Kilchoman Private Single Sherry Cask 324/2006 for Islay Cask Company: Hypnum

Cask No.: 324/2006

Cask type: Oloroso Sherry Hogshead

Date Filled: 15.11.2006

Date Bottled: 22.2.2019

Age: 12 yo

Strength: 56,1 % abv

Phenol level: 50 ppm

Number of bottles: 270

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Market: Germany

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The Islay Cask Company is a group of five Islay-loving whisky enthusiasts from Germany who decided to bottle their first own whisky cask in 2017 and subsequently became a small independent bottler with a focus on Islay. The release listed here was already their third Kilchoman single cask bottling and the first 12-year-old Kilchoman whisky matured in Oloroso sherry casks worldwide.

In 2006 and 2007, Kilchoman sold numerous casks to private individuals in order to obtain urgently needed capital for the distillery’s ongoing operations during the economically strained early years. These were almost exclusively 1st fill and 2nd fill bourbon barrels.
Later, they tried to buy back as many of these casks as possible, as the stocks of whisky from the first years had quickly become very scarce. This buy-back programme was only moderately successful, however, and most owners kept their casks and usually had them bottled after the original agreed storage period of 10 years. So there was a great wave of Kilchoman Private Cask bottlings in 2016 and 2017.

The bottling listed here is one of the not-so-rare examples of whisky shop owners or small independent bottlers participating in the Kilchoman Private Cask Programme or buying up such casks from their original owner or taking over the distribution.