Tasting notes

nose

Lemon zest and vanilla over briny sea air and damp, woody peat smoke, opening to peach, pear, a floral lift and toasted barley

palate

Peppery from the start, then pineapple-like tropical fruit, sultana and honey give way to butterscotch, malt and smoked lemon

finish

Medium-long; sherried dried fruit, salt and black pepper lead, then glowing embers, aniseed and toasted grain, fading to sweet citrus and lingering peat smoke

Mash bill

100% malted barley, peated to 50 parts per million. Kilchoman grows barley on Rockside Farm and malts some of it on its own floor and kiln; the whisky made only from its island-grown barley is sold separately as the 100% Islay range.

Why it's craft

Kilchoman is a family-owned farm distillery on Islay, founded by Anthony and Kathy Wills, who filled their first cask in 2005. It floor-malts barley grown on its own farm, distils in copper pot stills and has bottled everything on site since 2011, so the whisky never leaves the farm before it is in the bottle. Machir Bay has been the flagship since 2012, and the label states it is bottled without chill filtration or added colour.