Kilchoman Madeira Cask Matured

A very limited Madeira-touched Kilchoman.

Kilchoman (pron. Kil-Ho-Man), is the first distillery to be established on Islay in over 124 years. It was started in 2005 by Anthony Wills, who ran an independent single cask bottling company for 8 years, and was immersed in building the ultimate farm distillery, where he’d take Whisky back to its roots.

The Kilchoman distillery is unique for several reasons. It's one of only six Scotch distilleries to carry out traditional floor maltings, and one of only two to do the malting, distilling, maturing, and bottling on-premise. Furthermore, they grow their own Barley on the farm itself, whereas most other distilleries purchase it around the country (or even abroad). They use 30% of their own barley, and the balance is purchased from Port Ellen Maltings. It’s one of the smallest Scotch distilleries, with an annual output of 120,000 liters, and when you talk about artisanal, this is as good as it gets with Scotch Whisky.

For Kilchoman Madeira Cask Matured, 17 casks that previously held Madeira Wine were filled with Kilchoman Single Malt Whisky. Four years later, the casks were opened and bottled at a respectable 50% ABV. What does the Whisky taste like, you ask? There’s fruitiness, elegant Wine notes, and peaty flavors dancing around, ending in a long finish. Obviously, this is a very limited bottling with only 6,100 bottles produced.