Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 58.6%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Sherry Oloroso
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Kilchoman
Average price: € 120.00
Official website: kilchomandistillery.com
Vote: 87/100
The Whisky Club Italia is a well-established reality on the Italian whisky scene, an association of enthusiasts with over 24,000 members that has managed to become an indispensable point of reference for the sector over the years.
This is also thanks to the numerous initiatives that every year (or rather, every month) arise from the volcanic creativity of its patron, Claudio Riva, who, aided by a few but equally energetic collaborators, manages not only to update his Daily Dram blog (to which I have been contributing on Sundays for some time now), but also to bring forward local and national events and manifestations, including the itinerant Whisky Week.
You can subscribe for free, but for a small annual fee you become a supporting member and receive a range of benefits, including exclusive bottling on an annual basis, of which this bottle is the 2016 version.
Cask strength single cask ex-Sherry, September 2011 distillate poured in 341 bottles in October 2016, still available on the Club shop, with a discount for members.
And let’s pour it in a glass, of course branded Whisky Club!
Tasting notes
The nose is sweetly dark and rough, ripe red fruits intertwine with dried dates and figs, leather, almonds, blood orange, tamarind, tobacco. Slight spicy touches caress the peat, which is lulled by notes that become even more mellow over time, like a Christmas cake. In length, the smoke grows in intensity, like burnt wood and tobacco.
Spicy tinges at the mouth, with pepper, cinnamon and cloves echoing the tones of the nose in an oily filling of dried fruit (figs, dates, sultanas), nuts (walnuts, almonds) and baked apple, with a good dose of blood orange juice. Rather consistent with the nose, it loses just a little of its roughness in favour of the wintery sweet aspect, with a greater incidence of smoke that here becomes more fleshy and ashy. Some Catalan cream also appears and, at length, a hint of salted smoked herring. Alcohol present but not at all invasive, on the contrary, it acts as a perfect bracket for the flavours.
Long, saline finish of dull barbecue, citrus, cooked fruit, spices, caramel.
A very rich, full-bodied, straightforward whisky that may not offer great evolution but is nevertheless satisfying and anything but boring. A plastic representation of what Kilchoman manages to achieve even with very young ageing.