Kilchoman Blanc de Blancs Single Cask Finish 1108/2016 – ImpEx Cask Evolution 02/2023

Pictures by John Born

Cask No.: 1108/2016

Cask type: Ex-Bourbon Barrel, Blanc de Blancs Wine Cask Finish

Date Filled: 26.11.2016

Date Decanted: 8.8.2022

Date Bottled: 10.7.2023

Age: 6 yo

Finishing period: 11 months

Strength: 56,2 % abv

Level of Phenols in malted barley: 50 ppm

Bottle volume: 0,75 l

Number of bottles: 237

Bottle code: SC 11/7/23 23/117

Barcode: 8 92032 04582 7

Market: USA

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The US importer ImpEx Beverages released three new single cask bottlings in its renowned Cask Evolution series in August 2023. With No. 02/2023 listed here, ImpEx Beverages presented one of the world’s very first Kilchoman Blanc de Blancs wine cask maturations and, after a recent bottling of cask no. 1102/2016 for the Liquor Store Brown Jug from Alaska, already the second in the USA.

The whisky was first matured for almost 6 years in a bourbon barrel and was decanted on 8/8/2022 into a Blanc de Blancs wine cask from Champagne in which it was finished for 11 months.

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On 13 July 2023, I tasted cask no. 1108/2016 with Anthony Wills whilst it was still maturing in the Kilchoman warehouse, before it was bottled a few days later. This is a good example of how, with Kilchoman single cask bottlings, the bottling date stated on the label is not always entirely accurate – the labels are, after all, designed and printed weeks in advance, so it does happen that the bottling cannot take place on the originally planned day for whatever reason. Sometimes you can identify the correct bottling date from the differing bottle code, but as in this case, the date stamp is often adjusted to match the date on the label. HPN

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