Kilchoman 13 yo Limited Release announced

The Kilchoman distillery, founded at the Fèis Ìle 2005, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. As part of the anniversary celebrations, Kilchoman plans to release an anniversary series comprising four bottlings aged between 14 and 18 years. In addition, all other limited releases, such as Loch Gorm, 100% Islay etc., are also set to be released this year with age statements, in order to demonstrate to whisky enthusiasts worldwide, using figures that were previously considered of little importance, what Kilchoman has achieved in 20 years.

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The first limited release of the year with an age statement is a 13-year-old bottling, which has now been announced and is due to be released in a few days.

It is a vatting of 70% bourbon barrels / 20% bourbon “Octave casks” and 10% calvados casks. According to Kilchoman, this exciting blend has resulted in a wonderfully balanced whisky with layers of orchard fruits, vanilla and maritime peat smoke.

The aforementioned Octave and Calvados casks require some explanation regarding their age and designation. The informed whisky lover is likely to be puzzled when reading the text on the packaging, which is very general by Kilchoman’s standards, given that the use of Calvados casks has only been permitted since 2019 and 13 years of maturation in a Octave casks would suggest extreme woody flavours rather than a balanced whisky.

But both questions can be explained: as with earlier Kilchoman bottlings, the ‘Octave Casks’ are in fact Quarter Casks, i.e. casks with a volume of approx. 100 litres, which were made for Kilchoman by a cooperage from Bourbon cask staves. This is not the first time Kilchoman has confusingly referred to these casks as Octave Casks, and this too is a reminder of earlier releases where Kilchoman had used the terms Octave Cask and Quarter Cask very inconsistently. As is well known, an Octave cask has a capacity of 50–60 litres; for a cask with a capacity of 100 litres, the term Quarter Cask (usually with a capacity of approx. 125 litres) is much more appropriate. Furthermore, the whisky was not matured in these casks for 13 years; rather, these are the casks not used in Kilchoman’s Quarter Cask Release in 2016 (as is well known, only 95 of the 132 Quarter Casks filled in October 2010 were used for that bottling), which were subsequently mostly decanted into refill bourbon barrels, precisely to prevent the whisky from becoming too woody. With the 13 years old release, Kilchoman has now, years later, found a way to use these casks, and it must be said that this is not simply ‘disposing of leftover casks’, but rather the Quarter Casks lend the whisky an additional lovely spiciness.

Although Kilchoman, like some other distilleries, filled its first Calvados casks before 2019, these are of course not 13 years old; rather, they are Calvados finishes of just a few years’ age from ex-bourbon barrels.

To summarise: all the whiskies used for this bottling are, of course, 13 years old, but the maturation or post-maturation period in the Quarter casks and Calvados casks was only around 5 years.

Kilchoman Founder Anthony Wills wrote: “After the overwhelming response to our 16 Year Old, I’m excited to announce the release of another age statement Kilchoman – The 13 Years Old. The ex-bourbon casks make up the large part of the vatting, lending that unmistakable Kilchoman character, while the addition of calvados casks, which may surprise a few people, infuses vibrant green apple and fresh fruit notes into the mix.”
“Although our older stocks remain limited, we’re excited to share a variety of aged Kilchoman expressions with you over the next few years.”

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Cask types: Bourbon Barrels, Bourbon Octave Casks [recte: Quarter Casks] & Calvados Cask (Finishings)

Date Bottled: 02/2025

Age: 13 yo

Strength: 50,0 % abv

Level of Phenols in malted barley: 50 ppm

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Bottle codes:
13Y 11/02/25 25/17
13Y 12/02/25 25/17

GTIN: 5 060210 708245

Distribution: worldwide

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Tasting Notes:

Nose: Fragrant and delicate with bursting notes of fresh pineapple, hibiscus and lemon sherbets

Palate: Herbaceous with undertones of dried apple granola, caramelised puffed wheat and buttered popcorn.

Finish: Light and graceful with reminiscence of orchard fruits and zesty freshness.

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