50°
Distillery : Kilchoman - Islay
70% Bourbon Barrels, 20% Bourbon Octaves and 10% Calvados Casks
Original Bottling
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2025
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured
Peated around 50 ppm
In 2024, they started releasing aged bottlings, at the time it was a 16-year-old, and this year it's a 13-year-old. As if to soften the distillate, Calvados casks were added to classic Bourbon casks, and other Octaves, which speed up maturation. But in fact, an Octave Cask normally has a capacity of 50 to 60 litres, whereas these have a capacity of 100 litres. They should therefore be called Quarter Casks. In any case, these are very large Octave Casks.
Let's Taste It :
Imposing, dusty peat, ashes bathed in honey, gum arabic, candied apricots. Oriental pastries like zlabia or baklava, lightly sprinkled with pistachio. All delicately woody. Brewer's yeast. A hint of pineapple and grapefruit. On the palate, it's even sweeter and fruitier, barley sugar, lemon zest, banana, papaya, white grapes, peach and greengage. The spices are tamed. The finish is fairly powerful, of medium length, liquorice, dried fruit, dates, fruit pastes, marrons glacés, honeyed walnuts.
In Short,
It's a good idea to soften the distillate with Calvados casks, but here I find that it doesn't work perfectly. The minerality of the Kilchoman profile is lost, as is much of the peat power, and the result is a little too gentle for my taste. However, it's up to each individual to decide what they prefer, and others are sure to like it. Perhaps a younger distillate would have been better. In any case, I wouldn't recommend buying it, even though I applaud the experimentation.
Score : 88
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Greet Death - Country Girl
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