Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Matured
I have a fairly large whisky collection at home, which means that when I sit down for a dram, I have a lot of choices. It usually takes me a while to get through an entire bottle from uncorking to empty. Months. Years even. So when I plow through a particular bottle at an abnormally fast rate, say half the bottle inside of two weeks, it’s a pretty good indication to me that the whisky is rather good. Today I review such a whisky.
It seems like I’ve said this about a few other distilleries in recent reviews (Talisker for instance), but I don’t know how I’ve managed to get this far into my reviewing history without having talked about Kilchoman. I really like Kilchoman. I really like how they go about their business as a small craft distiller on Islay, giving us expressions that are at least 46% ABV, non chill-filtered, natural color, and often with age information. Whisky that seems to be made out of love of whisky, rather than love of money. They’re one of the good guys, or so it seems to me. That said, I’ve never quite loved Kilchoman. Their whisky is good… but not quite great. At least that’s been my previous experience. Now I’ll admit, my experience is fairly limited, as I’ve only had a handful of different Kilchoman expressions—Machir Bay, Sanaig, Loch Gorm, and Cask Strength are the only expressions I’d tried previously. Still, that’s most of their core range. None of them are bad. None of them are mediocre. They’re all pretty good. But none of them really excite me. None of them make me want to run out and buy another bottle. Well, I’ve finally found a Kilchoman that excites me—Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Matured 2017 Edition.
Most every year Kilchoman releases a limited edition single malt aged in some sort of wine cask. The 2017 edition was aged in red wine casks from the Douro Valley in Portugal. I’ve become a bit of a sucker for red wine matured single malts (with some exceptions), so this 2017 Kilchoman had been on my “to buy” list for a while now, and I recently picked up a bottle. It was a good decision.
Kilchoman Red Wine Cask Review
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Islay
Age: 4-5 years (distilled in 2012, bottled in 2017)
ABV: 50%
Non chill-filtered
Natural color
Nose
Big smoky peat—straight up classic style Islay peat, with a good bit of tar and burnt rubber. Quite a bit of sweetness to counteract the smokiness, with red fruits and berries, chocolate, and sweet cinnamon. A lovely balance that is both inviting and intoxicating.
Palate
Huge cinnamon. Wow that cinnamon. A wonderful balance of spicy peat smoke and sweet fruits, as well as some savory meatiness. Plenty of berries and vanilla cream. A welcome hint of ramen with pork belly. Toasted marshmallow and a bit of dark chocolate. A crispy, slightly burnt chocolate chip cookie with walnuts. The red wine notes integrate with Kilchoman’s peat heavy malt very well. The mouthfeel is moderately thick and chewy with a fair amount of creaminess, although the mouthfeel isn’t really the star here—the balance of sweet, spice, and smoke is what shines. Eminently drinkable.
Finish
Fairly long, lingering for a bit with a sweet and spicy balance. More cinnamon. A bit smoky. And some more berries, along with vanilla bean ice cream and deep, dark chocolate.
Overall
While there’s nothing entirely revolutionary in the tasting notes—well OK, ramen with pork belly is a new one for me—the balance of flavor here is simply sublime. Smoky, fruity, meaty, sweet. It’s just so incredibly quaffable, no wonder my bottle is disappearing so quickly.
I mentioned earlier that I’m a sucker for red wine matured whisky when it’s done well, and this is done well. Really well. I personally find red wine maturation to be a bit preferable to the more common sherry or port maturation, as you get a lot of the same fruit goodness as you’d get from a fortified wine, but without the same level of sweetness. Yes, port maturation can be great, but it’s often too sweet for my tastes. Sherry is less sweet, but still sweeter than red wine. This of course is a personal preference, so keep that in mind. Regardless though, if you like a moderately sweet and spicy peated single malt, I think you’ll find this Kilchoman quite enjoyable.
SCORE: 9/10
Final Thoughts
If you look at my review history, you’ll see that I don’t give out many scores of 9 (or 10), although this makes two in the last few weeks. But damn, I love this whisky. I admit I might be overrating this Kilchoman based on my personal love for big red wine notes mixed with peat smoke, but hey, I like what I like. And damn I like this whisky.
Buying Advice: Not a cheap bottle (around $125), but worth the price of admission if you have a palate that’s even remotely close to mine. This is light years better than Ardbeg Grooves, which is also a limited edition, red wine matured Islay whisky that goes for about the same price (or more). Light years. Since many Islay whisky fans have no issue with paying good money for Grooves, I’d say Kilchoman Red Wine Cask is a good buy for the money.
Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.
For more reviews, check out the Whisky Review Archive.
