Fèis Ìle 2024: Programme, Festival Release, Tasting Packs

The Kilchoman Open Day at this year’s Islay Festival Fèis Ìle 2024 will be Thursday 30 May. Today Kilchoman unveiled its programme for the day and presented the festival special bottling and two tasting packs for online tastings.

The programme once again offers the tried-and-tested mix of special distillery and farm tours, masterclass tastings and numerous other events. With Machir Bay Sunset Drams, a new programme highlight will be offered on Tuesday, 28 May.

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Here an overview:

MASTERCLASS EVENTS

  • 10:30 – Founder’s Cask Exploration with Anthony Wills (Open to Club Members only)
  • 11:00 – “The Impact of Peat: From Unpeated to Heavily Peated”. Online Live Tasting with Emma McHarrie & James Wills
  • 14:00 – “Exploring New and Upcoming Releases”. Online Live Tasting with Anthony & Peter Wills – Tasting Packs available to purchase from the online shop 
  • 14:30 – “Exploring New and Upcoming Releases”. Tasting with Catherine MacMillan & George Wills

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BOOKABLE EVENTS

  • Be A Bottler – 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 15:00 (includes a personalised bottle of a Distillery Exclusive Single Cask).
  • Islay’s Farm Tour – 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 – Islay Heads, General Manager, will take you on a guided tour around the farm and local area, sampling a few drams along the way! (There will also be additional Farm Tours during Fèis week – Monday 27th at 14:30 and Tuesday 28th at 14:30 – Booking Essential)
  • NEW EVENT – Machir Bay Sunset Drams – 20:00 on Tuesday 28th May – Join us for a special whisky tasting event on Machir Bay at sunset. Sample four whiskies and enjoy some nibbles as we share Kilchoman stories at sunset and soak in the Islay atmosphere. Limited tickets available. 
  • Range Tastings – we will be running these short, guided tastings of 4 core range whiskies regularly throughout the day (Tickets can be bought on the day at the bar).

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EXPLORE

All the main production areas will be open and operational throughout the day so it’s a great chance to experience everything in action and have a chat with the experts that work at each stage and ask them all your Kilchoman questions.  Additionally, on the hour, every hour, the team will give you an overview of what happens at their stage.

  • Still House – chat with the still house team while taking a look at the stills in action. Enjoy a dram of Machir Bay and learn more about where the flavours you’re tasting come from.  Take the opportunity to ask the team all your questions about the mashing, fermentation and distillation stages.
  • Malt Floor – discover the art of traditional floor malting, learn more about peat, see the kiln and enjoy a dram of 100% Islay which has been produced from barley malted on that very floor. We will be moving one batch to the kiln and lighting the fire before moving the next batch from the steep to the floor so you’ll be able to see it all happening.  We might even rope you in to lending a hand!
  • Warehouse No. 3 – explore one of the traditional dunnage warehouses, take a picture with Cask No.1 and enjoy a wee dram of Sanaig whilst chatting to the team about maturation and the cask types currently in the warehouses at Kilchoman.
  • Barley Fields – stop off at the field gates as you come down the drive to the distillery and see the progress of the 2024 barley varieties Laureate and Diablo.

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EATING, DRINKING, DANCING & SHOPPING

  • The Whisky Bar will be serving a range of new and old Kilchoman editions, Comraich Batches and Single Casks. Driver dram bottles will also be available to take away.
  • Cocktail Bar – a selection of delicious whisky cocktails will be available from the bar throughout the day, fingers crossed for cocktail weather!
  • Live music throughout the day in the Music Marquee from Rhuval, Ceol an Aire and The Kilchoman Distillery Isle of Islay Pipe Band. Bring your dancing shoes for a ceilidh in the courtyard!
  • BBQ with delicious local meats, light bites from the Salad Bar, teas, coffees and home baking from the Café. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available.
  • All the branded gear you could ever want from the Distillery Shop.
  • Games & Activities with various prizes to be won.

WHISKY SHOP
The whisky shop will be open from 10am stocking all the recent Limited Editions, the latest Distillery Shop Exclusive Single Casks and of course, the special Fèis Ìle 2024 bottling.

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This year’s Fèis Ìle Special Release is a vatting of two fresh bourbon barrels, distilled in 2011. This single farm single malt was produced from barley grown and malted at Kilchoman, before being dried in the kiln. Significantly, this batch of malt was not dried with peat. One of the rare opportunities to taste an “unpeated” Kilchoman.

The approximately 480 bottles, limited to one bottle per person, will be sold to visitors for £110 on Kilchoman Open Day.

Anthony Wills wrote about it: “Our Fèis Ìle releases are sold exclusively to visitors to Islay and I am very excited to offer something rarely seen in the market to those making the journey this year. Few would have tasted unpeated Kilchoman before, and although some may miss the maritime peat smoke, the fresh citrus notes and soft buttery sweetness shine through on this dram.” 

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For Kilchoman fans who are unable to attend the festival on site, the distillery is planning two different online tastings on Facebook & Instagram in addition to numerous live broadcasts throughout the day. The tasting with Emma McHarrie and James Wills at 11am Islay time is dedicated to the topic of peat: “The Impact of Peat: From Unpeated to Heavily Peated”, while the online tasting with Anthony and Peter Wills at 2am Islay time is dedicated to new Kilchoman bottlings: “Exploring New and Upcoming Releases”.

The tasting packs for this are available from today for £22.90 each plus VAT and delivery from the distillery’s online shop.

Included, alongside a Kilchoman tasting glass, are 2cl samples of each of the following bottlings:

“The Impact of Peat: From Unpeated to Heavily Peated”

  • Unpeated New Make
  • 50 ppm New Make
  • 12 yo Bourbon cask matured – unpeated (Fèis Ìle 2024 Release)
  • 12 yo Bourbon cask matured – 50 ppm (Cask 459/2011)

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“Exploring New and Upcoming Releases”

  • Batch Strength Release
  • Sauternes Cask Matured 2024 Edition
  • Fèis Ìle 2024 Release
  • Loch Gorm 2024 Edition

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