Kilchoman

There are around 125 years between the construction of Kilchoman and the last Islay distillery. Since 2005, Kilchoman has complemented the whisky island of Islay with its small farm distillery. At the independent distillery, every step of production is carried out in-house, from growing the barley to malting, kilning, peat and bottling. A craft distillery that truly deserves the name. With Kilchoman, you get a strongly smoky Islay whisky that couldn't be more authentic. Without colouring, without chill filtration and made with love. Taste the Kilchoman Machir Bay now with its great notes of grain, heavy peat smoke and fresh fruit. Do you like smoke and sherry? Then go for the Kilchoman Sanaig!

About Kilchoman - 125 years can be quite a long time.

What makes Kilchoman whisky so special? The Kilchoman distillery has established itself as an integral part of the whisky landscape on the legendary island of Islay. To understand the scope of the project, we need to travel back to the early 2000s. Whisky was popular, but not nearly as internationally recognised as it is today. At the moment, new whisky distilleries are launching almost every month. It is therefore difficult today to imagine how unusual and brave the construction of Kilchoman was back then. After all, building such an unusual, artisanal distillery was practically uncharted territory at the time. Today, we can count ourselves lucky that Anthony Wills fulfilled his dream of having his own farm distillery.

It had taken almost 125 years since the construction of Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich for a new distillery to see the light of day on Islay. Anthony Wills finally built the small farm distillery Kilchoman on Rockside Farm. In doing so, he revived the Scottish whisky tradition. This is because, like Kilchoman, whisky was predominantly produced in past centuries. Many farms had small kilns and produced small quantities of whisky from the surplus of their harvests. Kilchoman continues this tradition and grows its own barley in the fields surrounding the distillery. This allows Kilchoman to cover part of the production of itsstrongly smoky Single Malt Whisky with 100% raw materials from the island of Islay. The name of the Kilchoman 100% Islay bottling is therefore not a marketing stunt.

This is how Kilchoman brought back the virtually extinct genre of farm distilleries. Today, there are a number of farm distilleries in Scotland again, including Daftmill, Lochlea, Arbikie, Ballindalloch and Aberargie. With Kilchoman, Anthony Wills fulfilled a dream. For himself - and for many malt lovers worldwide. Enjoy the exciting single malts from Kilchoman now.

What does the name Kilchoman mean? The name comes from the translation: Church of Choman (= St Chomanus).

3 reasons to love Kilchoman

1) Because the flame is kept burning.

2) Because the whisky tradition is revitalised here.

3) Because founding a whisky distillery is so endearingly unreasonable.

What does Kilchoman whisky taste like?

Kilchoman tastes exactly like what it is: a handmade Islay whisky. In Kilchoman, strong peat smoke blends with sweet malt and dry notes of grain. Depending on the cask maturation, sometimes citrus fruits are emphasised more, sometimes the berry notes and dry fruits. Kilchoman whiskies do not usually carry an age statement. If you take a sip of this strong and authentic Islay malt, you won't have to worry about it. Kilchoman is a single malt for purists: no chill-filtration, no added colour, a lot of manual work and bottled in the distillery itself at a powerful (at least) 46% vol.

Recommendations in the Kilchoman range

The core Kilchoman range is small but high-quality. The great character of the distillery is wonderfully reflected here.

The Kilchoman Machir Bay is the distillery's flagship product. It was mostly matured in ex-bourbon barrels. It therefore has delicious citrus notes of lime and lemon, which combine perfectly with the heavy smoky flavour. On the palate, it adds toffee notes and roasted cereals. Simply delicious and an absolute recommendation! Machir Bay was awarded a gold medal and 98/100 points at the International Wine & Spirits Competition IWSC 2022.

The Kilchoman Sanaig is the perfect counterpart to Machir Bay. Here, the focus is placed on sherry casks during cask maturation. The mixture of ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry casks is clearly dominated by the sherry flavours. The strong smoke combines with ripe dark fruits. Simply delicious. It is no coincidence that the Kilchoman Sanaig was voted the best single malt without age statement at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) in 2016. In 2022, it was awarded gold and 95/100 points.

The limited edition of Kilchoman 100% Islay is bottled in batches. This is the purest form of Kilchoman, as all the barley comes from the fields of Islay. Bottled at a powerful 50% vol. you get to feel the concentrated flavour power of the island distillery. Kilchoman 100% Islay is launched on the market as a vintage bottling and usually sells out quickly. It's best to grab it now if we have it in stock. The Kilchoman 100% Islay also received a gold medal and 95/100 points at the IWSC 2022.

The same applies to the Kilchoman Loch Gorm. This special edition is also limited and is re-released annually. The Kilchoman Loch Gorm matures exclusively in sherry casks. The flavours in your nosing glass range from dates wrapped in bacon to marmalade and beach bonfire. A must for every whisky lover to try this intense Islay malt. Grab it if you get the chance!

In addition, Kilchoman also regularly bottles exciting limited editions, such as the Kilchoman Madeira Cask Matured. The Kilchoman Single Cask Bottlings have become coveted items for enthusiasts and whisky collectors. With the single cask bottlings, you can get to know Kilchoman from a whole new perspective. Unusual casks are also used for maturation, such as port wine, wine, Madeira, fino sherry, rum and mezcal casks. The Kilchoman Coull Point is available in Travel Retail, consisting of four and five-year-old first-fill ex-bourbon barrels and a finish in Oloroso sherry butts. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength Scotch Whisky was awarded a gold medal and 97/100 points at the IWSC 2021.

How is Kilchoman Single Malt made?

Kilchoman is classified as Single Malt Scotch Whisky. By law, the whisky in this case must be made from 100% malted barley in a distillery in Scotland. To be classified as Scotch whisky, the whisky must be matured for at least three years in oak casks in Scotland and bottled in Scotland. Most malt whisky distilleries in Scotland no longer carry out at least one of these steps themselves. Kilchoman, on the other hand, has at least some involvement in every step of production.

A portion of the barley used for the malt whisky is grown at Rockside Farm, which now belongs entirely to Kilchoman. While the major distilleries source some of their barley from England, France and Russia, around a third of Kilchoman's barley comes from the local area. This is not only nice for us connoisseurs from a romantic point of view, but also protects the environment by significantly reducing CO2 emissions during transport.

Malting is a production step that almost all Scottish distilleries have now outsourced to industrial malting plants. Here too, Kilchoman insists on malting and smoking around 30% of its production itself. The germinating barley is spread out and regularly turned on the company's own malting floors. The malt is smoked over peat in Kilchoman's own two kilns. Kilchoman's peated malt has a smoke content of around 20 ppm. Kilchoman buys the rest of the required malt from the malting plant in Port Ellen with a smoke content of around 50 ppm.

In 2019, Kilchoman added another distillery, increasing its production capacity from 200,000 litres to around 480,000 lpa (litres per acre). Compared to the average in Scotland, this is still relatively small. For comparison: what Kilchoman currently produces in a year in New Make Spirit, the neighbouring distillery Caol Ila manages in a month.

Kilchoman now works with two Semi Lauter Mash Tuns, each with a capacity of 1.2 tonnes. Kilchoman ferments its wort for around 90 hours in the stainless steel washbacks (fermentation vats) with a capacity of 6000 litres. Until the expansion, distillation was carried out on two pot stills; today, the farm distillery has four stills at its disposal.

Kilchoman has a beautiful visitor centre with a small café. A welcome and not to be underestimated advantage if you are travelling to Islay to visit the distillery. After all, eating between distillery tours can sometimes be a problem on this lonely island. After all, you can't live on whisky alone.

The history of Kilchoman

In 2002, plans were first announced to build a farm distillery on the old Rockside Farm in the north-west of Islay. The small distillery is the most westerly distillery on Islay and the only one not located directly by the sea. In June 2005, the time had finally come. Kilchoman was the first new whisky distillery to start production in 125 years. The first distillate was bottled on 14 December 2005. In 2006, production had to be halted for several weeks following a fire in the malt house. In 2007, two new washbacks were added to the equipment.

The first single malt whisky from Kilchoman, the Inaugural Release, was launched on the market in 2009. The first bottle sold was purchased at auction for £5,400. Other bottles of the Inaugural Release also fetch high prices among collectors. In 2015, Anthony Wills bought Rockside Farm, on whose grounds the distillery is located.

The Kilchoman 100% Islay was released in 2011. This was followed in 2012 by the Kilchoman Machir Bay as the first standard bottling. 2013 saw the release of the first Kilchoman Loch Gorm. In 2016, the sherry cask successor Kilchoman Sanaig was launched as a standard bottling. A second distillery was opened on the site in spring 2019. Kilchoman was thus able to more than double its production capacity. The expansion included an additional malting floor, a new kiln and a fully automated bottling line.

Figures & Facts about Kilchoman

Address: Rockside Farm, Bruichladdich , Isle of Islay , Argyll, PA49 7UT
Founded: 2005 by Anthony Wills
Region: Islay Whisky
Owner: Kilchoman Distillery Co. (Anthony Wills)
Type: Single malt scotch whisky
Smoke: Heavily peated/heavily peated/heavily smoky
Status: active
Capacity: approx. 480,000 lpa (litres per year)
Burners: 2 spirit stills (1,600 l & 2,070 l), 2 wash stills (3,000 l & 3.230 l)
Washbacks: 14, stainless steel (6000 l)
Mashtun: 2Semi Lauter, 1.2 tonnes
Water: Allt Gleann Osamail Burn
Visitor Centre: Yes
Phone: +44 (0)1496 / 850 011
Website: www.kilchomandistillery.com