Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Matured (2017 Edition)

I’m sure many of you have noticed all of the review transfers I’ve been doing over the past few weeks. This has been an effort to try and even out my totals between the two apps I use. I started out on Barreled at least a year before here. I’ve gone about as far as I can but there are some bottles that just don’t exist here yet. Anyways it was all leading up this this review, number 200 when counting on Barreled. Well ladies and germs, I have now reached the 200 review milestone. For this occasion I have chosen another bonus sample from my friends in the Scottish Distillery Tour group. The Kilchoman red wine cask matured. A NAS from the newest Islay distillery (newest with product on the shelves anyway). It is matured entirely in casks that held red wine from Portugal, but not Port wine. Port wine is fortified with brandy and this wine was not. Bottled at 50% ABV and it is non chill filtered and natural color of a dark copper. Only around 10,000 bottles were released worldwide. The nose is a little closed off at first, even after 10 minutes sitting in the glass. Nothing but a little peat and a vague sweetness. I gave it another 5 minutes and the sweet red wines notes started to emerge along with some mint and an earthiness. Light honey and florals. Thick fruity notes follow. Raspberry and blackberry jams and plums. Subtle notes of toffee and chocolate, brown sugar and some maple. Water brings out some oranges, tangerines and some light tobacco notes. A little more water brings out more florals like lavender and more mint. The palate has peat, but it’s lighter than I have come to expect from Kilchoman. A dark fruitiness behind that peat. Mixed berry jam, red grapes, a touch of oak and dark chocolate. Red wine notes with a little orange rind. Kind of like a sangria without the rum and added sugar. Water brings out more sweetness but not more flavors. A medium bodied mouthfeel, a touch watery but it’s mouth coating and turns dry. The finish is medium long with a light peat and wine notes and a distant mint. Pretty good stuff here, but honestly I was expecting a little more. I had to coax the flavors out instead of being smacked in the face with them. Perhaps if this was finished with a strong Oloroso cask it would have given it that extra oomph I was hoping for. Still this is good whisky. $110 good? Maybe. Still, not a bad choice for number 200. 4.25 and another thanks to @Telex for the sample. Cheers

I was searching through the forest of samples that have piled up over the last 8-10 months and found this extra from our SDT’s fifth round: Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Matured. This one was supplied by our newest member, @Telex. I’ve been a big fan of Kilchoman since their stuff has started hitting the shelves, so let’s see how this one stacks up... It’s a beautiful, shiny copper in the Glencairn and doesn’t really make many legs when you spin it up. It appears really oily even though it’s on the heavy ABV side at a nice, round 50%. The nose starts out smoky, rich and salty like the early stages of a slab of your favorite meat in a smoker. There’s a welcoming blast of red berries and brown sugar before fading and revealing light, charred oak. The palate is hot and salty, BBQ smoke with some rich chocolate sweetness. I don’t get the wine aspect as well here, and I’m thinking it’s because of the high ABV and salt. It’s still mouth watering and delicious- it’s just the wine flavors I were expecting couldn’t fight their way through. Slightly disappointing, but I won’t ding it just yet. The finish is spicy and peppery. It’s long and eventually drying, but at the very tail end I get some residual grape and blackberry jam stickiness that just lingers on and on. It’s the redemption from the wine cask fail on the palate and it works so well here. The heat starts to fade and, as if on cue, the berry sweetness is left hanging there. It may the best finish of any Kilchoman I’ve had. Wonderful. Overall, this is another great Kilchoman. When these guys get some serious age statement bottles out there the other guys on Islay better watch out. Quality, quality juice. Thanks again to Jason for the pour and this is a solid 4-4.25 star dram. Seek it out and see for yourself, my friends. Cheers.

Ah the great Kilchoman run at my favourite whiskey bar continues. For just over $20USD I got to try this, Hazelbank 13 yr Olorosso, Springbank local barley 11 year and a 2004 Connoisseurs choice. Outstanding as none disappointed. What I like about this place is you can keep a list of what you want to try pop in and ask them. This one they had just got in, it wasn't even on the bar floor and the staff themselves hadn't tried...after they got it out of storage and I got stuck in a few more joined me :-). It was a tough choice between the Hazelburn and the Kilchoman. Both were great, I got a faint ashy hint, red wine berries from this one. Goes for $90USD here which is fair. Not sure if I prefer this or the sanaig. Call it a tie. 4.5 I'll give it. Update: After procuring a bottle soon after my initial review 3 years later as part of clearing out my whisky collection to friends and auction I kept this as my last bottle. As i headed in a brief period of abstinence I reluctantly parted with the bottle to remove temptation. Amazingly at auction it didn't sell with people chasing the big names Macallan, Ardbeg etc. The auctioneer offered to buy it for cost but I thought na its fate. I had by that time resumed drinking so took it back, sent the auctioneer a couple of samples and finished the entire bottle in 2 weeks. Long story short it was just as good as i remembered and very happy i consumed vs sold!

I have yet to taste a bad Kilchoman. The youngest of islay distilleries, at least to put whisky on the shelves, has proven me, on my third expression ever tasted, that they know how to make wonderful drams. This is the case of this young whisky, which was distilled on 2012 and bottled on 2017, using only red wine casks to mature it, and bottling it at a 50%abv strength. The first result of this type of maturation is wonderful chesnut color on it. Lets get to business, On the nose, it is a prophecy of what is going to come in the palate. Peat, grassy peat. Earthy. But just for a second. Then a sweet explosion comes to the game. Red fruits, cherries, strawberries. Herbal peat and rosemary. After first sip, sweetness intensifies into this maraschino cherry syrup, blackberries and starwberry notes. On the palate, it is a very interesting dram. On the middle of the tongue you'll get cherries and cinnamon, but surrounded of gun powder, sulphur and ashes. It all happens at the same time but in different parts of the tongue. The aftertaste, is also great. Smoky, super pleasant, but it definitively doesn't feel like 50%abv. Prune peel. Powerful salt and beach profile. Overall this is a very delicious dram, as well as an interesting one. Very balanced, 23 points on each criteria, makes this a 92 over 100. Sláinte!

Machir Bay was my introduction To Kilchoman and I was shocked by the quality within the 4 year youthfulness. Since then I have been a fan. Having several samples and bottles, they have produced more quality whisky than not. Now, thanks to @Telex, I can try one more. The peat aromas are not smokey but earthen and boggy soaked in a salty-sweet maritime brine. Maraschino cherries, Challah bread vanilla’d French Toast in maple syrup, and cigar tobacco. The palate is sweet but not overly done arriving in a medium weighted body. Sweet BBQ sauce on smoked baby-back ribs with citrus zest. A fruity, raspberry jam fills the body of the palate as it draws to the finish. The finish is drying and with a touch of peat, marmalade and Concord grapes though it’s somewhat short in length. A very enjoyable dram. Easy to sit back and sip. This is perfect as a perfect after dinner cordial following a rich meal given its sweet, light nature. Kilchoman is proving themselves as quality distiller. If only the price was more approachable (but nowadays I find myself saying that about every whisk(e)y. Again, thanks @Telex for bringing this to the group. [89/100][Tasted: 3/31/18]

Kilchoman, that young islay distillery, that always make incredible whisky. They spirit has proven to be very complex and able to capture great tasting and aroma notes from the good casks they have selected. This one has been matured im red wine casks from the Duoro Valley in Portugal. Bottled at 50%abv, with a lovely reddish color. On the nose, you won't find anything better than this whisky. Fresh can of tennis balls, dry moss, plastic from water balloons. There is also chocolate with dulce de leche, Herbal spiciness, Red fruits and cigarretes. It is a rollercoaster, Lots of dulce de leche, chocolate and bubblegum. Crazy good. The palate is really a transition to the great aftertaste. Ashes right from the start. Salt. A second sip gave me red fruits, gooseberries and Pepper. Aftertaste is superb. Bonfire, salt, gunpowder. Very balanced and ashy. Overall, if you buy a Kilchoman, you will certainly love it. This single malt is a beutiful mixture between crazy peat profiles and sweet flavors. The palate wasn't my favorite, because it was too simple but it still managed to score a very well deserved 89 over 100.