Timeline 2010

• March 4: Kilchoman announces that John MacLellan, manager of the Bunnahabhain distillery for 12 years, will be joining Kilchoman as the new general manager. He will start his new job on 3 May, besides managing the day-to-day business he will also be responsible for the cask selection in the future.
  The old manager Malcolm Rennie will change to the newly founded Lowland distillery Annandale in the middle of the year.

• April: with the “Spring 2010 Release” the 3rd edition of a Kilchoman whisky is released. It has been matured in fresh ex-Bourbon barrels for 3 years before being finished in “very active” Oloroso Sherry Butts for 3 month. The vatting also contains four refill bourbon barrels that have not been finished in Sherry Butts.
  The release is distributed in 19 countries worldwide – so the number of Kilchoman markets is continuously increasing, they are now: Great Britain, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Taiwan.

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• End of April: Some further construction work in the distillery is completed: new offices were created and the old barley store was converted into a tasting room and a meeting room.

• May 27: at the Kilchoman Open Day of Fèis Ìle 2010, the distillery releases a Fèis Ìle bottling for the first time. It is the Single Cask release of Bourbon Barrel 113/2007, distilled on 22.5.2007 and bottled on 22.5.2010. So the whisky is exactly 3 years old. Some visitors queue for several hours to get hold of one of the 258 bottles.

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• July 26: Tony Rozga, who had previously worked at the Bunnahabhain distillery for several years, is hired as a mashman / stillman. Together with Gavin Douglas he now forms the production team.

• August 9: with the “Summer 2010 Release” the 4th edition of the so called “Seasonal Releases” is released. This is the first edition exported to the USA and the first edition without sherry finishing. It is a 3 year old whisky, matured in fresh and refill Bourbon barrels.

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• August 18: Kilchoman announces on their website that due to the increasing demand for Kilchoman whisky, they have decided to increase production over the winter months (when water is plentiful). For this reason, they have recruited a new part-time member for the production team: Robin Bignal has joined Gavin Douglas and Tony Rozga.

• August 19: a delivery of 132 Quarter Casks (sometimes also incorrectly referred to as Octave Casks by Kilchoman) arrives at the distillery. These casks with a volume of approx. 100 l were made in a cooperage from refill bourbon barrels. Some distilleries like to use quarter casks for finishing, as the surface area of the cask, which is much larger in relation to the volume, leads to much more intensive contact with the wood of the maturing distillate.
  Kilchoman fills the casks with New Make Spirit in October, 95 of which will result in the Original Cask Strenghth Quarter Cask Release in 2016.

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• 29-30 October 2010: The Whisky Show, organised by the renowned British whisky merchant The Whisky Exchange, took place for the second time. Following the de luxe concept of the fair (entrance fee of £90, free samples of the exhibited whiskies, free food etc.), especially rare and exclusive whiskies were presented again in The Brewery in London. Kilchoman presented a three-year-old whisky matured in fresh ex-bourbon barrels as an exclusive bottling, which met with great interest among many visitors.

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• November: Anthony Wills flies to the USA, a new export market for Kilchoman, for a short promotional tour. In addition to the Summer 2010 release, the first Kilchoman whisky exported to the USA, he also presents the first two single cask releases bottled for the USA.

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• November 15: with the “Winter 2010 Release” the 5th edition of a Kilchoman whisky is released. As with the Summer Release, it is a 3 year old whisky, matured in fresh and refill Bourbon barrels. The circulation is 15.850 bottles.

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• 2 to 5 December: the well-known Swiss whisky fair Whiskyschiff Zürich 2010 took place, even though snowstorms over Europe prevented some exhibitors from arriving. Visitors were able to taste a large selection of whiskies on several passenger ships. As the official fair bottling, the Swiss importer World of Whisky presented a Kilchoman single cask bottling. It was a Kilchoman matured for 3 years in a fresh bourbon barrel.

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• Approx. 100.000 l of alcohol have been produced and 50.000 bottles of Kilchoman whisky were sold in 2010.