We’re delighted to be celebrating our 10th Anniversary this year during the Feis Ile in May, and can confirm that details of all events will released at the end of this month.
Tickets will go on sale on Monday 30th March at 9am and are available over the phone only, on a first come first served basis.
Keep an eye out for the programme!
Today we took delivery of 80 Sherry Butts which we will be filling in the next few weeks/months. They have travelled directly from Jerez in Spain where they were used to mature Oloroso sherry. We use these casks to accent Kilchoman whisky with the sherry flavours held within the wood. When the Oloroso sherry is emptied from the casks for bottling we buy the casks and ship them to Islay to fill with Kilchoman spirit. During whisky maturation the casks expand and contract releasing the rich, dark Oloroso sherry character previously absorbed into the wood back into the maturing whisky.
Our sherry cask matured ‘Loch Gorm’ limited edition is all matured in this way giving it a fantastic rich, smokey and fruity character. The real skill is getting the perfect balance between the flavour from the Kilchoman spirit and the influence from maturing the whisky in a sherry casks. This years Loch Gorm release will be available soon… stay tuned for more info in the next few weeks!
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman’s Founder and Managing Director has spoken out about the duty placed on Scotch Whisky in the UK.
“The Government sees Scotch whisky as a cash cow, which is detrimental for producers and consumers alike,” says Anthony Wills, founder of the Kilchoman Distillery on Islay. “If it was a level playing field, we’d accept the duty, but it’s not. We’ve been clobbered.”
Wills has been focusing more of his attention on export markets in order to minimise his company’s exposure to the UK’s tax regime. “Why would we put effort into the UK if there’s no growth here?” he asks. “As a small producer, we can’t afford to reduce prices to drive up sales here, so we’re targeting other mature whisky markets like Germany, France, Belgium and Holland.”
Read the full article in the Sunday Telegraph (25/01/15) here
2014 was a busy and memorable year at Kilchoman with a revamp of the bottling hall, first ever Port Cask Matured release, reaching the 1000 cask mark for the first time… and much, much more.
It is now onto 2015 and the team have enjoyed a well deserved Christmas and New Year break and it’s now back to malting, mashing and distilling. We are sure 2015 will be another year to remember at Kilchoman and we all can’t wait… and don’t forget this year marks the 10th anniversary of the distillery being founded!
Happy New Year!
Been a windy week on Islay with 80mph winds and some impressive waves battering the Island but fortunately the pagoda has stayed on the distillery and no damage was done to the distillery. They are built to last over here on Islay!
The ferries have not been running Tuesday, Wednesday or this morning so unfortunately there has been a bit of a delay in sending out orders.. But no need to worry, they will be on their way soon!
It has been another busy year at Kilchoman and we have one last treat in 2014 to take you into the Christmas celebrations..
We are very excited to be releasing the third edition of the Kilchoman Club bottling on the 1st of December! This is exclusively available to members of the Kilchoman Club and this year we have something particularly special for you. The release will be our first ever Madeira matured single malt. The bottling is a vatting of Madeira casks, distilled on February 11th 2010 and bottled on November 24th. Just over 600 bottles of the limited release will be available for members of the Kilchoman Club from 10am GMT on December 1st 2014.
As with previous years it will be individually numbered and bottled at cask strength (58.4% ABV). Bottles will be available to purchase from the Whisky Shop section of the Kilchoman website priced at £75.00. Due to the limited number of bottles members are limited to one bottle per person (sorry!).
Sign up here to become a Kilchoman Club member.
Anthony Wills, Managing Director;
“We filled a small number of Madeira casks in early 2010 as a bit of an experiment and we are very happy with the results; the strong, robust Madeira maturation has certainly made its presence felt, that said the spirit retains a lot of the classic Kilchoman characteristics”
“I wanted to offer our members something they wouldn’t have tried from us before. It’s a shame we couldn’t have made more bottles available but we need to retain some stock for future releases.”
Information on postage and packing can be found here.
Directions for purchasing
o Navigate to www.kilchomandistillery.com
o Log in to your account (top right corner of page)
o Click on ‘Whisky Shop’
o Click on ‘Exclusive Releases’
o Add to basket and then proceed to checkout
YOU MUST LOG IN BEFORE ATEMPTING TO PURCHASE. Please call (0044) 01496 850011 or email info@kilchomandistillery.com if you have any problems and we will do our best to help. Unfortunately we are not able to reserve bottles ahead of the launch.
George and the Land Rover are all set to depart for the Uk Tour, here is a list of all the evening tastings being held during the Land Rover Uk Tour.
Sun 2nd November, Elgin – The Drouthy Cobbler
Mon 3rd, Dufftown- Whisky Shop Dufftown
Tues 4th, St Andrews – Luvians
Wed 5th, Edinburgh- The Whisky Shop, Victoria Street
Thurs 6th, Edinburgh- Royal Mile Whiskies
Fri 7th, York- The Wine Lodge
Sat 8th, London- Spirited Wines, Holland Street
Mon 10th, London- Vinopolis
Tues 11th, Stourbridge – Nickolls and Perks
Wed 12th, Skipton – Wright Wine Company
Thurs 13th, Glasgow- The Bon Accord
Fri 14th, Ayr – Robbies Drams
Sat 15th, Glasgow – The Glasgow Whisky Festival
There will be regular updates on Facebook and Twitter but if you would like to book on tastings please contact the shops directly.
Here it is, our last release of 2014! The Original Cask Strength, 59.2% ABV, one to keep you warm as the nights draw in.
A total of 35 ex-bourbon barrels filled in 2009 were selected for bottling, gleaning of total of 9,200 bottles. The limited edition release will be available worldwide, through existing distributors and online from today (October 3rd)
Bottled at 59.2% ABV Kilchoman’s special edition is non chill filtered and bottled at natural cask strength, presenting the whisky in its purest form with un-paralleled intensity of flavour and texture.
Anthony Wills, managing director of Kilchoman, said: “it has always been my intention to release a cask strength expression once we had the stock available. This is the way single malt should be drunk. It allows everyone to experience Kilchoman with all the characteristics captured in the glass”.
Enjoy!
James and Peter had a great few days in Holland, thank you to all the people who came along to the tastings. They are currently in Germany where they have a packed schedule of tastings, five more days in Deutschland and then they head on to Austria, Italy, Switzerland and finally France. To see more pictures and keep up to date with their antics visit their Facebook or Twitter pages.
The remaining German stops are below, for the full list of all events in the remaining countries click here
Sunday – Whisky and Dreams, Eppertshausen www.whiskyanddreams.de
Monday afternoon – Whisky Spirits, Frankfurt www.whiskyspirits.de Monday evening – Vinisky, Linden – www.vinisky.de
Tuesday afternoon – Kitzmann Braukontor, Erlangen www.kitzmann.de Tuesday evening – Whiskyfassla, Nurnberg www.whiskyfaessla.de
Wednesday – Cigar Malt and More, Ingolstadt www.cigar-in.de
The European Tour is now underway with James, George and Peter visiting 8 countries in the next 4 weeks. James and George have crossed the Channel in the Land Rover and have been visiting shops around Belgium. Peter will be joining them on Monday when they reach Holland.
Belgium and Luxembourg with The Nectar are the first stops –
Sept 3rd – Crombe 3.0, http://www.crombewines.com/
Sept 4th – Tasttoe, http://www.tasttoe.be/
Sept 5th – Toby Vins, http://tobyvins.be/site/
Sept 6th – Shoppingcenter Massen, http://www.massen.lu/
Let us know if you spot the Kilchoman Land Rover out and about…
