Timeline 2008

• May 15: a new Kilchoman Distillery website is launched that day. Designed by Breeze Creative, Kilchoman’s new website provides a wealth of information about the distillery and its people and also includes a shop function.

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• May 29: at the Kilchoman Open Day of Fèis Ile 2008, Dr. James Swan presents a Spirit Tasting with New Make, a one-year-old and a two-year-old Kilchoman.
  Kilchoman also presents a new product at the festival: the Kilchoman New Spirit Bramble Liqueur – a liqueur made from blackberries and honey macerated with Kilchoman New Make, an unusual taste experience with strong peat smoke and fruity sweetness. Particularly suitable for cocktails and to spice up your vanilla sundae.
• September 2: in autumn 2008 Kilchoman will be attending the following whisky fairs. Visitors will have the opportunity of tasting Kilchoman new spirit, as well as the oldest Kilchoman, 2 years old.
  • Whisky Live, Paris – 20 to 22 September
  • Stockholm Beer and Whisky Fair – 25 to 27 September
  • Leiden Whisky Fair, The Netherlands – 14 to 16 November
• September 26: Kilchoman announces that the barley harvest at Rockside Farm a couple of weeks ago has yielded 100 tonnes. The weather was dry and breezy during the harvest, resulting in a barley moisture content of 16-18%.
• Autumn: after releasing samples and miniature bottlings of New Make Spirit in the past, a series of single cask bottlings with Kilchoman distillate matured for a good two years in bourbon casks is now starting under the name “Anticipation” – Kilchoman New Spirit matured for over 2 years. As they are not yet 3 years old, they are of course not allowed to carry the title “whisky”. The series will bring it to a dozen bottlings in 2008 and 2009.

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• November: Kilchoman is selling now a stylish presentation box with three 5cl miniature bottles of Kilchoman Spirit under the title The Connoisseurs Pack: one month, one year and two years old. A good opportunity to follow the early maturation of the young Kilchoman in the cask. For Christmas, there is also a Christmas Special Edition in the online shop, signed by either Anthony Wills or Malcolm Rennie.

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• November 25: Kilchoman reports on its homepage about a recent delivery of refill casks – 40 dump hogsheads, 30 barrels and 20 sherry butts. Because of the boom in the whisky industry, it is not so easy to get hold of good refill casks. It is Kilchoman’s declared policy to obtain new bourbon barrels exclusively from the Buffalo Trace distillery and sherry casks exclusively from the Bodega Miguel Martin, but until Kilchoman bottles its first whiskies, there are of course no refill casks of their own.
  Dump hogsheads, by the way, are casks with the same volume of 250 litres but a shorter, rounder shape than the usual hogsheads.
• On December 14 Kilchoman celebrated its first milestone when the first cask to be filled at the distillery reached the legal whisky requirement of three years maturation in an oak cask.
  The local newspaper Ileach reported: “It is a very special day for all those connected with the distillery” said Anthony Wills, Managing Director. “At times we thought we´d never get there but the spirit has been very well received around the world which is always encouraging and our next milestone is the release of our first single malt in September 2009.”
  Malcolm Rennie, Distillery Manager said “For me it is hugely satisfying to have initially produced a unique quality new spirit and then for three years.”

• On December 24, Kilchoman can report an annual production of 91,500 lpa. Apart from a production stop in June due to severe drought, during which repairs were also carried out on the boiler, everything went smoothly.