Kilchoman 100% Islay (9th Edition)

Light gold with copper veins in the glass. Peat well evident on the nose even if not very high, cheered by the sweet notes of ripe apricots, vanilla, a splash of lemon and a clear salinity. To let it breathe, the peat grows and becomes more fleshy, alcohol well integrated and not at all intrusive. Smoke floods the palate, more ashy than from a barbecue, much more intense and full-bodied than the smell, dragging with it plums, lemon, a herbaceous touch, all resting on an ocean of salinity. The flavors actually struggle to emerge, peat and salinity are so pungent as to eat away almost everything, underpinned by the alcohol content. On the length, a pinch of ginger. Long finish, used ashtray, salt and spices.

Sharp high pep, acidic, apple, fruity, woody salt 1 sweetness, apple, fruity, woody, mid pep, peatiness, campfire smoke, slight sourness zesty 3.25 oaky tannin 2 waxy woody dry incense chemical musky mid pep 1 spicy, woody, tannin, some smoke, oaky 1 oaky wood 1 1

First off really cool that this is one of, if not the only, single farm single malt whisky in scottland. Really earthy peat bog smoke, more like laphroaig then caol ila or lagavulin. Some brine, and a good bit of sweetness from the ex bourbon casks. Really good whisky, A-.

Second tasting. Gross. Like a peaty auchentoshan. That floral note is more subtle than auchentoshan but it’s there and off putting.

toffee and brown sugar nose, sharp citrus and gasoline malty palate, not terribly peaty, lingering faintly smoky finish

Beautiful. Peaty but not overwhelming. Balanced but peat strong. Must drink more kilchoman