Tasting notes

nose

Heavy peat smoke and creosote over red cherry, heather blossom and brine, with lemon oil and vanilla cream

palate

Thick and oily; soot first, then toffee, orange peel, sea salt and baking spice

finish

Long; buttered crumpet and honey turn to berry compote and dark chocolate, with grilled citrus, pepper and sweet smoke staying to the end

Mash bill

100% malted barley, peated to 50 parts per million, the same level as Machir Bay and Sanaig. Kilchoman grows part of its own barley at Rockside Farm and has malted more of that crop on site since a new malt floor and kiln were finished in 2018; it has not published how much of this bottling comes from farm-grown barley.

Why it's craft

Batch Strength joined Kilchoman's core range in 2024 at 57%, well above the 46% of the other core bottlings, and it is the only one of them matured partly in re-charred red wine casks alongside Oloroso butts and bourbon barrels. Kilchoman is the farm distillery Anthony and Kathy Wills founded on Islay, filling its first cask in 2005; it distils in copper pot stills and has bottled every release on site since 2011. The label states no chill filtration and no added colour.