Taste Guide: Cognac & Armagnac Cask

Casks in which spirits such as Cognac, Armagnac or Spanish brandy were previously matured are comparatively rarely used in the Scotch whisky industry. This is certainly due, among other things, to the poor availability of these casks. Unlike Sherry, Port or Madeira, where the special production of casks for the Scotch whisky industry through “seasoning” is an important economic mainstay for many bodegas and cooperages, securing the supply of cognac or armagnac casks requires long-established close contacts with the wineries or local cooperages.

For its cognac casks (and also some of the rum casks), Kilchoman relies on a collaboration with the well-known French spirits entrepeneur Alexandre Gabriel, among others. Gabriel not only brought Ferrand Cognac to life in 1989 and has been a pioneer of French gin since 1996 with the creation of Citadelle Gin, which is distilled in pot stills, he is also the owner of Plantation Rum, whose products are particularly known for their double maturation in different types of casks. After an initial maturation in bourbon barrels on site, the Plantation Rum is shipped to Château de Bonbonnet, where the second maturation process takes place in Ferrand cognac casks made of French oak. This gives the sweet rum additional tannic notes.
In the meantime, this process has been expanded to finishing in various other types of casks, including Scotch whisky casks, which is particularly well-known among whisky lovers.

Kilchoman supplied Plantation Rum with a number of their used casks, two Plantation Rum bottlings with Kilchoman cask finishing have already appeared on the market. In return, Kilchoman received some Ferrand cognac casks, which are used for finishing but also partly filled with fresh New Make.

Furthermore, Kilchoman purchased cognac casks from the well-known cooperage Tonnellerie Bossuet.

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On 12 May 2020, Kilchoman’s only Cognac Finish Single Cask bottling was released as an Online Shop Exclusive Release and sold out on the same day.

Distilled on 10.12.2014, the whisky was first matured for just under 5 years in a 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel before being matured in a Cognac cask from Tonnellerie Bossuet for 7 months. On 4 May 2020, 239 bottles with an alcohol content of 58.1% were bottled.

In September 2022, the French spirits shop and Kilchoman importer La Maison Du Whisky released the first Kilchoman Cognac cask maturation. Distilled in 2017, the whisky was matured in a Ferrand Cognac cask for over 5 years.

The first Cognac Cask Matured Limited Edition was then released in spring 2023 in an edition of 15,000 bottles. For this, Anthony Wills and Robin Bignal had selected 32 cognac casks matured at least 6 years, which came from the Tonellerie Bossuet again.

Within the Small Batch series for selected markets, the concept of which is to illustrate the influence of different “experimental” cask types on Kilchoman whisky, only two bottlings with cognac cask content have been released so far.

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There are only a handful of Kilchoman Armagnac Cask Releases as finishings so far. The first was released in Germany in autumn 2021 as part of the Uniquely Islay – An Samhradh 2021 series, followed by two bottlings for Taiwan and Japan in 2021, and finally a fourth release in February 2022 for the so-called “Smaller Markets”.

In July 2023, the Uniquely Islay Series – An Samhradh 2023 saw the first release of an Armagnac finish with the lower peated 100% Islay Spirit.

All whiskies released so far are so-called double cask finishings, i.e. the whisky was first matured in two bourbon barrels before being finished in one 400 litre Armagnac cask. The length of the initial bourbon cask maturation was about six and a half years for all previous releases, but they differ significantly in the length of the Armagnac cask finish: from seven months to over two years.

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Kilchoman Cognac Cask Releases:

ReleaseCask No.Cask FilledBottledMaturation
Cognac Finish Single Cask [Online Shop Exclusive]980/201410.12.201404.05.2020Cognac Bossuet Barrique Finish for 7 months
Cognac Matured Single Cask for LMDW268/201729.03.201706.08.2022Full maturation: 5 years
Cognac Cask Matured Limited 2023 Edition03/2023Full maturation: 6 years
Kilchoman Le comptoir Irlandais Small Batch – Cognac20.09.202270% Bourbon / 5% Oloroso Sherry / 25% Cognac
Kilchoman Genesis: Mashing – Stage 421.09.202375% Bourbon / 5% Oloroso Sherry / 20% Cognac

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Kilchoman Armagnac Double Cask Finish Releases:

ReleaseCask No.Cask FilledBottledMaturation
Armagnac Double Cask Finish (Uniquely Islay Serie – An Samhradh 2021, #3/9)388 & 389/201420.05.201417.06.2021Finish in a 400l Armagnac Cask for 7 months
Armagnac Double Cask Finish for Taiwan351 & 384/201408.05.2014 & 20.05.201410.08.2021Finish in a 400l Armagnac Cask
Armagnac Double Cask Finish for Enoki Shouten, Japan352 & 382/201408.05.2014 & 20,05.201422.11.2021Finish in a 400l Armagnac Cask for one year
Armagnac Double Cask Finish [for Smaller Markets]386 & 387/201420.05.201410.01.2022Finish in a 400l Armagnac Cask for 14 months
100% Islay Armagnac Double Cask Finish (Uniquely Islay Series – An Samhradh 2023, #2/10)1 & 641/201420.08.201407.06.2023Finish in a 400l Armagnac Cask for 31 month

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