Kilchoman Batch Strength

To me the best part is the balance of the cask components. The STR wine casks left a clear influence, but compliment the spirit, never overpowering it. The Sherry is very much in the background, adding complexity only. The Bourbon adds some much needed sweetness. Typical STR tannic structure, but the lemon acidity cuts right through that. The youthfulness is used masterfully to keep the rather pronounced cask influence at bay. The smoke tends to hide behind the explosive fruitiness, but appears with water and at midpalate to finish, which is medium with the smoke lingering for a good while. Takes water very well, though not a must. My new favourite of the core range, the youthful power and incredible blending work making it a more dynamic experience than for example Sanaig. At SRP i struggle to see this on my home shelf, but the ~65€ at some shops seem fair enough.

Delicious, delicious, delicious—although not (quite) cask strength. The back of the green box contains the crucial sentence: "A few drops of Kilchoman spring water were added post maturation to produce a batch strength of 57% abv, blending the natural power and character of Kilchoman with dark fruits, rich spices, and salted caramel sweetness." But strong nonetheless! Beneath the quoted sentence is the signature of founder Anthony Wills, who added just the right number of drops of water so that I can enjoy this batch strength bottling, with a proportion of STR casks that I love so much about Kilchoman, neat without further dilution. A true delight.

Smoky, fruity, long finish

Kilchoman Batch Strength, bottled at a defined strength of 57% ABV, matured in STR Red Wine, Oloroso Sherry, and Bourbon casks. Unfortunately, there is no indication of age. It is a bottling from the core range; this batch was bottled in 2024. The color is a rich golden hue. glen-efze.de

Very nice start to the Batch Strength series. (Kilchoman Fèis Ìle online tasting, 30.05.2024)

Aroma: The aroma includes red fruits, fresh cherries, heather, and rich peat smoke. Taste: Toffee and rich spice, leading to vanilla and endless peat. Finish: A velvety finish with notes of cream, honey, and fresh scones.

heavily peated sweet cask strength alcohol, finish strikes but not too deep

When I first tried their Machir Bay more than five years ago, I wasn’t impressed. I remember thinking that the combination of tropical fruits and peat was original, but not particularly enjoyable. However, at some point, I found myself craving those exact flavors, and that specific whisky, over any other. That’s when you realize a distillery’s really got you hooked. In the end, I’ve become quite familiar with all of their core range bottlings. The distillery’s profile, at least in their ex-bourbon releases, is — as I’ve said — a bold combination of tropical fruit, peat, maritime notes, and those farmy, somewhat funky elements that are so distinctive of Kilchoman. Meanwhile, the sherry-led expressions tend to be much more aromatic, sophisticated, and refined. Thanks to this bottle, I’ve discovered that the distillery actually has a third flavor profile. Unfortunately, it’s a rather disappointing one: spicy, peppery, astringent… Aroma: The typical Kilchoman profile is not obvious. Tropical-forward, with pineapple and coconut. Lots of oak and black pepper. Herbs like eucalyptus and basil. Citrus fruits. Yellow plums. Sour apple. Bonfire. In the background, a good dose of the distillery’s coastal peat and farmy malt, with salty seaweed, yeasty bread, charred bacon, and musty cereal. Faintly maritime. Sharp and somewhat unbalanced, but pleasant and inviting enough. Taste: Insanely spicy and hot. Tons of one-dimensional peppery and chili-like spiciness from the oak overwhelm everything else. Ginger. Anise. Lemon juice. Raw green pepper. Sour, unripe apple. Bitter orange. Pine. Medicinal and salty smoke. Acidic coffee. Bitter apple cider. Peeking out from the background are some peaty and farmy notes, as well as the faintest hint of sweet vanilla. Intensely alcoholic. Chaotic, unbalanced, underdeveloped, and rather unpleasant. Truly, a hot mess. Finish: Rioja wine levels of astringency, kind of insane, if you ask me. Ginger, pepper, resinous oak. Spices, mint, rosemary. Sea salt, charcoal, acidic apple cider, bitter herbs. Maybe red fruits. Very hot and absurdly bitter, and it hurts the more you drink it, so it doesn’t get better. In itself, it’s not a bad whisky. It’s oaky, herbal, and citric, with a coastal and peated background. The aroma is solid. But compared to any other bottling from the distillery, it’s a disaster. On the palate it commits all the sins: it is astringent, acidic, bitter, dry, salty, alcoholic, and aggressive, just lots of virgin oak and young alcohol, and very little Kilchoman character. A rather poor presentation of their distillate which, despite everything, manages to pull through, though quite precariously. All the subtle complexity and distinctive balance of the distillery's profile are almost absent: the farmy nuances are barely noticeable, the peat fails to stand out behind the virgin oak, and the oak itself brings nothing interesting or varied, only pepper and one-dimensional wood. I’ve even tried leaving it alone, half-full, for half a year, and it’s still very harsh. Quite disappointing: by far the worst Kilchoman I’ve tried. It manages to make the character of one of my favorite distillates feel like nothing special, which can’t be easy. Machir Bay CS is infinitely better, in my opinion. It smells and tastes like mass-produced whisky, whereas Kilchoman, like Raasay, Benromach, Ardnamurchan, or Springbank, stands out for its artisanal and farmy organoleptic profile. To top it off, it commits one of the worst sins for me: being so unnecessarily harsh, spicy, and astringent that it never invites a second pour, while making anything you drink afterward feel bland by comparison. If you're hopping between bottles, this one might just be a bitter dead end. In short, a maturation in absurdly aggressive casks that not only adds nothing memorable but also overshadows the distillate. Obviously overengineered to mask its criminal youth, and failing spectacularly at it. I would only recommend it to hardcore Kilchoman fans more than willing to turn a blind eye to the obvious issues, or to people who really like bourbonized versions of classic Scottish malts.

Uncomplicated, smoky, delicious.

A youthful Kilchoman who brings classic Islay notes, but also fails to stand out from the crowd.

Glass 1 : Kilchoman Machir Bay CS 2021 Edition 58.3% Glass 2 : Kilchoman Batch Strength 2024 Edition 57% Nose: 1: Machiar Bay concentrate, malty fiery smoke, citrus fruits, hay and some herbs, alcohol spiciness, chips with salt and pepper, vanilla. Young and bold but still complex. 2. Campfire smoke, grilled pineapple, malty sweetness, cinnamon and BBQ spice, dry red wine aromas with red fruits, in contrast to the MB CS, a noticeable hint of oak. A little more settled and barrel-heavy, but still with plenty of power. Both are really good - I like the spice aromas and BBQ smoke in the BS but the CS is simply more intense, more maritime and shows a clearer Kilchoman distillery character. It is therefore slightly better than the BS. MB CS - 88 pts. / BS - 86 pts. Taste: 1. impetuous, alcohol sharpness, lovely grain notes, vanilla and malt sweetness, the tingling subsides and it becomes creamier, salty maritime notes, ashy warming smoke, lemon again. It is so intense and it takes a while to get used to this impetuousness. 2. slight hint of alcohol, but quite creamy, lots of malt and caramel sweetness, vanilla, then ashy smoke and freshly ground pepper, charred oak, a hint of red fruit and a hint of nutty sherry. Mega tasty - intense and complex - all three types of cask contribute their part. They both press the accelerator and run over you in the mouth. The CS is just as violent and impetuous as the sea. The BS is a bit more complex and pleasant due to the choice of barrels. That gives it a bit of an edge. You'll gladly have another drink ^^ MB CS - 85 pts. / BS - 88 pts. Finish: 1. warming, ashy, grainy sweetness, vanilla. medium-long and surprisingly dry, now even a little spicy oak and sherry aroma. The youth cannot be completely denied here either, but even in the finish you are so preoccupied with the intensity that you cannot even think about the age. 2. Creamy and peppery on the finish, then comes the BBQ smoke again, dryness, pleasant oak and a now clear sherry character with a beautiful sweet cherry fruit that harmonizes well with the smoke in the long finish. Similar to the taste, but closer together. Due to the choice of barrels, the BS is simply more drinkable, rounder and also more playful than the strong CS. But the latter again scores with its maritime notes. MB CS - 86 pts. / BS - 87 pts. Conclusion: Both are really good Kilchomans that no Islay fan should be without. The MB CS is pure, raw island character, while the BS is more polished by the barrels without losing any of its intensity. They are both so different and complement each other so well that I wouldn't choose one over the other or recommend one over the other. In the end, both are very close together in terms of the final score - MB CS with 86 and BS with 87 points. Both get a straight grade of "2"!

Part of Kilchoman 2024 European Tour tasting. Despite the fact that this was supposed to be the highlight of the evening, I didn’t like it. Too hot, too young and unbalanced. It’s got some interesting herbaceous note to it, that becomes more sweeter with a few drops of water. But overall not impressed at all.

Notes from the Internet.

I didn't fall for it. No major flaws, but for me a little too dry, woody, acidic and a little alcohol-pungent in taste with earthy peat. There are much better Kilchomans

Powerful peaty dram, some nice sweet smoky notes and some tobacco.

Didn’t enjoy it as much as basic expressions. Seems like the punch comes from younger barrels. Some weird acidity and a lot of earthy herbaceous aromas on the nose.

Dry smoke, dry grassy peat, resinous, toffee, slight vanilla, citrus, grape skins, black pepper and some sawdust. A hint of tobacco with charcoal and ashes at the tail end of a fairly long finish.

86.5/100

Good thick peat, full of smoke, but we don't have the mineral character typical of Kilchoman, it's more about young wood, very green, with rosemary, angelica, and leaves full of sap. Parsley, resin, a drop of vanilla, and a nice fullness thanks to the peat. In the mouth, there is a nice sweetness but it is immediately invaded by very strong spices, pepper and cumin, and then the finish is of course explosive, powerful, but not extremely long, fatty earth, bark, dry tobacco, some white fruits. Small disappointment. He's still very young and doesn't quite look like the Kilchoman profile. https://ilikesky2020.blogspot.com/2024/06/kilchoman-batch-strength.html

A peaty astringent smoke bomb with toffee caramel tones, green apples, peppery finish. Good body feel but does not compare with other Kilchomans in complexity. Sherry notes with peat smoke where water helps bring out the citrus fruit notes.

Solid Kilchoman, drinkable, sweet, peaty, perhaps a bit too strong. Great value for money.

Light, straw color. Slight oiliness.

Light golden color. Oily structure.

I'm missing the STR and Oloroso components a little, they don't come across properly to me; if it just said ex-bourbon, I would accept it without question; the vatting or the ratio would be interesting. [86 - 82 = good whisky -> get (second) bottle? Maybe...] Not bad, but it doesn't blow me away; I'd rather stick with Loch Gorm, which has darker flavours.

The challenge of high alcohol content is fully met, with an excellent balance between distillate and casks that are able to enhance their respective qualities without overflowing. Allowing time in the bottle can only be beneficial to a rich, full-bodied whisky, capable of bringing out all the qualities of Kilchoman when fully expressed.

Young, but quite sensible entry enhanced strength bottling. It seems to be rather dominated by the ex-bourbon wood. Although reasonably balanced, and not too bad after all, it's a bit too engineered for old-fashioned people like me who like a bit more balance and age in the whisky.

The nose is a clean, young, medium-strong peated bourbon cask cask-strength whisky with no off-notes. The nose is decent, but the PF is even better. The PF primarily reminds me of apple cider. The apple cider note, which evokes a fizzy sensation in the mouth, is quite impressive and adds charm. The red wine and Oloroso casks seem to play a supporting role, while the whisky feels like a lively, light, sweet, and clean medium-strong peated bourbon cask cask-strength whisky. It gives the impression of covering just the basics, but doing so flawlessly.

"Full of Kilhomans-style spicy flavor." This is a whisky with a strong spicy taste of chili peppers that may be positive for Kilhoman Distillery enthusiasts, but personally, I dislike it very much. I haven't tried many whiskys from Kilhoman Distillery, but all the whiskies I've tried, including the whiskies I've tried while visiting the distillery, have a spicy taste of chili peppers, so I haven't preferred them since. This whisky also has a very prominent spicy taste like chili peppers. If you prefer the peat nuance that's like a mix of ash and seaweed unique to Kilhoman, it might be worth a try.

Mild peat, but elegant. Cherry, ripe banana, apricot, flowery. Medium long finish and buttery. Really like because the peat isn't in your face. By color, would guess mostly, if not all bourbon casks. And my take is on a just opened bottle. May improve. Paid $75 to a friend who deals with this. So excellent QPR. Bottle open for just a few hours. Maybe the best Kilchoman I've ever had, maybe not. But it sure is excellent.

There are cheaper alternatives that can score better. 87 points given as a compliment.

The first impression offers vinous whispers and the dark caress of liquorice, soon overtaken by the insistent rise of ashen peat — a smokiness that asserts itself without brashness. Somewhere in the shadows, caramel flickers briefly, a soft sweetness unable to wrest dominance from the elemental smoke.

Amazing to read some of the reviews on this bottling. Some people seem to really love it, some people seem to really hate it. I'm in neither category. As a kilchoman fanboy (loch gorm being my absolute favorite) i'm not entirely convinced about this expression. I had an original batch strength years ago, which was different from this one though. This one doesn't really convince me on opening, let's see if it evolves into something more spectacular. There is fruits and sweetness, but also some acidity and some bitterness. Overly active casks as some suggested? The peat somewhat restrained by the casks? I seem to appreciate it a bit better with some water. My guess is i love the bourbon casks, i love the sherries casks, but I'm not a fan of the STR influence. Belgium batch 1 springs to mind, another less convincing bottle for me. 86 for now, which gives room to improve overtime...

Very good, well integrated alcohol.

Wine source Lühmann For me it is somehow not finished. Too young and uneven

Sweet smoke, maple syrup, pine shoots, peat, iodine, dark chocolate, red fruits. Dry grass, green vegetables, dark chocolate, burnt cherry pie, oriental spices. Finish long, warming with notes of white pepper, cherries and dark chocolate.

Well balanced, slightly diluted cask strength. The Islay character is there, paired with fruity notes.

Aroma: salty, iodine, with delicate peat. From the freshly opened bottle there were plenty of beer and apple notes, but as it oxidized these notes faded into the background and gave way to dried mango, orange peel, basil, coriander and salted caramel. 22 Taste: bright, burning and tingling on the tongue, but at the same time oily - like apples soaked in young alcohols, lemon zest, red currants, ginger, red pepper, salty-smoky shades. 21 Finish: Medium length (but frankly quite short by Kilhoman standards), both delicately lemony and creamy, and smoky and peppery with a smoky finish. 21 Balance: 20. It is very difficult to evaluate this sample. On the one hand, it is too obvious that very young alcohols were used - this gives rise to the mash-apple tones and the harshness of the taste. But at the same time, with all the input, the final product is pretty good. On the day we opened the bottle, I would have given it 83 points, as the “youth” of the spirits stuck out in the aroma. After a month in the bottle I would be ready to give 85 points. As a compromise solution, I deduct a point for balance and settle on a score of 84. Total: 84

Tasted 11/25 at Zurich Volkshaus

On the nose it’s peaty, earthy, with citrus notes. Got some vanilla and ash in the background. On the palate there is some vanilla sweetness before the peat and ash come in. Finish is dry and woody with some salinity. Adding water brought balance.

Alcohol moderate in aroma, light vanilla Sweet, dry, very spicy Very dry finish

Nice and fruity but the peat takes away from the other great taste

Tasted on November 11th, 2024 during the St Martin singing with Philip.

Smokiest i ever had. Cold ashy smoke punching your face. Octomore cant compete here. Chimney party. People left our table because of the brutal smoke. An ashtray to drink in michelin quality. Just wow

verry good

Actually, exactly what you expect from Islay whisky at a higher ABV. Nothing to complain about!