German Tasting Tour 2013 – a review
As we previously reported, the German Kilchoman importer Alba Import organised a German Tasting Tour in 2013 as well – for the fourth time. As in previous years, tastings took place in October at specialist whisky retailers in five German cities. Whilst the tours from 2010 to 2012 were led by Kilchoman founder Anthony Wills, this time it was Kilchoman Distillery Manager John MacLellan who travelled around Germany.
These were the stops on the tour:
- 21 October 2013: Wein und Whisky Reifferscheid, Bonn-Mehlem
- 22 October 2013: Friedrich Bremer Weinhandlung, Göttingen
- 23 October 2013: Whiskyland-Oranienburg, Oranienburg
- 24 October 2013: Flickenschild Whisky & Cigars, Itzehoe
- 25 October 2013: Scoma, Jever
There were some very interesting Kilchoman whiskies to taste:
- Machir Bay 2013 Release
- 100% Islay 3rd Edition
- Loch Gorm 2013
- Vintage 2007 Release
- Cask sample Portwine cask
- Small Batch for Germany
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Exclusively for the tasting tour, Alba Import had once again released a Kilchoman Small Batch bottling. For the bottling named ‘Small Batch for Germany’, three five-year-old first-fill ex-bourbon casks were selected and blended in collaboration with John MacLellan. The whisky was then finished for three months in ex-Oloroso sherry butts. The whisky was bottled at 59.4 per cent cask strength, without chill filtration or added colouring. The batch comprised 780 bottles.
During the highly entertaining evenings, distillery manager John MacLellan not only presented the Kilchoman bottlings in detail, but also provided plenty of background information, stories and anecdotes from the distillery.
Just like the previous three Kilchoman tours, the series of events was once again a resounding success!
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Here are a few impressions; the photos were once again provided by Alba Import:
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