Timeline 2017
14 February: Dr James Swan passed away
On 14 February 2017, the renowned Scotch whisky expert Dr James Swan passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in Edinburgh at the age of 75. Jim Swan was a scientist and consultant who applied his unrivalled knowledge of whisky to the planning and commissioning of numerous new distilleries in Scotland and around the world.
In his function as “Whisky Consultant”, he had an immense influence on the planning and construction of the Kilchoman distillery. For example, he designed the shape and size of the stills, set the parameters of the fermentation and distilling regime, all with the aim of achieving a relatively light-bodied, fruity and fast-maturing whisky, as specified by Anthony Wills. In addition, he was Anthony Wills’ most important advisor on all matters relating to the operation of the distillery, including the cask programme, and through his extensive contacts in the whisky industry managed to get the renowned Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky to accept Kilchoman as a buyer for its casks. Anthony Wills repeatedly referred to James Swan as his most important mentor. So it is not surprising that James Swan’s signature adorned the labels of many early Kilchoman bottlings.
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28 March: Cask No. 142/2006 stolen
On 28 March 2017 Kilchoman announced that the entire bottling of Cask No. 142/2006 has been stolen and asked anyone offered a bottle of this bottling for sale to contact the distillery immediately. This was the bottling of a Private Cask by Stuart Wilson, distilled on 12 July 2006 and bottled on 24 July 2016 with an alcohol content of 52.1%. The entire edition of 257 bottles was sent to its owner in the Birmingham area in the summer of 2016, but due to a wrong address the delivery was lost. After the police completed their investigation and only 3 bottles reappeared, the distillery decided to go public.
Anthony Wills wrote: “We went public once it became clear the bottles weren’t going to be recovered. Ten-year-old private single cask bottlings of Kilchoman are retailing for up to £150 including VAT, giving the haul a potential value of over £38,000.”
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3 April: Loch Gorm 2017 released
The 6th edition of the range – named after Islay’s largest freshwater lake, situated near the distillery, and reserved exclusively for whiskies matured in Oloroso sherry casks – was created from sherry butts, all of which were filled in 2009.
The whisky was therefore over 7 years old and, at that time, the oldest of the Loch Gorm bottlings. The run totalled 13,500 bottles, bottled at 46% ABV.
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1 May: 100% Islay 7th Edition released
The 2017 bottling of the series was distilled in 2010 and matured for over 7 years in fresh and refill ex-bourbon barrels, making it the longest matured edition of the 100% Islay series.
Production Manager Robin Bignal wrote about it: “The development of the 100% Islay casks from the Inaugural release up to this, the oldest 100% Islay release, has been intriguing to see. As the bourbon barrel maturation influences the spirit over time it has taken on a real depth of character and complexity to add to the light citrus fruit and peat smoke of the Kilchoman spirit.”
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1 June: Kilchoman Open Day at Fèis Ìle 2017
At the Fèis Ìle 2017, and particularly at the Kilchoman Open Day on 1 June, Kilchoman fans were once again treated to an extensive and interesting programme: special tours with Anthony Wills and Islay Heads, tastings and masterclasses (“The Vatting Masterclass” with Anthony Wills and the “Club Members’ Masterclass” with James and Peter Wills) and, of course, the ever-popular “Be a Bottler” event. There was also delicious food and drink, and live music from Trail West, The Islay Pipe Band, The Blueswater and Reely Jiggered.
The Fèis Ìle Release 2017 was a vatting of two 100% Islay casks specially selected by Anthony Wills: a Bourbon barrel filled in July 2008 and an Oloroso sherry butt filled in October 2009. The 877 bottles, priced at £90.00, naturally sold out on the very first day of the event.
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July: The Great Islay Swim
On 29 July 2017, Explorers Club Members Chad Anderson and Justin Fornal, along with fellow swimmer Johnnie Mundell, completed the first circumnavigational swim of the 100-mile coastline of Islay. Entitled The Great Islay Swim, the circumnavigation took eight days. The aim of the expedition was to celebrate the island of Islay – to include each of the local distilleries, celebrate the island’s whisky heritage, honour the local ruins and historic sites and retrace the history. Fornal and Anderson’s expedition team included a botanist, an architectural historian and a film crew to record the journey and explore the island’s geography.
To make things even harder, The Great Islay Swim chaps had a quarter cask in tow that they needed to fill with whisky from all the eight active whisky distilleries on Islay. The resulting vatted malt was married for several months in that very same quarter cask before being bottled under the name “Explorer’s Cask” by the independent American bottler Single Cask Nation and sold from the beginning of 2018. All proceeds were donated to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI).
On 7 July 2017, Chad and Justin were guests at Kilchoman. Together with Anthony Wills and Robin Bignal, they tasted some drams and took a share of Kilchoman whisky for their cask.
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4 September: Vintage 2009 released
The 4th edition of the biennial series set a new age record again, it was the first 8-year globally available release of a Kilchoman whisky. Besides fresh- and refill bourbon barrels from 2009, 3 Oloroso sherry butts from 2008 were also given to the vatting “to add additional layers of rich cooked fruits to balance with the lighter citrus and vanilla of the bourbon barrels” as the announcement says.
Not only does this took the name of the release ad absurdum, the addition of sherry casks to a previously pure bourbon barrel release caused some frowning among fans of the series.
Anthony Wills wrote about this release: “The evolution of Kilchoman single malt is well represented through our Vintage range. Now at eight years of maturation, the balance and depth of character coming through on both the nose and the palate is incredible. The oloroso sherry influence in the 2009 Vintage compared to the previous releases has given this whisky a different dimension with layered fruit and added sweet notes.”
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4 to 15 September: USA West Coast Tour
The major marketing tour of 2017 took place along the US West Coast. Starting in Southern California, George and Peter Wills, accompanied by Sam Filmus and Chris Uhde from the US importer ImpEx Beverages Inc – and, for the final leg of the tour, also by Anthony Wills – travelled over 1,500 miles northwards from Los Angeles to Seattle in a hired Land Rover Discovery. During the tour, they hosted 16 major Kilchoman tastings and countless other events, such as ‘meet & greets’ in whisky shops, seminars for the United States Bartender’s Guild and staff at the Portland-based company Vinum Importing, and even a Kilchoman cocktail competition. A visit to the Westland Distillery in Seattle, on the other hand, was more of a sightseeing trip.
For the tour, an exclusive Machir Bay cask-strength bottling was once again produced in a limited run of 840 bottles.
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25 September: Barley harvest completed
The barley harvest, which had already started on 17 September with a new combine harvester but had to be interrupted after 2 days due to bad weather, has now finally been completed. A total of 204 tonnes were harvested, which equates to a yield of 1.9 tonnes per acre.
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9 October: Red Wine Cask Matured Release
Following on from the Port, Madeira and Sauternes wine releases of recent years, Kilchoman continued its series of annual limited-edition wine cask maturations in 2017 with a Red Wine Cask Matured Edition.
Distilled in 2012, the whisky was matured for 5 years in Red Wine casks from Portugal’s Douro Valley. Anthony Wills selected twenty casks for this release, yielding almost 7,000 bottles at 50% ABV.
Anthony Wills wrote: “We are delighted with the Red Wine Cask Matured, it’s unlike anything we’ve bottled previously, the full-flavoured influence of the Douro valley red wine casks have added depth, body and layers of rounded cooked fruits to the classic Kilchoman citrus sweetness and peat smoke character.”
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6 December: Kilchoman Club Release 6th Edition released
The 6th edition of the Club Release was available from Wednesday 6 December, exclusively to members of the Kilchoman Club via the Kilchoman website, at a price of £99.00 per bottle, limited to one bottle per person.
The 2017 release was a vatting of five 10-year-old bourbon casks at cask strength (57.4%), all of which were distilled on 1 November 2007 and bottled on 20 November 2017. The yield was 1,241 bottles.
The casks were individually selected by Kilchoman Founder Anthony Wills and represented his idea of the perfect Kilchoman 10-year-old. “For me personally, Kilchoman is best when matured in fresh bourbon barrels, the lighter influence of the American oak makes for a more harmonious marriage between cask and spirit. This allows for Kilchoman’s natural floral citrus character to develop and integrate with that of the bourbon oak flavours. These casks are like our crown jewels, we have few casks over ten years old so need to be very selective with when they are bottled. These being fresh barrels, are at their peak now, the balance is fantastic and they are some of the very best Kilchoman casks I’ve tasted.”
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