Our remote Feis Ile 2025, today at Kilchoman


May 29, 2025

Our remote Feis Ile 2025, today at Kilchoman

We closely followed Kilchoman at the beginning — we were there for the distillery’s inauguration and so on — but since then, I’m afraid we’ve rather lost track. Are they doing well? Anyway, it's become another great Islayer...

Kilchoman 11 yo 2012/2024 ‘Legacy’ (54.5%, OB, LMDW Foundations, bourbon barrel, cask #623)

Colour: straw. Nose: precise, smoky and rooty. Celery, carrots, even turnips, with added honeysuckle and acacia honey. Frankly, it’s oddly gentle at this stage. A touch of iodine tincture. With water: the water nearly wipes the nose clean, which is most surprising. Let’s say there are whispers of lemon and seaweed. Mouth (neat): light yet very precise indeed, sweet roots, cassava, mezcal, and rowan. With water: it gathers itself somewhat, revealing a rather medicinal peat that finally decides to make an entrance. Finish: of medium length for a super-peated dram, rather dry, yet marked by a distinct saline signature. Comments: playing a bit of hide and seek, this sweet, lovely baby.
SGP:445 - 85 points.

Kilchoman 10 yo 2013/2023 ‘100% Islay’ (55.5%, OB, Kensington Wine Market, ScotchGuy’s 20th Anniversary, bourbon, 243 bottles)

Angus already tried this baby. Colour: white wine. Nose: iodine tincture, sea water, coconut and vanilla. The cask speaks! With water: once again, the water simplifies things, which is rather surprising. Still, it remains lovely, clean, smoky and vanilla-laced. Green banana. Mouth (neat): sharp as a blade, though the cask makes itself known rather forcefully here, with pineapple, grapefruit and mango. The thing is, we just love it – pure high-end wood teknohlôgy. With water: splendid now, saline, lemony without excess, with oysters in… oh well, let’s say mango vinegar. Finish: long, straightforward and effective. A cracking cask, that’s for sure. Comments: a strikingly good match between a very active distillate and an equally vigorous cask.
SGP:656 - 88 points.

Three Kilchomans — that’s good.

Kilchoman 14 yo 2006/2021 (59.1%, OB, for Mikhail Selivanov, bourbon, cask #123, 209 bottles)

This one ought to be very good, as Mikhail is a well-known and particularly exacting connoisseur. Colour: gold; Nose: wonderfully fresh, all on pink grapefruit and smaller citrus fruits, with bursts of banana, guava and papaya that are typical of a fine cask, lending the whole affair a faint touch of early 1970s Bowmore. I swear. With water: boot polish and brass polish emerge. Mouth (neat): fairly creamy, a little more herbaceous (dill, chervil), though still heavily citrus-driven, the palate coming across as slightly rougher than the nose. Some green tannins and a hint of mint. With water: no real change, except for a green tea note sneaking in. Finish: long, saline, slightly austere, but we do enjoy a dry finish. Comments: I find these young Kilchomans a bit tricky to reduce, perhaps an AI-powered pipette (European, of course) would be needed. Alright then, time to put out a call for tenders...
SGP:566 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Kilchoman we've tasted so far