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Kilchoman STR Cask Matured

peaty malty
€85Scotland, Islay, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

Dr Jim Swan spent his career working out what a cask does to spirit. His STR method shaves a red wine cask back, toasts it, then chars it over an oak fire. Kilchoman filled 43 of these hogsheads in 2012 and left them to rest by the sea. Peat smoke arrives first, wrapped in cinnamon and red fruit. Lemon sharpness cuts through the middle. Later the finish turns salty and medicinal, the way island malts do. Nothing here is chill-filtered or coloured. Pour it neat and give it a minute to open.

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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.

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125Whiskies on Distilld

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Islay

Most popular whiskies from Kilchoman

About the Kilchoman STR Cask Matured

Kilchoman STR Cask Matured is a peated single malt Scotch whisky from Islay. It comes from a working farm distillery on the island's west coast. The spirit spent its whole life in shaved, toasted and re-charred red wine hogsheads. Bottling strength is 50%, with no chill-filtration and no caramel colouring. The casks were filled in 2012 and the whisky reached shops in 2019. Anthony Wills founded Kilchoman and set it up on a working farm. The treatment behind this release came from the late Dr Jim Swan, a cask scientist. Coopers shave a red wine cask back to fresh wood inside. They toast it, then char it over a fire fed by oak chips from old staves. That strips harsh tannin and leaves sugar, vanilla and spice in its place. Forty-three hogsheads filled in 2012 went into the vatting. Warm spice opens things up: cinnamon, a touch of clove, dry cedar. Sweetness sits underneath, closer to baked fruit than sugar. Sip it and the texture turns oily. Fresh fruit and lemon push against smoky, earthy peat in the middle. Later everything goes coastal, with sea salt and a medicinal edge. Faint floral and grassy notes trail off at the end. At 50% the smoke stays firm without turning harsh. Most of the Kilchoman range rests in bourbon barrels or sherry casks. Kilchoman STR Cask Matured takes a different road with rejuvenated red wine wood. Shaved staves give the spirit fresh oak to pull from, not just old wine residue. That pushes fruit and cinnamon forward while the peat holds its ground. Around 14,500 bottles were filled, and there is no age statement on the label. It stands as a one-off worth trying next to the core range.