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Release Notes
Released in September 2016, the Sauternes Cask Matured was limited to just 6,000 bottles. It followed the Port and Madeira cask matured expressions released in 2014 and 2015 respectively and continued our commitment to small batch ‘full term maturation’ rather than the more common practice of finishing whisky in such casks for a short period prior to bottling. Quarter casks, roughly a quarter the size of a 500 litre Butt, allow for increased whisky to wood contact within the barrel which has created pronounced caramel and vanilla character along with fruit notes and peat smoke typical of Kilchoman spirit.
Kilchoman
This limited recent release of just 6,000 bottles succeeds the Port and Madiera cask matured whiskies released in 2014 and 2015. The Sauternes version was fully matured (rather than just finished) in ex-Sauternes casks. The resulting spirit has caramel and vanilla notes, along with the peat and fruit of the classic Kilchoman whisky.
K&L
The Distillery: Kilchoman
| Established: 2005 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Rockside Farm, Bruichladdich, Isle of Islay, Scotland, PA49 7UT |
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Scotland"s potentially most traditional distillery made a bit of an an odd start. Instead of employing the traditional distillery cat they went for a distillery pig - Lucy. Well, Anthony seems confident in Lucy"s pest control abilities ;-) During the summer of 2004 the traditional farm buildings at Rockside Farm (near Machir Bay) were being converted into a visitor centre and the first distillery buildings. Two stainless steel washbacks arived in February 2005 and the stills (a 2,000 liter spirit still with a long narrow neck and a 3,000 liter wash still) were installed in February 2005. They are directly heated. The first spirit was scheduled to flow on June 2, 2005 during the Islay festival but they didn"t make that date. Anthony DID manage to give some of the maniacs a tour of the facilities though - and Olivier"s passionate arguments against industrial yeast may have helped convince Anthony to avoid those. You can read all about our adventures at Kilchoman in entry #240 in my Liquid Log. The first Kilchoman spirit finally flowed from the stills in November 2005.
Kilchoman will initially be in production for 28 weeks of the year. Fresh bourbon and refill barrels form the base of the maturation programme, but other casks (sherry, port, rum and wine) may be used as well. Well, that"s a break with "tradition" I could certainly live with... The first mature Kilchoman whisky is still a few years away, but fortunately for visitors to Islay the visitor centre is already finished. It tells the story of farm distilling on Islay in the 18th and 19th century from its illicit beginnings to legislation. The shop sells a range of Kilchoman merchandise including miniature bottles of Kilchoman "New Spirit" as well as a range of fresh and smoked venison and beef from the Islay Fine Food Co. The café serves fabulous home made soups - I recall some especially fine pumpkin or potato soup...
Kilchoman was the first new distillery to be built on Islay for well over a century. The driving force behind Kilchoman is Anthony Wills and he dreams of building the smallest and most traditional distillery in Scotland, or at least on Islay. Kilchoman will be one of the few distilleries that will be able to claim that every step of the production process is carried out on site. Barley (Optic and Chalice) will be grown at Rockside Farm and malted on Kilchoman"s malt floor. The spirit will be produced, matured and bottled on site and everything produced at the distillery will be bottled as single malt whisky. The whisky won"t be chill filtered or coloured and will be reduced to a standard bottling strength of 50% using Islay water.
from Malt Madness