Kilchoman 15 yo Single Cask 639/2008 (The Sister Casks Series – Oloroso Sherry Sister Cask 2)
Cask No.: 639/2008
Cask type: 11 years in Oloroso Sherry Butt, finished in Oloroso Sherry Hogshead for approx. 4 years
Date Filled: 4.12.2008
Date Bottled: 5.2.2024
Age: 15 yo
Strength: 51,1 % abv
Phenol level: 50 ppm
Number of bottles: 271
Bottle volume: 0,7 l
Bottle code: 05/02/24 639/08
Barcode: 5 060210 707675
Market: Germany
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On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the German Kilchoman importer Hanseatische Weinhandelsgesellschaft Bremen released a new series of Kilchoman single cask bottlings in April 2024 under the name “The Sister Casks – A Maturation Journey”.
The six releases in the series comprise three pairs of “sister casks” – two 15-year-old Oloroso sherry cask maturations, two 13-year-old 1st fill bourbon barrels and two 9-year-old 100% Islay 1st fill bourbon barrels – which were each filled on the same day and bottled on the same day after years of storage in the Kilchoman warehouses. This allows an interesting comparison of whiskies in which all the maturation parameters were the same and thus a deeper insight into the mystery of cask maturation.
The bottling listed here is the second of the two 15-year-old Oloroso sherry cask maturations, the sister cask has the number 633/2008. Interestingly, both casks are Oloroso finishings of Oloroso casks, so to speak. The Oloroso sherry butts delivered to Kilchoman at the end of November 2008 and filled on 4 December 2008 proved to be very inactive for the most part after a few years of maturation, so Anthony Wills transferred some of them to Oloroso sherry hogsheads. Whisky lovers were able to taste the results of this “rescue operation” for the first time in 2021, when casks 634, 636 and 640/2008 were used for the 10th edition of the Kilchoman Club Release. In our opinion, this release is the best and most complex of all Kilchoman sherry cask bottlings to date. The two Oloroso sherry cask maturations of the Sister Casks series presented here are similarly successful and show that the effort was worthwhile.