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Kilchoman Original Cask Strength

spicy
€88Scotland, Islay, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

Anthony Wills built Kilchoman in 2005 at Rockside Farm, on the west coast of Islay. Barley grows in the fields outside, and two small stills do the rest. This was the distillery's first cask strength bottling. Thirty five ex-bourbon barrels, all filled in 2009, went into it. That gave 9,200 bottles at 59.2%, with no chill filtering. The strength shows. Vanilla and coconut arrive first, then smoke rolls through. Black pepper and warm spice follow close behind. It is young whisky, but it never tastes unfinished. Pour it neat and let the farm do the talking.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Kilchoman

Kilchoman is a distillery located on the Isle of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland. It was founded in 2005, making it one of the newest distilleries on the island. Kilchoman is unique in that it is one of the few distilleries in Scotland to carry out the entire whisky making process on site, from growing its own barley to bottling the finished product. The distillery uses traditional methods such as floor malting, and its whisky is aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Kilchoman's signature peated whisky, Machir Bay, has won several awards and is highly regarded by whisky enthusiasts.

4.3Average rating

125Whiskies on Distilld

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Islay

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About the Kilchoman Original Cask Strength

Kilchoman Original Cask Strength is an Islay single malt Scotch whisky, bottled at 59.2% ABV. It comes from Kilchoman, the farm distillery on the west coast of Islay. The spirit matured entirely in bourbon casks. It was never chill filtered, so the texture stays thick and a little oily. This was the first bottling the distillery released at natural cask strength, and the label stays refreshingly plain. Anthony Wills founded the distillery in 2005 at Rockside Farm. Barley grows in the fields around the buildings, then gets malted on site. Two small stills handle the whole output, which makes Kilchoman one of Scotland's smallest producers. For this release, 35 ex-bourbon barrels filled in 2009 were chosen at five years old. Vatting them together yielded 9,200 bottles. Wills had waited years for enough stock to do it. The nose leads with vanilla and coconut, sweet and creamy at first. A smoky edge sits underneath, more bonfire than tar. On the tongue the strength arrives fast. Spice spreads wide, and black pepper sharpens the middle. The peat comes back darker here, closer to charcoal and driftwood. It fades long and dry, still peppery, with the sweetness going last. Young whisky rarely holds this much shape. This bottling marks the point where the distillery stopped holding back. Everything before it left the site reduced to a set strength. Kilchoman Original Cask Strength was drawn from 35 barrels and left alone. The peat smoke and the bourbon cask sweetness both push harder because of it. The batch is closed, so nothing later will taste quite the same. For anyone tracking Kilchoman's first decade, that matters.