the earth to move
65-69 Very unimpressive indeed
51-64 Nasty and well worth avoiding
0-50 Nothing short of absolutely diabolical
We are delighted to announce that we have agreed to purchase Rockside Farm, on which the distillery is located.
Anthony Wills, Managing Director has commented: “We have always been proud to produce whisky from barley to bottle and the purchase of the farm secures this vision for the future”.
