September 2020 marks the release of our 10th annual edition of our 100% Islay range. The unique Single Farm Single Malt is the only whisky in Scotland to be produced entirely on one farm, from barley to bottle.
We spoke to Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director, to find out more about the latest limited edition release and why it is so special.
What makes the 100% Islay release so special?
What makes the 100% Islay release so special to the distillery is that we do the whole process here on the farm. We grow the barley in the fields surrounding the distillery then we malt, distil, mature and finally bottle it all on site. We are the only distillery producing whisky that does the whole process on site and we’re very proud of that. It is special because we are looking after every process right the way through to you enjoying it when you raise a glass. It is one of the main reasons for starting the distillery, we could have a unique selling point and 100% Islay embraces that completely.
Tell us about this year’s release
We release the 100% Islay on an annual basis and this is the 10th edition. It is older than previous releases at nine years of age. This is the second time we’ve used a bit of oloroso sherry cask maturation in the vatting. In the past most of them have been 100% matured in first fill bourbon casks but we have filled oloroso sherry casks on an annual basis for the 100% Islay and this year you will see the colour is richer and darker and there is a little more weight and body on the palate. I am delighted with it, it has worked really well and it still has all that lovely zesty vibrancy with a little bit of weight from the sherry casks that we’ve used.
Which barley varieties were used in the 2020 release?
The barley varieties used in this edition, the 10th edition, are now printed on the packaging. In this edition we used the varieties Optic & Publican. These were two varieties that were used throughout the industry in those years – 2009, 2008 & 2007. I am a great believer that barley varieties do play a part in the character of the spirit and we’ve done a few experiments here and I’ve been talking about how important and how different the barley varieties can be at the spirit stage. But I think it is important to also realise that once the spirit goes into casks and matures for five, ten, fifteen years, those differences narrow right down. It’s great to talk about it but I think it is difficult to really start arguing that case once you have it in bottle. We’ve done various experiments here over the last few years and we’ve sown different varieties and distilled them separately and will release them separately and it’s all part of our programme of experimentation.
Would you consider a higher PPM or no peating in the 100% Islay release?
The average PPM of our 100% Islay releases tends to be between 15 to 20ppm. We are starting to be able to experiment a little bit more with our peating levels with our 100% Islay barley and that is because of the new still house being completed about 14 months ago. It will allow us to distil completely separately and now the guys are on site five days a week, 24 hours a day, so it therefore allows us to do longer peatings. We’ve already done an unpeated variety. For two months we did an unpeated 100% Islay barley and we look forward to seeing how that performs in a few years time. We’re also going to do longer peating, so maybe 48 hours or more to see what we can do with that and how that will influence the character of the 100% Islay release.
Can you give an overview of your tasting notes?
It is beautifully rich in colour and that is the influence from the sherry casks. It has lovely light, vibrant, citrus notes. And then on the back of the palate the peat and smoke come through but on a very light basis. It doesn’t have the same strength of peat as our other releases and at 50% abv it’s great without water.
How is this year’s harvest going?
The harvest this year has been a bit disrupted by the weather unfortunately. It was all looking great a few weeks ago. We’ve had pretty good weather actually throughout the summer and the barley was ripening really well and we thought we could go to harvest reasonably early, earlier than we normally do. We actually started on Monday the 31st August but we only got four or five hours before the rain came and the weather has been very unsettled ever since. It’s looking a bit better for next week so hopefully we can get back to it because if we can’t then it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get the barley off in good quality and to get the yields that we are looking for. At the moment the barley grains are looking really ripe and plump but if this rain continues then the quality will dip somewhat.
Have they finally let you drive the combine?
Well I’ve always been asked if I’ve driven the combine and I always tell everyone that I’m going to drive the combine but Andrew manages to keep it quiet when he goes and does the harvest but I’ve said it’s a piece of cake, it’s not as complicated as everyone makes out. It’s just like mowing the lawn, drive it in a straight line, keep within the tram lines and away you go! So hopefully I will get a go at it next week when we get going and that will probably annoy Andrew!
100% Islay, Single Farm Single Malt
Our latest 100% Islay limited edition will be available worldwide from this week. The unique Single Farm Single Malt is the only whisky in Scotland to be produced entirely on one farm, from barley to bottle.
Distilled from Optic and Publican barley varieties grown at Kilchoman in 2007, 2009 and 2010, the barley was then malted onsite and peated using local Islay peat before being distilled, matured and eventually bottled all within the farm distillery’s limits.
This, the 10th annual edition of the range was matured in a combination of 39 bourbon barrels and 2 oloroso sherry butts for a minimum of 9 years. Just 12,400 bottles will be released with each cask personally selected for the release by distillery founder, Anthony Wills.
“Our 100% Islay whiskies are special, they both reflect the traditions of Scotch whisky production and examine the increasing interest in the detail of how single malt is made.
With our 100% Islay range we control every element of the whisky-making process ourselves, from barley variety through to individual casks selected for bottling. It means we are able to adapt our methods and inputs to maximise the character of the whisky in the glass.
The Optic and Publican varieties used for the 10th Edition, paired with a light peat smoking, long fermentation and high spirit cut creates a bright, floral nose of citrus sweetness that gives way to prunes, cinnamon and cooked apples & pears on the palate. The finish brings waves of mildly spiced peat smoke, lasting sweetness and rich sherry notes”
The 100% Islay 10th Edition will retail for £71.94 in the UK (70cl, 50% abv), a limited number of bottles will be available via our website from 2pm on Wednesday 16th, however these will be restricted to one bottle per person.
If you miss out on a bottle when they’re released on our website then don’t worry, bottles will be on shelves around the world soon.
More great news and another gold award! Machir Bay has won a gold award in the ‘2020 Whiskies of the World Awards’.
The ‘Whiskies of the World Awards’ is a worldwide whisky competition produced in conjunction with the International Wine & Spirits Competition, the largest, most prestigious and longest running spirits competition in the world.
Machir Bay is part of our core range and available throughout the world. Named after the stunning beach next to the distillery, Machir Bay is a vatting of Kilchoman matured in approximately 90% bourbon barrels and 10% oloroso sherry. The high proportion of bourbon barrels create a distinct balance of classic Islay character and fresh floral complexity.
For more information about Machir Bay click here
Great news! Our Sanaig was voted ‘Best Islay Whisky’ in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2020 scoring an impressive 97 points!
Sanaig, named after an inlet on Islay’s rugged Atlantic cost, is a vatting of Kilchoman matured in both sherry and bourbon barrels.
Judge’s Tasting Notes for Sanaig: Roasted fig, cedar smoke and chocolate are full and rich aromas. The plush texture balances the intense campfire smoke with flavors of berries, smoked meats and oats. Impressively smooth throughout, nutty toffee and smoked cacao round out the finish.
Machir Bay was also a finalist scoring 95 points. This release is our signature peated single malt and is a vatting of Kilchoman matured in both bourbon and sherry casks.
“We are delighted to be voted ‘Best Islay Whisky’ in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2020. It recognises the dedication and hard work of the team at the distillery.” Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder & Managing Director.
Click here to find out more about our whiskies.
To read more information about the Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2020, click here.
Am Bùrach, gaelic for ‘the mess’, might seem a strange name for a limited edition single malt. That would be if you were not aware of the story behind this unique bottling; the delicious consequence of an incident in 2014 where two different Kilchoman expressions were mistakenly combined.
The unnamed stillman, whilst vatting casks, accidentally mixed Machir Bay (a core expression from Kilchoman) and Port Matured Kilchoman causing Islay Heads, General Manager, to describe the resulting whisky as ‘Am Bùrach’. The name stuck.
A true one-off, never to be repeated, Am Bùrach has a somewhat complicated nine year maturation, a vatting of bourbon and sherry matured Kilchoman combined with port cask matured in 2014, the whisky was then filled back in bourbon barrels for a further six years ahead a six month finish in ruby port casks.
“Making great whisky is often about being patient. In 2014 the whisky was all over the place but given time to mellow and develop it has become a wonderfully balanced and unique Kilchoman single malt.” Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director
Regardless of how Am Bùrach came to be, its depth of character sets it apart, rich, fruity and sweet on the nose, it coats the palate with red fruits, creamy sweetness and herbaceous peat smoke on the palate before a long finish of dried fruit and citrus sweetness. A single malt not to be missed out on with just 10,550 bottles being released worldwide.
It is another busy time on our farm. Spring is here and Islay has been seeing some good weather recently so this week we’ve taken advantage of the weather window and have been busy sowing the barley seed which will be harvested in late summer and used to produce our 100% Islay spirit.
Similar to previous years we are planting two varieties of barley, this year it will be one familiar variety, Concerto, which has been the backbone of our barley crop over recent years and one new variety, Diablo, which we’ve not grown on the farm before.
A couple of weeks ago we took delivery of the Concerto seed which is one of our mainstay varieties that we’ve been using over the years as we’ve found it to be one of the best performers in terms of yield, it seems to suit our ground and stands up well against the challenging Islay weather. Most importantly, the new make spirit from Concerto is fantastically floral and balances well with the other aspects that influence the character of our whisky such as peat, stills, yeast and of course casks.
This year our second variety of barley is LG Diablo and we are trialling this to see how it crops and compares to Concerto. LG Diablo, Diablo meaning Devil in Spanish, is advertised with the slogan ‘yields like hell’ so we’re obviously hoping this is true for us! It is a relatively new variety, but it seems to have good characteristics that we hope will suit our ground and the weather on Islay which is more than interesting at times…………
We will keep you up to date with progress over the coming months.
Loch Gorm is the name given to our annually released sherry cask matured limited edition. The loch, murky and peaty in colour, reflects the dark copper tones of the sherry matured Loch Gorm release.
As the only release in the Kilchoman range to be fully matured in sherry casks, Loch Gorm has always attracted special attention from Kilchoman followers, especially given that just 15,500 bottles will be released.
The 2020 edition is made up of 21 oloroso sherry butts filled in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, bottled at 46% abv without any chill filtration and colouring. The 15,500 bottles released will be available from retailers in the UK and Europe from the 6th of April, reaching more distant markets soon after.
“The peat smoke and citrus sweetness of the Kilchoman spirit pairs beautifully with the rich influence of these oloroso sherry casks.
Overall there are a lot of similarities between the 2019 and 2020 expressions however the 2020 bottling is much more fruit forward, there’s a bit less of the dry sherry influence and more dried fruits and cinnamon sweetness” Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director
The Loch Gorm 2020 will retail for £69.90 in the UK (70cl, 46% abv), a limited number of bottles will be available via our website from 2pm on Monday April 6th however these will be restricted to one bottle per person. If you miss out on a bottle when they’re released online then do not fear, bottles are currently on the way to whisky shops around the world.
It’s not often we offer the chance to get your hands on a bottle of our Distillery Shop Exclusive but with travel limited and the distillery shop closed, there’s only one way to get your hands on this Exclusive Single Cask… Trying your luck on our NFC labels!
Get hold of our core range Machir Bay or Sanaig bottles and on the back label you will find our logo to tap and enter the competition. The winner will be announced on Monday 13th April.
Android + iPhone Simply tap the logo on the bottle back label. For iPhone 7, 8 and X – Download the App and tap the bottle back label. Search on the App Store ‘Discover Kilchoman’.
Kilchoman Distillery Shop Exclusive
Age – 11 Years Old
Cask Number – 423/2007
Cask Type – Oloroso Sherry Butt
Strength – 54%
Bottles – 633
We regret to announce that, due to the Covid-19 virus, Feis Ile 2020 has been cancelled. We are truly sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience that this causes, but the health and wellbeing of our staff, visitors and neighbours is our main priority at this time. The good news is, we will still do a Feis bottling this year! We will update you soon with more information. Keep safe and best wishes to you all.
Whisky is a complex spirit. The array of different classifications and rules that each type of whisky must satisfy means that no two bottles are ever the same. Previously, we have explored the differences between scotch and bourbon, but this time we will be diving deeper into the differing forms in which scotch can come. Scotch whisky can come as a single malt, a single grain and most commonly as a blend. These can often be confusing, and so in this post we will outline what exactly makes a scotch ‘single malt’, ‘single grain’ or a ‘blend’.
Single Malt
Here at Kilchoman Distillery we produce a Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The first step in understanding the term ‘single malt’ is to establish which part of the whisky making process each word of the term applies to. Firstly, let’s look at the term ‘single’. This is the most confusing part of the term, as it could apply to a variety of whisky related factors. For example, a common misconception for single malt whisky is that the word ‘single’ means that the whisky must be the product of a single batch, or a single barrel, of whisky.
However, this is not the case. In fact, almost all single malt scotch whiskies are blends. When we say ‘blend’, we are referring to the process of combining whisky from different casks and of varying ages together to form the final product. Different casks impart flavours into the whisky in different ways, and so distilleries blend whisky together to find a balance of flavours to form their single malt.
If the word ‘single’ doesn’t refer to the barrel or the batch, then what does it refer to? The ‘single’ in ‘single malt’ simply means that the whisky is the product of a single distillery. Therefore, while a single malt can contain whisky from many different casks, all of this whisky must have been produced by one distillery. For example at Kilchoman we often marry casks together, our Machir Bay and Sanaig are marriages of both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and we are a single farm, single malt distillery.
Next, let’s look at the term ‘malt’ and what grain whisky is made from. This is the less confusing of the two, as there isn’t much else this word could refer to other than the grain that is used to make the whisky. In the case of single malt, this grain is exclusively barley – At Kilchoman we grow over 200 tons of barley on the farm then steep this for two days, adding room temperature water, which causes the grains to start to germinate. While large drums are now often used for malting barley, we use the traditional floor malting technique to prepare our barley for the next stages of the whisky-making process. After 5 days of germination we will then lift the malt from the floor and ‘peat’ our barley for 10 hours, this then creates our distinctive Kilchoman peat smoke aroma. The ‘malt’ in ‘single malt’, therefore, refers to the fact that the whisky must only be produced from malted barley and water.
Single Grain
While this term can be easily confused with ‘single malt’ due to its similarity, it is important not to get the two confused as they are quite different. One factor they do have in common is that the ‘single’ in both terms refers to the ruling that each whisky must be produced at a single distillery. However, the main difference is that single grain whiskies do not have to be produced from malted barley. In fact, other cereals such as wheat, corn or rye could all be used, and they can be malted or un-malted. As a result, single grain whiskies are usually light bodied and tend to offer sweeter notes over smoky aromas.
Single grain whiskies also differ from single malts in how they are distilled. Single malts are distilled using traditional pot stills, while single grains are distilled in column stills (or Coffey stills). Pot stills operate on a batch by batch basis and are used primarily for creating a flavourful product. On the other hand, column stills can be used to produce whisky of a high ABV on a more industrial scale. Therefore, single grain whiskies aren’t usually bottled alone (with a few exceptions) but are commonly blended with malts to create blended scotch whisky.
Blended Scotch Whisky
As we mentioned earlier, different whiskies are often blended together. The need for blending arose because, at the time, single malt scotch had a very strong and raw flavour that not everyone enjoyed. Through blending, Usher was able to create a scotch that had a milder flavour and appealed to a wider market. Today, about nine out of every 10 bottles of scotch sold worldwide are sold as ‘blended scotch whisky’. Pre-2009, any mix of scotch whiskies could qualify as a blended scotch. However, the Scotch Whisky Regulations now state that blended scotch whisky has to contain a combination of one or more single malt scotch whiskies and one or more single grain scotch whiskies.
The ratio of grain to malt in the blend varies from bottle to bottle. The grain forms the body of the whisky, while the malt gives the whisky additional flavours. As a result, more expensive blended scotch whiskies will tend to use a higher percentage of malt in their blend.
Alongside this new legislation came two new blended whisky categories: ‘blended malt scotch whisky’ and ‘blended grain scotch whisky’. While ‘blended scotch whisky’ previously encompassed all of these terms, the change to what exactly defined a blended scotch whisky required these two new classifications to be introduced. Blended malt scotch whisky means that it has been made from a blend of two or more single malt scotch whiskies from different distilleries. Similarly, a blended grain scotch whisky is the blend of two or more single grain scotch whiskies from different distilleries. Blended malt scotch is the more common of the two, however there are a few distilleries who sell blended grain scotch for the truly curious whisky connoisseurs out there.
So, to summarise –
Single Malt Scotch:
- Scottish whisky produced by a single distillery.
- Can only be made using barley and water.
Single Grain Scotch:
- Scottish whisky produced by a single distillery.
- Can be made using any cereal, including wheat, corn or rye.
Blended Whiskies:
- Blended Scotch Whisky – a blend of one or more single malt scotch whiskies with one or more single grain scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
- Blended Malt Whisky – a blend of two or more single malt scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
- Blended Grain Whisky – a blend of two or more single grain scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
We appreciate that all of the terminology surrounding whisky can get pretty confusing. Hopefully this crash course has given you a better understanding of the different varieties of scotch whisky available on the market. Here at Kilchoman, we specialise in crafting the finest single malt scotch whisky that Islay has to offer!
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