Origin: Isle of Islay (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 59.7%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Elixir Distillers
Average price: € 400.00
Official website: islay.com
Vote: 87/100
There aren’t many independent bottlings from Kilchoman, until a few years ago the youngest distillery on Islay, and the one being tasted today was by far the first, released in 2011.
It’s quick to do the math, no more than five years of ageing in a single hogshead cask that produced an unspecified number of bottles (of 50cl) that, at the time of release, cost around €60: in thirteen years I’d say the value has grown just a little.
A true piece of (recent) history for this distillery, which I am very curious to taste.
Tasting Notes
On the nose, the considerable alcohol content is little more than a slight tingle as warm aromas of coffee sponge cake, hazelnut cream, maple syrup, candied orange, ripe banana and cinnamon powder emerge. The peated part is a pleasant cereal roast with coastal veins, which becomes smokier on the length, embracing sour notes of unripe apple, lemon and brine. Full-bodied.
On the palate, the cereal and malt part grows in measure, with a fair amount of nuts (peanut skins, hazelnuts), along with woody and maritime evocations that blow on notes of coffee candy, cooked cream, spices (a hint of nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper), macaroons, lemon peel. The smoke turns medicinal with a very strong marine component, with accentuated savouriness over time. Balsamic breath in length.
Quite long finish of malt, citrus, pine needles, burnt wood, burnt caramel, balsamic notes.
A single cask from the earliest distillations that reaffirms the great quality of Kilchoman, which already in short maturation can give its best with a round, rich dram, without the mottling of youth and with a comforting fullness.