Whilst we hope that you continue to enjoy our 2017 limited editions well into the festive period, we are delighted to say that we’ve saved something special for December. The 6th Edition Club Release will be available exclusively to Club Members from noon (GMT) on Wednesday the 6th of December.
This year’s club release is a cask strength (57.4%) vatting of five ten-year-old bourbon barrels, all distilled 01/11/2007, bottled 20/11/2017. The casks were individually selected by Kilchoman Founder Anthony Wills and represent his idea of the perfect Kilchoman 10-year-old.
“For me personally, Kilchoman is best when matured in fresh bourbon barrels, the lighter influence of the American oak makes for a more harmonious marriage between cask and spirit. This allows for Kilchoman’s natural floral citrus character to develop and integrate with that of the bourbon oak flavours”
These casks are like our crown jewels, we have few casks over ten years old so need to be very selective with when they are bottled. These being fresh barrels, are at their peak now, the balance is fantastic and they are some of the very best Kilchoman casks I’ve tasted’
The release of just 1241 bottles is exclusively available to Kilchoman Club members via the Kilchoman website, priced at £99.00 per bottle (70cl). Due to the number of bottles, members are limited to one bottle per person, sorry!
Set a reminder for Wednesday and once you have signed in you will see the Club Release image in your members homepage. Alternatively, sign in, click on ‘whisky shop’ then ‘club releases’.
Those who have purchased a Club release in the past will know that the volume of people on the website can cause a few issues and the page to be very slow at times. We have done what we can to make sure this is avoided but please be patient and once the initial traffic clears you will be able to freely navigate the website.
Whilst we wish we could ship the Club Release to all countries around the world, unfortunately we are limited to those detailed here.
Launching worldwide next week, the 2009 Vintage eight year old limited edition is our oldest globally-available release to date.
Though the casks selected for the 2009 Vintage were mostly distilled in 2009, a number of 2008 casks were also selected to add further layers of maturation.
The specific casks, chosen by Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder, are mostly a combination of fresh and refill bourbon barrels though Anthony also selected three 2008 Oloroso sherry butts to add additional layers of rich cooked fruits to balance with the lighter citrus and vanilla of the bourbon barrels. All previous Vintage expressions have been matured exclusively in bourbon barrels.
Nose: lemon, citrus and butterscotch notes are prominent with soft peaty aromas in the background.
Palate: soft sweetness first and peat smoke and ripe fruit notes following.
Finish: long, clean and sweet with peat smoke and soft fruits at the end.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director; “The evolution of Kilchoman single malt is well represented through our Vintage range. Now at eight years of maturation, the balance and depth of character coming through on both the nose and the palate is incredible. The oloroso sherry influence in the 2009 Vintage compared to the previous releases has given this whisky a different dimension with layered fruit and added sweet notes.”
The 2009 Vintage is bottled at 46% ABV and will be available worldwide from the 4th of September. Contact your local whisky shop to reserve a bottle, this one is not to be missed! A limited number of bottles will also be available from the Kilchoman website from midday (GMT) on Monday the 4th of September priced at £67.50. Limited to one bottle per person.
The guys from The Great Islay Swim dropped by the distillery yesterday for a chat and a few drams with Anthony. Chad and Justin, who both hail from New York, are attempting to swim around Islay, stopping at each distillery to collect a ration of whisky as they go. The 100 litre cask which will be filled by the time they finish their swim, will be bottled as The Pillage Blend and sold in aid of the RNLI. An epic challenge and a fantastic cause!
Find out more about their swim and The Pillage Blend here https://greatislayswim.com You can also follow Chad and Justin on social media – #greatislayswim
Over the last few months we have been making a few improvements at Kilchoman. One of the most major upgrades is the construction of our new Kiln and Malt Floor, this will allow us to double the capacity for malting our own barley by 50% taking us from 2 tonne batches to 3. There will also be the option to expand the Malt floor again if needs be. This purpose built building stands proudly opposite the Still House and overlooking our Barley fields.
The second improvement is to extend our current bottling hall, this now means that it will be a straight line and a far better height for the team to work. Every bottle of Kilchoman is bottled on site and our Single Casks are still hand labelled. At Kilchoman we are only one of two Distilleries on Islay who bottle their Single Malt on the Island.
The Wills brothers are off on another mission to spread the word of Kilchoman, this year their journey takes them up the west coast of the US. Starting in LA on September 4th, George and Peter will load up the Kilchoman Land Rover and head north. Travelling through California, Oregon and Washington the brothers will host sixteen official tastings (and countless unofficial tastings), concluding in Seattle on September 15th.
The1500-mile tour will be celebrated with an exclusive Cask Strength bottling of the distillery’s flagship expression, Machir Bay. The limited-edition release of just 840 bottles will be available exclusively during tasting events and from those stores visited as they wind their way north.
Have a look at the map in the link for more information on when and where you can catch the tour events
We are proud to support a number of local events and activities on Islay, from the Pipe Band to rowing, fishing and football. It was the turn of the annual Islay Beach Rugby tournament this weekend which we have sponsored for the past two years. It was a great event again with teams from all around Scotland making the trip over to Islay for some hard fought beach rugby. There was no holding back with plenty of big tackles and great rugby on display.
Kilchoman managed to go through the group undefeated and came up against Oban in the semi finals of the cup competition. This was a bruising game with a few seeing the sin bin but in the end Oban ran out 2-1 winners and made their way to the final to play Bruichladdich. The final was a close game but in the end Bruichladdich ran out deserved winners on the day and took home the cup.. And of course the main prize of a bottle of Kilchoman Sanaig!
We are delighted to announce that Loch Gorm has been awarded a Silver Medal, 2nd Best Islay Single Malt at this year’s International Whisky Competition. On the back of Machir Bay winning the gold medal last year, it is great to see Kilchoman being recognised in the top two again, this time for our sherry matured Loch Gorm release. I suppose you can’t win every year and we won’t tell you which distillery won gold this time around but it starts with an ‘A’ and ends with ‘Beg’. Congratulations to our southern Islay neighbours, we’ll see you at next years competition! Find out more about Loch Gorm HERE
We distill two Expressions of Kilchoman, one from barley grown and malted at the distillery, always referred to as 100% Islay, a second expression is produced from malted barley by Port Ellen malting. Our 100% Islay whiskies are unique, these limited editions are the only scotch single malt on the market created from barley both grown and malted on Islay. Our 100% Islay range is our reason for being and represents the revival of farm distilling once common place on Islay.
This year’s Feis Ile bottling is a vatting of two 100% Islay casks specifically selected by Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and bottled at cask strength, 58% – Bourbon Barrel 324/2008 filled July 2008 and Oloroso Sherry Butt 443/2009 filled October 2009. Just 877 bottles at £90.00 will be available on our festival day on June 1st and only from the distillery – one bottle per person.
Spring is always a busy time at Kilchoman, we’ve had the release of Loch Gorm 2017, ploughing has been completed and sowing has begun. To top off that Spring feeling, we have delighted to annouce the latest expression of our 100% Islay range will be available worldwide from next week.
On Monday 1st May we will be releasing the 7th edition 100% Islay. The 100% Islay releases are particularly special to us with all parts of the whisky making process, from barley to bottle, completed on site at the farm. This marks these releases out as truly unique and ‘100% Islay’ with Kilchoman being the only distillery in Scotland to produce Single Malt in this traditional hand crafted way.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director;
“Since day one we have not only been proud of the traditional methods revived to create the 100% Islay releases but also the quality of the spirit produced. We are now growing more barley than ever for future releases of this beautifully fresh and vibrant whisky.”
The 7th edition of the annually released limited edition is a combination of fresh and refill ex Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels filled in 2010 and bottled in 2017. This is the most mature expression released to date and as with all previous 100% Islay releases, the 7th edition has been produced from barley exclusively grown and malted at the distillery. The peating level comes in slightly lighter than the rest of the range and creates a fresh and floral balance with the bourbon cask maturation.
Robin Bignal, Production Manager; “The development of the 100% Islay casks from the Inaugural release up to this, the oldest 100% Islay release, has been intriguing to see. As the bourbon barrel maturation influences the spirit over time it has taken on a real depth of character and complexity to add to the light citrus fruit and peat smoke of the Kilchoman spirit.”
The 100% Islay 7th Edition is bottled at 50% ABV and will be available worldwide from the 1st May. A limited number of bottles will also be available from the Kilchoman website from midday (GMT) on Monday 1st May – £73.50.
