Kilchoman STR Cask Matured (2019 Edition)

The eve on the January 2022 bomb cyclone. It’s been a fair amount of time since my last tasting. Time and energy hasn’t been on my side to do one. In the mood for a bit of peat/smoke. From a sample from @PbMichiganWolverine, from some time ago, this seems perfect. Kilchoman has been a favorite of mine. Starting with Machir Bay 2006, one their very first. Since then, I had several others. All have been quite good to great. Not a bad pour from the lot. Though Kilchoman usually takes an aggressive, punchy, in your face almost immediately on the nose entrance, this STR takes a more of a graceful, subtle, elegant appearance. Like going to a formal instead of a kegger. The peatiness seems to eventually fade to a point of nothingness. Hints of honey, orange citrus, cranberries and maritime brininess. Still graceful, the palate takes on a velvety, silky texture which wraps the peat making it approachable and balanced. The peat provides the foundation for the flavors it supports. Caramel sweetness, dark chocolate and black licorice. The spicy side pulls forward and the sweetness fades. Red pepper flakes and ground cinnamon. The red pepper comes back and flavors the palate like hot and sour sauce. A long and steady finish lasting indefinitely. Earthy cigar ash/soot, licorice, dark roasted coffee blended with wisps of caramel and dark chocolate sweetness. An very approachable Kilchoman. A sipper that doesn’t wear the palate down with peat. The nice steady ride of the peat-brine with the spicy-sweetness. This comes across as a matured version of Sanig, which I find to be, for me, preferable to Machir Bay. This will not disappoint. [90/100][Tasted: 1/28/22]

I really like Kilchoman and it is my favorite peat Islay distillery so far followed by Ardbeg and Bunnahabhain. Their range is huge already although they just started production in 2005. Impressive what they managed to achieve in these few years. What made this particular expression so interesting to me was the fact that is has a slightly higher ABV with 50% and it is a red wine STR cask maturation. It is 7 years old (2012 / 2019) but for Kilchoman I think age doesn’t matter too much. I’m sure that observation will change though once we get the chance to taste a 20y old one but for now I don’t miss anything in their whisky. Nose: the incredible Kilchoman signature peat smoothly embedded in cooked berries in vanilla pudding topped with soft buttery caramel sauce - and a cold ash in the background which adds a certain coolness to the nose. Palate: exiting stuff. A lot less sweet than expected. The peat is right up front and dominates the palate from start to finish. There is barely any sweetness at first. Next to a rough ashy peat it has some very refined but limited smoothness that reminds me of a fruitbar made from cooked orchard fruits and berries. Later it gets malty sweeter with every sip. Finish: peaty, salty and briny smooth with a peppery heat that goes on forever. It is so very clean and defined. It has a lot of character and is very honest and pure. It is a quite demanding experience but so enjoyable and interesting and has a developing taste over the course of a dram. Very exiting. (I will return to this taste after I progressed into the bottle in a few months.)

To make a great wine cask matured whisky, get rid of most of the wine-soaked wood. Start by shaving its inside to remove some of that stained interior. Then toast it using wood chips to caremalise the exposed wood. After that, char it - throw more fire at the damn thing. Fire good, wine bad seems to be the message. Then throw away the cask - there’s still a hint of wine in it, after all. Okay, I went a step too far, but the lesson of this successful maturation experiment seems to be that a little wine cask goes a long way. Shaving, toasting and re-charring appears on the evidence of this bottling to provide an exceptional integration between cask and whisky. The influence of the wine is evident from the hint of red berries on the nose, but there’s also sea salt that speaks to the spirit. There’s sweetness on the palate too, but it’s mainly oily, savory and spicy, even a little meaty. The berries return on the finish, which leaves a long caramel aftertaste. All in all, it’s one of the most successful red-wine cask whiskies I’ve tried, better than many of the Longrow Reds and reminiscent of the best parts of the recent Bunnahabhain Bordeaux cask. Not a typical Kilchoman by any means, but a delicious diversion generously distributed in 14,500 bottles.

While pouring samples out last night to send to the crew ( @LeeEvolved, @Generously_Paul @Scott_E and others ), I had to try a few sips. Granted, it wasn’t even a full 1 ounce...barely 2-3 sips, so who knows if that’s enough to form a full picture. This here is a new Kilchoman, matured in STR casks. It’s a limited release, very much an experiment. STR—so, “Shaved”, “Toasted”, and “Re-Charred” red wine casks. Theoretically that would remove the red wine tannins and replacing it with more vanilla, while keeping the berry flavor from red wine cask. I’m a huge fan of Kilchoman. And with the exception of the port cask, every release I’ve had of theirs has been 4 star+. I love how the peat is prominent front and center, but not overpowering, and complimented by other flavors. This one seems like it’s no exception. I get summer berries on the nose, with an earthy peaty taste with more red berries. Finish is long and lingering lemon-peat. I still like their Red Wine cask best, but this here at $70 is damn good as well.

The smell is very delicate, with a soft sweetness of cooked apples, marzipan, honey, dates. The peat gradually opens, suspended between the herbaceous and the smoke, carried by a sea breeze that seems to caress the other aromas. Balanced and elegant. On the palate the peat rises with imperious heat, compact and oily, raising a cloud of smoke in which banana, olives and chili pepper are mixed, a pinch of anise, ripe apple, cinnamon... it is a succession of very different aromas and impressions between them, a layered and complex malt, it takes time to untangle this skein. Hints of wood in the background, the peat that passes from herbaceous to fleshy, with the ash that mixes in the sea water. Tobacco. Lemon. It never really ends: the alcohol content is well integrated, one would drink it endlessly to find other aromas, other suggestions. The finish is long, with ash, sea, banana, vanilla and spices.

Nose: true peat bog peat, not the medicinal Laphroaig peat, or the burning tire fire peat, but a true damp dirty earth lit ablaze. Salt, olive oil (the good thick stuff), cheese curds, dried wood, with just a hint of fruits, mostly a dark cherry. Taste: cereal, hay, bitter wood, Chestnut, grass, and a bit of pie crust. Experience: eating a cheese board. Like the whole board wood and all. Cheese, olives, meat, salt... Wood. It's the whole board with everything on it. But in a fantastic way. If you want a meal in a whiskey this is it.