FACTS
Kilchoman distillery is located in the North-West of the Isle of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It was established in 2005 and was the first new distillery on Islay in 124 years. It's founder, Anthony Wills, and his wife, Kathy, created Kilchoman from a number of derelict farm buildings with a view to revive the lost tradition of farm distilling. Kilchoman's 100% Islay range is the only Islay Single Malt produced completely on site, from barley to bottle and they also distil, mature, and bottle all of their whisky on Islay.
Kilchoman grows 200 tons of barley each year, in the fields surrounding the distillery, and harvest the barley in early September, marking the start of their whisky-making process. They are one of the few distilleries in Scotland that still practice traditional floor malting and which forms part of their 100% Islay philosophy. After malting, the barley is dried using peat fires. Most of Kilchoman's barley is peated to 50ppm and is then left to rest for two weeks before mashing in their custom-built, 1.2 ton mash tun. The wort is then fermented for 85 hours to create the creamy, buttery and fruity notes they look for in their whisky and from there, the wash is distilled in the smallest stills on Islay.
Kilchoman primarily use Bourbon casks from the Buffalo Trace distillery and Sherry casks from the Bodega Miguel Martin, for their whisky maturation but also use a variety of other casks for their special releases, including Sauternes, Rum, Port, Madeira, and Cognac. As with their maturation, all of their bottling takes place on site, completing the barley to bottle philosophy. Their core range includes Machir May (85% Bourbon & 15% Sherry), Loch Gorm (100% Oloroso Sherry), 100% Islay (100% Bourbon), and Sanaig (30% Bourbon & 70% Sherry) being the subject of today's review. It was named Sanaig after an inlet on Islay's rugged Atlantic coast and the Sherry cask whisky used is matured in a high proportion of Oloroso barrels.
Whisky/ Year: Kilchoman Sanaig (2016)
Whisky Type: Single Malt
Distillery/Owner: Kilchoman Distillery (Anthony Wills - Founder)
Country/Region: Scotland (Islay)
Cask Type: Bourbon (30%) / Oloroso Sherry (70%)
Age: NAS
ABV: 46%
Chill Filtration: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Price: R900
TASTING NOTES
Colour:
Deep Gold / Copper
Nose:
Starts with sweet peat, BBQ meat and jam glazed gammon. The sweetness continues with pungent gingerbread and vanilla, as well as creamy toffee. Along with the ginger spice, comes a fair amount of cinnamon and a little nutmeg, followed by dark fruits, primarily plums and red berries. There's a hint of a herbal note in the background, too
Palate:
The palate is rather thin and watery. There's big, dry peat upfront with tons of ash and the remnants of a burnt-out fireplace. It's initially very juicy with rich fruits but quickly turns astringent and drying. The ginger comes through from the nose but is not as sweet and sits alongside mace and anise spice. There's also fresh wood, pine needles and incense which are quite prominent
Finish:
The finish is long, dry and heavily peaty with most of the other notes from the palate fading quickly
P.S.
Sanaig is a delightful whisky. Even though it's relatively young, it captured my senses from the first sip and I have worked my way through two bottles since. It's fantastic to see a success story like Kilchoman, starting off in an industry with huge competition and fairly high barriers to entry. What makes it even more incredible is that the whisky they're producing is of such high quality, even at a very young age, and their commitment to traditional whisky-making methods / terroir is admirable, to say the least. Also, as a BenRiach fanatic (who, as far as I know, use the largest variety of different cask types for maturation) I can appreciate their tendency towards experimentation, which can be seen in their use of a good number of different cask types. All-in-all, a fantastic whisky from an exciting distillery and definitely one that needs to be tried.
SCORE: 8/10
Check out our whisky scoring guide
Comments