Kilchoman 100% Islay, 2nd Edition announced

Kilchoman today announced the release of the 2nd edition of the annual limited “100% Islay” release for 1 September 2012. As with the first edition, the whisky produced “from barley to bottle” 100% by the Kilchoman distillery is a vatting of 1st fill and refill bourbon barrels, in which the whisky was matured for more than 3 years. Compared to the first edition, however, the casks are supposed to be somewhat older, according to Kilchoman.

The series has now been given beautifully designed new packaging by Breeze Creative with a highly recognisable effect.

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Cask type: Fresh and Refill Bourbon Barrels

Distilled: 2008, 2009

Bottled: 08/2012

Age: 3 yo

Strength: 50,0 % abv

Level of phenols in malted barley: approx. 20 ppm

Number of bottles: ?

Bottle volume: 0,7 l / 0,75 l

Bottle code: none

Barcode: 5 060210 700249

Distribution: worldwide

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Tasting Notes:

Colour: light gold

Nose: first impression: fruity in a combination of citrus (a lot), yellow fruits (rather little) still somewhat reminiscent of New Make (fruit brandy), hardly any smoke, slightly pungent, also some nut, honey and vanilla.

Taste: slightly oily mouthfeel, alcohol still quite dominant, not perfectly integrated, also yellow fruits and vanilla

Finish: medium long, dry-smoky, slightly bitter at the end

Very similar to the Inaugural Release, but you can tell that the casks used here were a bit older: less new make notes, alcohol a bit better integrated, less yellow fruit, a bit more vanilla. But it still seems a little flat overall, so we can look forward to its further development.

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