Celebrating 15 Years Of Kilchoman – The Journey Of Exploration Continues!

Kilchoman was the first distillery to be built on Islay in over 124 years!

The first Kilchoman cask was filled at the distillery on 14th December 2005. Fifteen years on, they are delighted to be celebrating the many achievements they’ve made so far and are looking forward to many more successful years to come!

Kilchoman was the first distillery to be built on Islay in over 124 years! The distillery was founded in 2005 by Anthony Wills and is Islay’s only farm distillery, producing Single Farm Single Malt. Kilchoman is one of the few whisky distilleries in Scotland to remain independent.

Spirit Run – Comparing Sassy and Concerto Barley

Comparing barley varieties and how they influence the character of the spirit is something Kilchoman Distillery often talk about. Anthony Wills, Founder & Managing Director, is a great believer that barley variety and yeast type plays a huge part in the overall characteristics of the spirit and it is something which he enjoys experimenting with.

Comparing barley varieties …

The different barley varieties are now kept completely separate throughout the whole production process and in cask.

Kilchoman have grown ‘concerto’ as their consistent choice of barley variety for the last five or six years and have found it performs very well. For the last three years they’ve experimented with growing a different variety of barley alongside the concerto. In 2019 they grew ‘sassy’ for the first time on the farm and are now running it through the production process.

Immediately differences in the character at the mashing and fermentation stages were noticed. On the nose, the characteristics are different. Sassy has a lemon and citrus note, it is very clean and fresh whereas concerto, although also very clean and fresh, it has more creaminess about it, richer and perhaps more depth.

Although there are very clear differences in the character of the spirit at this stage, Anthony still believes that the cask plays the biggest part in terms of the overall character of the single malt that you will enjoy.

It will be interesting to continue making these comparisons between the spirit from concerto and sassy throughout the maturation stage.