Kilchoman 100% Islay 6th Edition announced

Kilchoman today announced the release of the 6th edition of the annual “100% Islay Limited Release”. The bottling will be available from 12 May for £72, initially in limited quantities from the distillery’s web shop and then shortly from retailers worldwide.

Made from the farm’s own barley and slightly lighter peated, 100% Islay whisky, with all production steps carried out “from barley to bottle” at Kilchoman itself, is Kilchoman’s pride and joy, as it establishes its credo and claim as Islay’s farm distillery.

Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder and Managing Director wrote: “When we first set out to build Kilchoman the ambition was to create a small-scale distillery producing exclusively for single malt using barley grown and malted on-site as was once the norm for many distilleries.”

The 6th edition is a vatting of first and refill ex-Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels filled in 2010 and bottled in May 2016. At just over 6 years old, the bottling is one year older than the previous release, making it the longest matured 100% Islay edition to be released to date.

And Anthony Wills continues: “We expect Kilchoman fans will enjoy the 6th Edition, the 100% Islay expressions have come along significantly in recent years, sourcing our bourbon barrels from one US producer has a significant impact on the quality of the whisky at what is a relatively young age.”   

Cask type: Fresh and Refill Bourbon Barrels

Date Filled: 2010

Date Bottled: 05/2016

Age: 6 yo

Strength: 50,0 % abv

Level of phenols in malted barley: approx. 20 ppm

Number of bottles: unknown

Bottle volume: 0,7 l / 0,75 l

Bottle codes:
100 05.05.16 16/23
100 06.05.16 16/23
100 09.05.16 16/23
100 10.05.16 16/23
100 11.05.16 16/23
100 23.05.16 16/23 (USA)
100 27.05.16 16/23

Barcodes:
5 060210 700942
8 92032 04420 2 (USA)

Distribution: worldwide

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Colour: light gold

Nose: hardly any peat smoke, pear compote, quite a lot of vanilla and coconut, sour drops, some wet wood

Flavour: sweet, slightly oily, also here first association: pear compote and other cooked yellow fruits, strawberry, in addition some vanilla and coconut, certain pungency, slightly moussing; both citrus and honey notes here little pronounced, some spice, slightly bitter

Finish: relatively short, slightly smoky, bitter at the end

Conclusion: quite drinkable, you can slowly notice its increasing age: the vanilla and coconut notes become stronger, no fines, but also more bitter than its predecessor (HPN 5.6.2016)