Kilchoman Distillery

Kilchoman’s story

Kilchoman is a family owned distillery on the famous whisky island of Islay. They operate a true field-to-bottle production. They grow barley, traditionally floor malting it before then distilling new make spirit. This is matured and bottled at Kilchoman also. It is a young distillery in Scotch whisky terms. Kilchoman was one of the first to spearhead the current wave of small artisan distilleries in Scotland when it opened in 2005. Over 50 have opened since!

Kilchoman produce a classic Islay style of peated and smoky single malt whisky. This is known for its sweet peaty and slightly ashy and peppery quality, along with distinct green fruity notes. They produce new make of differing levels of peat from lightly peated to heavily peated. However, most Kilchoman releases sit in the mid-range in terms of peat level.

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Kilchoman’s history

Kilchoman began production in June 2005 and became the first new distillery on the island of Islay for over 120 years. Bunnahabhain had been the previous one in 1881. Kilchoman was founded by Anthony Wills – he began drawing up plans for a distillery at Rockside Farm on the remote western coast of Islay in 2002. It remains under the Wills family ownership today. The name is taken from the local parish.

The first single malt whisky was released in Sept 2009 as a 3 years old expression. In 2011, the now-annual 100% Islay was released for the first time. This proved a pivotal single malt for both Islay and the distillery. This was due to all barley used being grown at Rockside Farm, then traditionally floor malted. milled, mashed, fermented, distilled, matured and bottled at Kilchoman.

In 2012, the first core expression appeared in the form of Machir Bay. This was named after a local beach and matured in ex-bourbon casks. The now-annual Loch Gorm release also appeared for the first time and named after a freshwater lake close to the distillery. The first travel retail bottling Coull Point, featuring ex-Port cask maturation, was released in 2014.

Machir Bay was then joined by Sanaig, matured in ex-sherry casks, in the core range in 2016. Multiple other small batch or single cask whiskies have been bottled since for the annual Feis Ile festival, independent spirits retailers and for general release.

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• How to pronounce Kilchoman? kill-ho-man
• Country: Scotland
• Region: Islay
• Founded: 2005
• Current owners: Kilchoman Distillery Co.
• Production capacity per year: 650,000 litres
• Mash tun: 1.2 ton stainless steel
• Washbacks: 14
• Stills: 4
• Visitor centre: Yes

Kilchoman Distillery
Rockside Farm
Bruichladdich
Isle of Islay
PA49 7UT
tel – +44(0)1496 850011
www.kilchomandistillery.com

Did you know?

Kilchoman is one of only seven distilleries in Scotland to practice traditional floor malting on site. Fellow Islay distilleries Bowmore and Laphroaig are another two. Balvenie and Benriach in Speyside, Highland Park on Orkney and Springbank in Campbeltown are the others.