Kilchoman 100% Islay 15th Edition released

After Kilchoman announced the successful completion of this year’s barley harvest on the fields of Rockside Farm last week, this year’s 100% Islay Edition has now been released right on time in September. Since 2018, Kilchoman has moved the release date of its annual 100% Islay Release, made from the farm’s own barley, to autumn, linking it to the end of the barley harvest.

This year’s 15th edition of the popular series is a vatting of 54 ex-bourbon barrels that were filled in 2015 and 2016. This means that the 9-year-old whisky was made from barley harvested at Rockside Farm in 2014 and 2015. As is customary with the 100% Islay series, the whisky was bottled at an alcohol content of 50.0% abv.

Anthony Wills and Robin Bignal once again opted for pure bourbon cask maturation this year and against the addition of Oloroso sherry casks to the vatting, which we very much welcome.

The barley varieties grown at Rockside Farm have changed over the years. After the Optic variety, grown until 2010, which shaped the character of the first ten 100% Islay releases, we were able to taste whiskies from the eleventh 100% Islay Edition onwards, which were made from malt of the Publican variety grown from 2011 to 2014. For this year’s release, the Concerto variety, cultivated since 2015, has been used for the first time alongside Publican.

We are therefore particularly excited about this year’s edition, as past experience has shown that the barley varieties used do indeed result in a noticeably different flavour profile, especially in the slightly lighter peated 100% Islay distillate. As we have described here several times, the strawberry fruitiness of the early Optic 100% Islay releases changed to more tropical fruit notes (‘pineapple notes’) in the whiskies made from Publican barley.

Anthony Wills, Kilchoman founder and managing director, described this year’s release as follows: “Fresh vanilla gives way to tropical fruit, toasted oak, and salted butter, with layers of candied citrus fruits, ripe pear, white pepper and waves of peat smoke.” 

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Cask type: ex-Bourbon Barrels

Date Filled: 2015, 2016

Date Bottled: 08 & 09/2025

Age: 9 yo

Strength: 50,0 % abv

Level of phenols in malted barley: approx. 20 ppm

Barley varieties: Publican & Concerto

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Distribution: worldwide

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