Timeline 2011
18 – 20 February: Whisky Live! Japan 2011
The well-known whisky fair, Whisky Live! Japan, took place for the 11th time from 18 to 20 February 2011. This year, not only had the venue changed – moving from Odaiba to the ‘Tokyo Midtown’ complex in Tokyo’s Minato ward – but the fair had also been extended to include two public days, bringing the total duration to three days.
But perhaps the biggest change was that it formed the highlight of a much more comprehensive nationwide initiative to promote whisky throughout Japan, known as ‘Whisky Week’ Whisky Week will run from February 14 to February 20.
Anthony Wills, who was currently on a promotional tour of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, presented, amongst other things, an exclusive Kilchoman Single Cask Release at the fair – a whisky matured for exactly four years in an Oloroso sherry butt.
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28 March: Spring 2011 Release launched
On 28 March 2011, the Spring 2011 Release – the sixth and last of the ‘Seasonal Releases’ – was launched. From 2012 onwards, Machir Bay will be established as the standard whisky. The ‘Spring 2011 Release’ is a vatting of 3- and 4-year-old fresh and refill bourbon casks.
As with the previous ‘Seasonal Releases’, the contents of the individual casks were first blended on Islay and reduced to 46% ABV, before being delivered to the Houston Bottling Company in Dumbarton, where the bottling took place.
At the end of July 2011, the bottling won the gold medal – Best in Class – in the Best Islay Whisky without an age statement category at the prestigious annual ‘International Wine and Spirits Competition’.
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April: First Distillery Shop Exclusive Release
In April 2011, the first Distillery Shop Exclusive Release was launched – i.a. a bottling available exclusively at the Kilchoman Visitor Centre. Since then, these exclusive bottlings have become a regular feature of the Distillery Shop’s range and are always a lovely souvenir to bring back from a visit to Islay.
The first release made quite an impression straight away: following a single cask bottling for Denmark just a few days earlier, this was only the second release of a 5-year-old Kilchoman whisky worldwide.
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16 & 17 April: Hanse Spirit 2011
On 16 and 17 April 2011, the Hanse Spirit whisky fair took place for the first time at the Curio-Haus in Hamburg. The German Kilchoman importer, Alba Import, was not only represented there with a stand, but had also commissioned an exclusive fair-release bottling of a Kilchoman Single Cask. Distillery Manager John MacLellan was also in attendance and led a masterclass and held signing sessions.
The Kilchoman fair bottling was a bourbon barrel from 2006, aged for more than four years, selected by John MacLellan. It was available to purchase at the fair for €69.
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18 May: Spirit of United Blended Malt Scotch Whisky bottled
Following the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan in March 2011, a number of independent Scotch whisky distilleries (Arran, BenRiach, Bladnoch, GlenDronach, Kilchoman, Kilkerran and Springbank) came together to support the victims and created a joint Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, The Spirit of Unity.
As all other parties involved, including the designers and distribution channels, also waived payment, around £80,000 was realised from the sale of the bottles.
When the project was publicised in the media in April 2011, most of the 1200 bottles distributed in Scotland through Royal Mile Whiskies and Loch Fyne Whiskies were pre-ordered in a short space of time, with 800 bottles sold in Japan through Kawachiya Shuhan and Shinanoya. Some bottles were also donated to support the victims of the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand in February 2011.
Kilchoman contributed the ex-bourbon barrel no. 95/2006, which was filled on 7 June 2006.
Casks contained:
- Arran 1111/2000
- BenRiach 86036/2001
- Bladnoch 70/2002
- GlenDronach 3029/2003
- Kilchoman 95/2006
- Kilkerran 83/2004
- Springbank 70/2000
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26 May: Kilchoman Open Day at Fèis Ìle 2011
On Kilchoman Open Day, Kilchoman released a Fèis Ìle bottling for the second time. Two 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels, which were filled on 20.4.2006, were finished in a sherry butt for a good 4 months and bottled on 5.5.2011. The yield was 531 bottles with an alcohol content of 59.5%, which were sold on Open Day for £69.
Apart from that, Kilchoman again offered a lot of interesting programme items at the Fèis Ìle: General and Manager Tours, “Work experience” – here you could become part of the production team for a few hours, discussion rounds including cask tasting with Anthony Wills “The story so far…” and John MacLellan “A glimpse of the future…”, plus of course BBQ and bar, as well as live music.
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Beginning of June: new bottling room completed
At the beginning of June a new bottling room was completed. The bottling can now be done at least in parts by machine and the times of bottling with the help of teapots are finally history.
At the same time, Kilchoman introduces a newly designed bottle with a thick glass base, large corks and the Kilchoman logo glued on, which is still used today. Only the stocks of 0.75 l bottles for the US market are still so numerous that the USA releases are still filled into the old bottles for 2 years.
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16 June: “100% Islay Inaugural Release” released
Following on from previous Kilchoman bottlings, all of which were produced using malt from the Port Ellen Maltings, with the 100% Islay Inaugural Release Kilchoman is now launching the first whisky to reflect the credo of a farm distillery. From growing the barley, malting, kilning, mashing, fermenting, distilling, storing and bottling, all the production steps were carried out on site. “From barley to bottle” as the distillery slogan says.
The release is a vatting of over 3 year old fresh and refill Bourbon barrels. After being diluted to 50 per cent alcohol by volume using spring water from Islay, it was then bottled by hand using teapots from the Kilchoman Café. The new bottling line was installed shortly afterwards. A total of 11,300 bottles were bottled and exported to 21 countries.
As is well known, the rather long time gap between the two Inaugural Releases was due to the Kiln fire in February 2006. As a result, Kilchoman was only able to start 100% Islay production at the beginning of 2008.
Kilchoman once again organised a launch party to introduce the new release. The event was celebrated with family, friends, many whisky celebrities and numerous whisky bloggers. The well-known whisky author Charles MacLean took the opportunity to present the first 100% Islay whisky to the guests.
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- 16 June: Simultaneously with the launch of the “100% Islay Inaugural Release”, Kilchoman also released a small batch edition at cask strength, packaged in an attractive, handcrafted American white oak box and sold exclusively in the Distillery Shop for £149.
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24 – 26 September: Whisky Live Paris 2011
The well-known whisky fair Whisky Live Paris took place for the eighth time from 24 to 26 September 2011. Over 5,000 visitors gathered at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris over the three days to sample products from numerous whisky distilleries in Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, France, the USA and Tasmania, as well as rum, cognac, armagnac, calvados and tequila. The so-called Spirithèque made its debut – a large bar area featuring six leading Parisian cocktail bars as well as the legendary Harry’s Bar in the VIP area.
Kilchoman was represented at the fair by General Manager John MacLellan and his wife Lindy. Alongside the 100% Islay Inaugural Release and the Spring 2011 Release, they presented two new single cask releases for France: a bottling from a fresh Oloroso sherry butt (No. 323/2006) and one from a fresh bourbon barrel (No. 244/2006), both just under five years old.
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18 – 21 October: German Tasting Tour 2011
Following the hugely successful German Tasting Tour 2010, during which Kilchoman founder Anthony Wills visited five German cities in September 2010, the German importer Alba Import organised a new tasting tour in autumn 2011.
These were the tasting dates:
- Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 7.30 pm: “Zum Schad” restaurant, Halle / Saale – event organised by whiskyverkostung.com
- Wednesday, 19 October 2011, 7.30 pm: WHISKY & CIGARS, 10178 Berlin-Mitte
- Thursday, 20 October 2011, 7.00 pm: Orthmann Weine, 42105 Wuppertal
- Friday, 21 October 2011, 8.00 pm: Getränkewelt Weiser, 64646 Heppenheim
As in 2010, Alba Import had a special single cask bottled for the tour; this time, it was an Oloroso sherry butt aged just under five years (!).
Here are a few impressions from the tasting in Halle/Saale:
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14 November: “Vintage 2006” released
With the Vintage 2006 Release, which first became available in the Kilchoman Online Shop on 14 November 2011, Kilchoman launched a range of limited-edition vintage whiskies. In future, a new release was to be launched every two years, each with one year’s additional maturation. Apart from a few single cask bottlings already released during 2011, the Vintage 2006 was the first official release of a 5 year old Kilchoman whisky. With it, the “Futures” – rights to the first bottling of a 5-year-old Kilchoman – previously sold by the Kilchoman Distillery were redeemed. The Futures bottles and cartons were individually hand-numbered.
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2 December: New Kilchoman Connoisseurs Pack released
On 2 December 2012, Kilchoman released its second so-called The Connoisseurs Pack containing miniature bottles.
The New Spirit The Connoisseurs Pack, released in November 2008, contained three 5cl miniature bottles of Kilchoman Spirit – aged one month, one year and two years – in an attractively designed box.
The second Connoisseurs Pack, which has now been released, however, contained three 5cl miniatures of Kilchoman Limited Releases in a very similarly designed box: the Spring 2011 Release, the Inaugural 100% Islay Release and the 2006 Vintage Release.
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