Kilchoman Machir Bay (2016 Edition)

Nose: lovely peat, railway sleeper, cigarette ash, salt, burnt driftwood smoke, and a Barratt fruit salad sweet. Palate: salt, fresh citrus and tropical fruit, particularly tangy grapefruit and orange. Some smoke billows upward on a second wave after swallowing (what’s that called again?) Finish: dry coal dust with some tea and salty liquorice _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Last 16, Match 2: Kilchoman Machir Bay versus Ben Nevis 10yo After the cabbage and sulphur of the Ben Nevis here is a nose to enjoy. Score 1 for Kilchoman and I had to fight my bias for peaty whiskies so as not to award the bout immediately to the dram from Islay. Machir Bay also holds up well on the palate, but not in the same league as the beautiful play of salt and sweetness of the Ben Nevis. Hard to pick the better from the different finishes and I called it a draw, and so a draw overall across all three criteria. How to judge a winner then? If you are looking across all three criteria I would say Kilchoman Machir Bay holds its own. Sure, the Ben Nevis 10 strikes out in one, but crucially it is great in one and so the laurels go to Fort William and not Islay. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The unbearable angst of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Like choosing how to spell dilemma, deciding on a dram can often be a dilemna. I have selected sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

(3 Kilchoman Evening with a dram of Machir Bay, Sanaig and Loch Gorm each.) Nose: delicious signature Kilchoman peat, behind the very nice warm and cloudy peat there is mild exotic fruits (pineapple & star fruit), cold coffee and only a bid vanilla - still slightly sweet. Palate: the peat receives a bid more cold ash flavor directly with the first sip - nothing off- putting though, it is slightly fruity sweet but only so much that it stays on the edge to the background, hard to grasp specific flavor profiles for me but it is delicious non the less. But there is some green banana, and burned brown sugar. Not very complex but intense with what it offers. I don’t get any parts of the sherry casks at all by the way. Finish: long and smokey with a metallic fruity sourness and a quite intense ABV burn like smoked birdseye chili’s. I like it but I prefer the sherry parts the other two Kilchomans offer - these complement the peat note in such a nice way that you really miss something with just the bourbon casks from the Machir Bay.

Au nez : doux et frais, tourbe, caoutchouc léger, citron, vanille, léger oakiness et fruits secs Au palais : âpre, sec et légèrement salé, citronné, tourbe légère et caoutchoutée qui laisse place à une fumée agréable et une note marine La finale est sèche, tannée et légèrement boisée puis la tourbe réapparaît par la suite Whisky agréable avec une personnalité et une originalité, notamment par sa touche tanique et ses note citronnées qui se marient bien avec une tourbe peu agressive mais pas discrète pour autant. Cependant on peut reprocher à ce whisky son léger manque de complexité, surtout au nez et son côté sec. De plus, le sherry n’a que trop peu d’influence, dommage. Note personnelle : 86/100

This is an excellent medium peated Islay malt. It is youthful, reputed to me around six years of age. To me the nose is fresh (young) malt, vanilla, a hint of fruit from the sherry casks it is finished in, a very light floral note, and of course peat smoke. These are all evident on the tongue. I am curious as to where that floral note is coming from, be it yeast strain, the length of fermentation time, or the shape of the still. I simply don't know those particulars for this malt. I must say, because of that slight sherry influence, this malt makes me think of a peated version of Old Pulteney

First pour. On the nose I get some citrus, light vanilla and a pleasing smoke smell. Once it hits the palate I get fruit and more of the peated smoke. Finish let’s the oloroso sherry come through with a nice black pepper and more of the smoke. Overall it is a pleasant sipper. Not to complex but has a certain amount of depth and the smoke doesn’t overpower. For the price point (Costco) it could be a regular sipper. I don’t sip the same spirit every day. Life is to short for that.

Not much more you can say about this whiskey other than it is a damn good Islay. It shines in particular in the fact that it is only 6 years old. The nuance and complexity off of this is easily what you’d expect off a 10 year +. Nose: peat, smoke, bright floral notes, honey, candied apples and pears. Taste: almost identical to the nose. Bomb of peat and smoke off the start. Fades into dense honey and stewed apples. Lingers for a good while. Very oily.