*Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength* *Bottle. Image courtesy ImpEx Beverages.*

Kilchoman Distillery was the first new distillery built on Islay in 124 years when it opened in 2005. On an island of just 3,000 year-round residents, where so much industry depends on whisky-making and its related fields, adding a new distillery is taking a chance: is there enough demand, supply, and workforce to support this new venture?

It’s a question that several newly-opened distilleries (or soon-to-open ones) on Islay are figuring out. Thankfully, for Kilchoman, the answer to all was yes.

Growing their own barley on a 2,300-acre farm on Islay’s southwestern spur, Kilchoman epitomized locally-driven distillation before it was cool again. According to founder Anthony Wills, Kilchoman is (and remains) Islay’s only “Single Farm” Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Regular readers will know instantly how that might pique my interest.

On Islay, as with everything else, there’s more to it than just that. After being dominated by eight distilleries for nearly two centuries, Islay became synonymous with peat, for good reason, but specifically a maritime, vegetal peat with elements of seaweed and ashiness distinct from highland peat or even Orkney peat. When concentrated even more, this peat could impart full-on iodine, tar, and creosote. Few distilleries on Islay make a non-peated malt (Bruichladdich, for example, though they also make Port Charlotte and Octomore), and all make multiple products using the local peat in the malting process.

To create a new distillery in an area that’s both so small and also so well known for one thing, finding a differentiating factor is priority number one. It does no good to build a new distillery that tastes like Laphroaig or Lagavulin - those already exist. Starting with your own farm and focusing on locality is a great place from which to brainstorm, and Wills clearly did so with his team.

Kilchoman remains one of the very few distilleries anywhere in the world to have on-site floor malting. For most distilleries, their volumes are either too great to handle all of that in-house or, on the other end, are too small to justify the space. Following the on-site malting comes the peating, where Kilchoman finds a new facet of Islay peat with which to flavor its malt. After much of the moisture is removed, the peated barley sits for at least two weeks before being milled and mashed.

As is the norm with Scotch whisky, fermentation happens off-grain, meaning the wort is drained off from the draff before entering the fermenters (the surely happy on-farm Aberdeen Angus cattle get to enjoy that spent grain that might still have as much as 5% alcohol). The wort is fermented for a highly-specific 85-hour fermentation, just enough to finish off the initial distillers’s yeast and start malolactic fermentation. The stills - the smallest on Islay - are the next step. 3,000 liters enter the wash still, but only 1,000 make it to the spirit still. From that, 300 liters of new make exit the second still, just about a barrel and a half for standard 53-gallon barrels.

Those barrels - ex-bourbon and sherry - come from Buffalo Trace and Bodega Miguel Martin. There are other casks used for more limited releases, such as cognac, red wine, rum, port, etc., but those are the core range. And from that ex-bourbon cask comes this beauty, the Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength.

I enjoyed the original Kilchoman Machir Bay quite a bit, with its smokier, ashy peat that felt like the fire was still going (as opposed to, say, a Bowmore where the ashes are cold and dusty). The peat profile was distinctly Islay, yet distinct enough to not be one of the existing distilleries. The Cask Strength takes that and amps up all the flavors, adding more butterscotch and body from the cask and oiliness from the barley.

This isn’t a whisky that will blow out your palate through either heat or peat, but neither will you think it unpeated (unless all you drink is hardcore Laphroaig releases). It’s an excellently balanced pour that will appeal to both lower-ppm peat drinkers and to those just entering the space. Keep an eye on yourself - this goes down dangerously easily.

Thank you to ImpEx Beverages, a Whiskey Ring Podcast sponsor, for providing these samples free of editorial constraint.

Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength: Specs

Classification: Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Origin: Kilchoman Distillery

Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley

Proof: 116.6 (58.3% ABV)

Age: NAS

Location: Scotland - Islay

Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength Price: $99.99

Official Website

Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength: Tasting Notes

Eye: White tea, pale yellow. Medium rims and legs that break apart into droplets.

Nose: Embers alive but close to burning out. Scent is familiar to Kilchoman - you know it’s Islay, but there’s also something identifiably different. Warm, smoked fish. Bourbon casks give a pleasant butteriness as the proof goes gently up the nostrils.

Palate: Charred sourdough, a hit of proof up front that ups the peat influence considerably. 100% unsweetened cocoa powder, salinity like flake salt on top of cookies. Mouthfeel is silky and filling, with a mild proof burn towards the front of my tongue. Ashy side of the peat grows as Russian black bread and kippers round out the palate.

Finish: Smoky, suffusing the back palate and roof of my mouth. Shorter finish than the classic, but more powerful. Cinnamon and clove appear out of nowhere at the very end on the nose and the finish.

Overall: The extra proof doesn’t make this hotter, it makes it more intense and adds depth, particularly around the mouthfeel. The cinnamon and clove at the end is a lovely touch to an ember-fed pour I’d love to add to my shelf.

Final Rating: 8.0

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary

8 | Excellent | Exceptional

7 | Great | Well above average

6 | Very Good | Better than average

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation