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Review of the
recently released Kilchoman Rockside 11
Year Old, a beautifully balanced
expression of Kilchoman, combining fresh
citrus, sweet malt and ripe fruit with a
lovely measured thread of maritime peat
smoke from nose to finish.
Kilchoman Distillery expanded its core
range at the end of June 2026 with the
release of Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year
Old, its first age-statement whisky to
join the core range. Distilled from
barley grown on Rockside Farm more than
a decade ago, the lightly peated Islay
single malt is matured in a combination
of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before
being bottled as an 11 Year Old Scotch
whisky.
Rockside 11 Year Old offers a different
expression of Kilchoman's house style to
the distillery's more heavily peated
Machir Bay and Sanaig. Peated to around
20ppm, compared with approximately 50ppm
for those expressions, Rockside places
greater emphasis on the character of the
farm-grown barley and Kilchoman spirit,
with the distillery describing a profile
of light smoke, tropical fruit, citrus
sweetness and mixed spices.
Kilchoman is located among the
traditional buildings of Rockside Farm
on Islay's north-west coast, and
Rockside 11 is particularly significant
to the distillery because it forms part
of its Single Farm Single Malt story.
The barley is grown, malted, peated,
distilled, matured and bottled at
Rockside Farm, making the whisky closely
connected to its place of origin.
Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder, said:
"Over twenty years in the making,
Rockside 11 is the culmination of a
journey that began with our first crop
of Rockside barley in 2004. Across
fifteen 100% Islay releases, we watched
the spirit develop, waiting for the
right moment to introduce Rockside as a
core range expression.
"Bright, fragrant and threaded with
sweet peat, Rockside's character begins
with the barley. Grown here on the farm,
it endures harsh conditions, yet those
challenges produce a barley, and
ultimately a whisky, unlike any other.”
He added: "Our work in the stillhouse
and warehouse play an equally important
role in shaping the spirit, but those
processes can be replicated, Rockside
Farm and Rockside barley cannot. They
are uniquely ours, and at the heart of
what makes Rockside 11 distinctive."
The new Rockside 11 Year Old has also
already received recognition in whisky
competitions, winning the highest Master
Award in the Best Islay Whisky: Up to 12
Years category. Kilchoman's other core
range expressions, Machir Bay, Sanaig
and Batch Strength, also received
medals.
With its combination of lightly peated
Islay malt, farm-grown barley and
maturation in bourbon and sherry casks,
Rockside 11 represents a distinct side
of Kilchoman's whisky-making style. I
put this new Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year
Old single malt through a full tasting
to see what it delivers in the glass,
you can read my review below.
Bottled at 46% ABV and priced around
£49.95 you will find the Kilchoman
Rockside 11 Year Old available from specialist online whisky
shops such as
The Whisky Exchange
and
Master of Malt
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