Kilchoman, even though not that old (first distillation was performed in 2005), seems to be fully accepted as a full blown Islay Malt. Good when young, and it also matures well. Great people with great vision. Lots of variants around, however for me, Kilchoman still works best in a Bourbon cask or the occasional Sherry cask. That’s why my attention mainly goes out to the bottles with the red labels and boxes (pictured below). Often single casks at cask strength. By the way, worth a mention, the Sauternes I reviewed last was very nice as well. This time around, on our hands, seemingly the best of both worlds. Bourbon matured Kilchoman, finished in Sherry casks. I guess the mentioned cask numbers are for the initial Bourbon casks, and it probably has been finished in one Sherry butt (considering the amount of bottles in this release), since the label states this is a single cask release. What was the number of the Sherry cask I wonder. There are probably some SWA-rules for this, for which I’m now too lazy to look up. Anyone? All in all quite a confusing small batch/single cask release…
Color: Full Gold (slightly hazy).
Nose: Well, heavily peated indeed. Lots of luscious sweet, tarry and smoky notes. Salty kippers with crushed beetles, giving me salty dried out lips (after sipping it obviously). Tarry rope. Notes we know from Islay. Amazing balance for a five year old Malt. Mature stuff, and rightly accepted into the Islay fold. Nutty. Definitely not a sunshine Malt. Who needs sunny beaches when you can have this beach with grey skies and torrential rain in a bottle right here with you. Nothing bad about bad weather, with a dram like this in your glass. Sweet licorice powder and powdered sugar. Dare I smell a slightly floral note here? You might resent me for this, if you’re one of those brutal-Malt lovers. Mint candy (you know those with lots of sugar, a trace amount of mint, which is probably artificial). Not a lot of noticeable Sherry influence though. The Pulteney I reviewed before this Kilchoman, also wasn’t very Sherried, but at least it had some noticeable Sherry influence. Maybe the sherry influence in this Kilchoman lies within the slightly cherried fruity sweetness and the wonderful balance of the nose. However, when this Kilchoman heard me talk about a fruity note just now, it responds with even more licorice powder and peat. Hints of warm mineral machine oil. The nose, especially after some extensive breathing turns into something really wonderful. OK, it is wonderful in a way a tank can be wonderful. The nose is really, really good.
Taste: Initially a sweet Beer-like quality. More licorice notes and definitely less peaty than the nose. WYTIWYG (What You Taste Is What You Get). It is Whisky like a peaty lemonade. One big taste. Where the Pulteney, was complex and layered, this tastes like one big thing. Salty kippers with crushed beetles, giving me salty dried out lips (yes, copy & paste indeed). Salty and peaty licorice All-sorts. The nose seems complex and somewhat layered, the taste isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, in general this isn’t a bad thing. It just isn’t complex at all. Even the finish is rather simple, yet very tasty, as is the aftertaste. Simple, yet very tasty and effective. Hey, and it’s only five years old, and in no way is it immature or “un-finished”. My tongue reveals (in the aftertaste), that this has some wood, which is completely masked by the licorice, the dominant note in this Malt. This one worked very well for me in the morning (on a day off from work for writing reviews). Ain’t that brutal, ‘eh?
Well one thing is sure, the nose of this Malt is better than the taste. The nose is actually truly amazin’, the taste is actually really very good (to put it in perspective for you). Simple or not this is great stuff. So it’s WYTIWYG and WITIRL (What I Tasted I Really Liked) or to paraphrase agent Cooper; “damn good Kilchoman!” Dear Readers (and Nico), you might want to consider picking this one up from an auction (just make sure to let this breathe for a while).
Points: 90 (yes I must be mad, second 90 points in a row).