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11th September 2023 |
Review of the
Kilchoman 100% Islay 14th Edition which
this year is a combination of 9:1
Bourbon to Oloroso Sherry barrels..
 It
is that time year once again, just as
summer comes to an end Islay farm
distillery Kilchoman
has announced the release of Kilchoman
100% Islay 14th Edition.
The 100% Islay 14th Edition was
distilled from barley harvested in 2013
and 2014, then aged for a minimum of 9
years in carefully selected bourbon and
Oloroso sherry casks.
Although Kilchoman has not revealed the
exact number of casks to me this year, I
can tell you that this year, Kilchoman
Founder Anthony Wills has chosen a cask
ratio of 9:1 Bourbon to Oloroso Sherry.
This blend of cask maturations has once
again resulted in rich layers of
vanilla, butterscotch, and fruity notes,
perfectly balancing with the natural
citrus sweetness and floral peat smoke
of Kilchoman’s 100% Islay spirit.
Kilchoman Distillery is located
on Rockside Farm, which spans
approximately 3,000 acres along Islay’s
north-west coast. The parish of
Kilchoman is known for some of the
island’s most fertile land, where the
distillery grows up to 440 tonnes of
barley annually for their 100% Islay
range. Each spring, after Islay’s 50,000
geese have migrated, the farm team
plants the barley, carefully tending to
it throughout the summer before
harvesting in early September. This
marks the beginning of the whisky-making
process, as the Kilchoman-grown barley
is malted, distilled, matured, and
bottled on-site, producing Islay’s only
Single Farm Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder
commented: "Our 100% Islay releases are
the culminations of efforts made at each
stage of the process, from sowing the
barley back in 2013 and 2014, through
harvesting, malting, distilling and
maturing, all done on-site here at
Kilchoman. This year we selected a
combination of bourbon and sherry cask
maturation. In my eyes, the contrasting
influences creates a lovely balance of
richness and light floral character,"
You will find the Kilchoman 100%
Islay 14th Edition available from specialist online whisky
shops such as
The Whisky Exchange
and
Master of Malt
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Kilchoman 100% Islay 14th Edition Review
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Bottled at 50% ABV.
William Morrison's
Tasting Notes:
Nose: As
always with 100% Islay a clean fresh
gentle nose with vanilla and enticingly
gentle sweet peat smoke, a little mild
orange and zesty lemon mix hangs around
the background.
Taste: Lovely
gentle barley sugared sweet peat arrives
with a equally gentle lemon citrus
infusion and is then joined by some
vanilla custard cream, some late ginger
with a lovely spicy oak edge.
Finish: Long,
the sweet sugary peat smoke is very
slowly mellowed by the vanilla, mildly
drying oak spices peak before slowly
bowing out.
Comment:
Not too far removed from last years
offering, the sugars, oak, vanilla and
peat are the stars. There is little sign
of the Oloroso
sherry casks in the mix, although they
are less than 10%, not a bad thing it is
still an outstanding dram but if you
want your Kilchoman sherry hit you will
have to look to the more sherried drams
in the Kilchoman range as this is now
very much a Bourbon cask matured
Kilchoman.
SMW Whisky Score
91/100
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specialist Whisky shops who delivers to
you:
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