Taste Guide: Port Wine Cask

In 2010, Kilchoman began experimenting with maturing whisky in a range of wine casks, Madeira, Port and Sauternes. Initially, they relied exclusively on full maturations, which Anthony Wills preferred to finishes. After a good three years of maturation, Anthony Wills and John MacLellan found that the Ruby Port Hogsheads had developed best.
The Port Cask Matured Release at the beginning of September 2014 was the first in a series of annual limited wine cask releases

The bottling was a good 3 years old fully matured in Ruby Port casks. Due to an accident (see below), the edition was only 6,000 bottles, bottled with an alcohol content of 55.0%.

Anthony Wills wrote about the release: “We experimented with a number of different cask types to see which ones worked for a full maturation term and the ruby port casks are exceptional at just 3 years old. The palate has a wonderful balance of port influence but maintains much of Kilchoman’s signature characteristics”. 

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After the highly acclaimed first Port Cask release in 2014, the 2nd edition was released at the beginning of 2018. At the time, Port casks were among the rarest of Kilchoman’s bottled casks. The first Single Port Cask bottling was not released until the end of 2019 and has only been followed by a handful of others. The Port Cask Matured 2nd Edition was therefore also the 2nd Kilchoman Port Cask release ever. For this release, 30 Ruby Port Hogsheads were selected, all of which were filled in 2014, i.e. just under 4 years old. These were both 1st fill and 2nd fill port hogsheads, i.e. some casks from the 1st edition were reused here. The edition was 10,000 bottles bottled with an alcohol content of 50% abv.

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On 28 May 2020, Kilchoman Open Day at the virtual Fèis Ìle 2020, Kilchoman launched the second limited release of 2020: Am Bùrach. Behind the mysterious-sounding name lies the story of an accident. In 2014, an operating error at the valves of the two vatting tanks used by Kilchoman to marry the casks of the larger releases led to the contents of the two tanks mixing together. One tank contained a batch of Machir Bay and the other the first Kilchoman Port cask release announced for 2014.

Anthony Wills was anything but enthusiastic about the incident, his English term “a mess” was translated into Gaelic as “Am Bùrach” by General Manager Islay Heads, giving the whole thing at least a poetic-sounding name. However, this involuntary blend was of course too good to throw away, so the decision was made to fill it back into bourbon barrels and store it again to decide what to make of it later. Incidentally, the Port Wine Matured Release was then released in 2014 in a much smaller edition than announced, as there were obviously not as many port wine casks left.

After 6 years of storage, Anthony Wills found that the contents of these casks had developed into a thoroughly delicious whisky, which was then matured for a further 6 months in small 100-litre Ruby Port Quarter casks to round it off and enhance its fruity character.

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The third limited Port Cask Matured Edition was released in autumn 2024. The refill casks of the two previous editions from 2014 and 2018 had been used for it. The whiskies contained were therefore mostly 6 years old and, to a lesser extent, a good 9 years old. The exclusive use of refill casks for this release resulted in a whisky that more clearly reveals the distillery character than the other Kilchoman port releases, but with significantly less port wine influence in terms of colour and taste.

Kilchoman founder Anthony Wills wrote: „When we started Kilchoman, we always wanted to do things slightly differently, some distilleries do release full maturation bottlings, but most tend to do finishes. Full term maturation is fun because you don’t always know how it’s going to work out. We’re fortunate that the Kilchoman spirit character lends itself to bind together with experimental casks very nicely.
Port casks and Kilchoman just works, the natural citrus and sweetness of Kilchoman balance nicely with the red berries and cinnamon influence of the port casks. This latest edition, being older and refill casks, has a little more depth of character compared to past releases, I’m very pleased with how it has come together.”

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The first finishings in Ruby Port hogsheads were released at the end of 2020, and the total number of these releases has not yet exceeded 20. However, Kilchoman has released a whole series of finishings in 100-litre Ruby Port Quarter Casks since the second half of 2020. Finishing in these small casks quickly led to a distinct port wine flavour in the whisky.

A fresh Ruby Port Hogshead from the Dias cooperage

All of these releases were initially matured for around 7 years in a bourbon barrel, after which the contents were transferred to 2 Ruby Port Quarter Casks and matured in these for several months. The two quarter casks filled from a bourbon barrel were labelled by adding a “0” and a “1” to the original number of the bourbon barrel. Bourbon barrel no. 249/2012 became quarter casks 2490/2012 and 2491/2012.

Almost 20 of these bottlings were released worldwide in a short period of time (until the beginning of 2021), which enjoyed great popularity and always sold out quickly, partly due to the small number of bottles.

A new series of bottlings from the Port Quarter Casks, now used for the second time, was launched at the end of 2021. The finishing times have now been extended to up to two years in order to achieve a similar port cask influence to the freshly filled casks. In addition, the labelling of the quarter casks has been changed to a new, clearer system. An “A” and a “B” have now been added to the original cask number of the bourbon barrel. Half a dozen of these releases have appeared so far, and a few more are likely to follow. It remains to be seen whether Kilchoman will continue to work with new port quarter casks in the future.

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Within the Small Batch series for selected markets (now: Triskele Casks), whose concept is known to illustrate the influence of various “experimental” cask types on Kilchoman whisky, a bottling with port cask content was first released in mid-2019. This has been followed by half a dozen other releases worldwide.

All of the bottlings discussed here are Ruby Port maturations or finishings. Kilchoman has not yet released any bottlings from Tawny Port, White Port or Vintage Port casks. However, some of these casks are stored in the Kilchoman warehouses, so we can expect such bottlings in the near future.

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Kilchoman Port Wine Cask bottlings (Full-maturations & Finishings):

ReleaseCask No.Cask FilledBottledMaturation
Ruby Port Full-maturations:
Port Cask Matured Release20112014full maturation
Port Cask Matured 2018 Edition20142018full maturation
Port Cask Matured 2024 Edition2014, 201809/2024full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for Bresser & Timmer470/201427.06.201420.09.2019full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for The Distillery Shop471/201427.06.201402.10.2019full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for Whisk-e Ltd, Japan472/201427.06.201413.01.2020full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for Taiwan456/201424.06.201427.01.2020full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for Taiwan Boulevard444/201418.06.201427.01.2020full maturation
Port Matured Single Cask for SMCC467/201427.06.201407.03.2020full maturation
Ruby Port Cask (The Wills Family Cask Collection: Peter Wills)483/201427.06.201428.08.2020full maturation
Comraich Batch No. 5406, 479, 480, 484/201427.06.201409.02.2022full maturation
Am Bùrach15.05.2020Port / Bourbon / Port
Ruby Port Hogshead Finish:
Ruby Port Finish Single Cask for Hermitage (Israel)213/201304.04.201305.11.2020Finish
Port Finish Single Cask for Whiskyzone.de247/201203.05.201205.11.2020Finish: 9 months
Ruby Port Finish Single Cask for Whisk-e Ltd, Japan274/201217.05.201217.11.2020Finish: 4 months
Ruby Port Cask Finish for Westmoreland Liquor245/201203.05.201201.02.2021Finish: 12 months
Ruby Port Finish Single Cask for Y´s Cask Toko – Tokyo238/201203.05.201215.03.2021Finish: 13 months
Ruby Port Finish Single Cask for DrankDozijn “Lava”275/201217.05.201201.04.2021Finish: 14 months
Port Finish Single Cask for Willow Park Wines & Spirits (Alberta, Canada)240/201203.05.201203.05.2021Finish: 15 months
Ruby Port Finish Single Cask – ImpEx Cask Evolution 02/2021203/201304.04.201308.06.2021Finish: 12 months
Port Finish Single Cask for The Distillery Shop / “Be a bottler”800/201620.09.201604.05.2022Finish: 8 months
Port Single Cask Finish for SMCC (The Birth of Kilchoman Story 7: Bottling)907/201617.10.201618.07.2022Finish
Port Single Cask Finish for Gall & Gall782/201614.09.201630.09.2022Finish: 12 months
Port Single Cask Finish for Japan791/201614.09.201603.12.2022Finish: 16 months
Port Single Cask [Finish] (Uniquely Islay Series – An Geamhradh 2022; #2/5)903/201617.10.201612.12.2022Finish: 7 months
Port Single Cask Finish for SMCC922/201619.10.201620.03.2023Finish
Port Single Cask Finish – Kukon1009/201418.12.201403.04.2023Finish
Port Finish Single Cask for Korea901/201617.10.201603.04.2023Finish: 18 months
Port Single Cask Finish for The Distillery Shop915/201617.10.201615.05.2023Finish: 20 months
Port Single Cask Finish (Uniquely Islay Series – An Samhradh 2023; #8/10)905/201617.10.201606.06.2023Finish: 20 months
Port Single Cask Finish for 2023 Taipei Whisky Taste785/201614.09.201611.07.2023Finish: 20 months
Port Single Cask Finish for Taitung912/201617.10.201611.07.2023Finish: nearly 2 years
Port Single Cask Finish for SMCC908/201617.10.201620.11.2023Finish: over 2 years
7 yo Port Single Cask Finish for Warehouse Liquors924/201619.10.201601.05.2024Finish: over 2 years
Port Single Cask Finish – Italian Cities: Rome927/201619.10.201610.07.2024Finish: nearly 3 years
Ruby Port Quarter Cask Finish:
Port [Quarter] Cask [Finish] for Sierra Springs Liquor2460/201203.05.201210.07.2020Finish: 6 months
Ruby Port Quarter Cask [Finish] for Wine Exchange, Santa Ana2490/201203.05.201220.07.2020Finish: 6 months
Ruby Port [Quarter] Cask Finish [Online Shop Exclusive]2491/201203.05.201217.03.2021Finish: 12 months
Ruby Port Quarter Cask [Finish] for The Southern California Whiskey Club2500/201203.05.201203.07.2020 Finish: 6 months
Port Finish [Quarter] Single Cask for WhiskyNet, Hungary2501/201203.05.201201.06.2021Finish: 14 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Kenny Hsu´s Selection2510/201203.05.201214.09.2020Finish: 8 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Hong Fu Whisky2511/201203.05.201214.09.2020Finish: 8 months
Ruby Port [Quarter Cask] Finish for Craft Cellars, Calgary1970/201304.04.201315.09.2020Finish: 6 months
Port Matured Single [Quarter] Cask for Whisky.de1971/201304.04.201320.11.2020Finish: 8 months
Ruby Port [Quarter] Cask Finish for The Whisky Crew1980/201304.04.201326.02.2021Finish: 11 months
Port [Quarter Cask] Finish for SMCC1981/201304.04.201311.08.2020Finish: 6 months
Ruby Port Quarter Cask Finish for Shanghai2100/201304.04.201305.04.2021Finish
Port Quarter Single Cask [Finish] – Uniquely Islay Series – An Geamhradh 2020 (#2/7)2110/201304.04.201305.11.2020Finish: 7 months
Ruby Port Quarter Cask Finish for Korea2111/201304.04.201305.11.2020Finish: 7 months
Port [Quarter] Cask Finish Single Cask for the UK2150/201304.04.201310.09.2020Finish: 6 months
Ruby Port [Quarter] Cask Finish for Bresser & Timmer2151/201304.04.201325.11.2020Finish: 8 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish – Uniquely Islay Series – An Samhradh 2023 (#7/10)488A/201311.07.201305.06.2023Finish: 24 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Slijterij Vonk, Zaadam488B/201311.07.201320.07.2021Finish: 7 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Verhaar491A/201311.07.201310.08.2022Finish: 19 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish The Whisky Trinity Exclusive491B/201311.07.201320.07.2021Finish: 7 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for The Malt Vault493A/201311.07.201301.12.2021Finish: 11 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Kaohsiung, Wang, Taiwan493B/201311.07.20132022Finish
Port Quarter Cask Finish for Dramtime.nl632A/201329.08.201304.08.2021Finish: 7 months
Port Quarter Cask Finish [for Taiwan]632B/201329.08.201315.07.2022Finish: 18 months
Small Batch Releases with Port Wine cask content:
Germany Small Batch No. 113.06.201970% Bourbon, 5% Sherry, 25% Port
China Small Batch No. 106.08.201970% Bourbon, 5% Sherry, 25% Port
USA Small Batch No. 115.08.201970% Bourbon, 5% Sherry, 25% Port
Finland Small Batch No. 213.05.202070% Bourbon, 5% Sherry, 25% Port
USA Small Batch No. 320.08.202047% Bourbon, 3% Sherry, 50% Port
European Tour 2023 Bottling03/202380% Bourbon / 20% Port
Triskele Casks French Exclusive No. 2: Port / Bourbon / Sherry07.04.202375% Bourbon / 5% Sherry / 20% Port
USA Small Batch No. 807/202375 % Bourbon / 5% Sherry / 20% Port