Kilchoman US Releases in 2021 – An Overview
The USA is one of the most important markets for Kilchoman. Since the first Kilchoman release for the US market in 2010, they can look back on steadily increasing sales figures and have been able to build up a strong fan base – as even a quick glance at social media shows. The US importer since the very beginning has been the Californian company ImpEx Beverages, which under its president Sam Filmus has done a lot to establish the brand in the USA. In particular, many special single cask releases selected by ImpEx for the American market contributed to this. Especially the ImpEx Cask Evolution series could come up with some rare and excellent bottlings.
A particular challenge for this positive development was the 25% punitive tariffs announced at the end of 2019, which the Trump administration had imposed on Single Malt Scotch whisky, among others, in the trade dispute with the EU. Kilchoman and ImpEx quickly agreed to share the costs of the punitive tariffs and not pass them on to customers. A not inconsiderable financial burden for two medium-sized companies Anthony Wills and Sam Filmus were in their own words “focused on continuing the long term success of Kilchoman in the United States”.
After the lifting of the punitive tariffs, ImpEx set off a veritable fireworks display of new bottlings this year. 19 small batch and single cask releases alone have been released in the last few weeks and months or are announced for the coming weeks – thanks to COVID and Brexit, there are unfortunately a few months between the bottling at Kilchoman and the release in the USA.
With the multitude of new bottlings and the frequently postponed release dates, one can sometimes lose the overview, especially for our American readers but not only for them, we want to summarise the Kilchoman US Small Batch and Single Cask releases of the year 2021 in the following.
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Small Batch Releases
The series of Small Batch releases for selected markets, which began in 2019, is particularly popular and successful in the USA. While other Kilchoman markets around the world can usually boast two different small batch releases at the time, there are now six in the USA.
The “USA Small Batch No. 4” was released in spring 2021 and again featured a Madeira Hogshead as an additional cask to the Machir Bay vatting. The ratios are given as 65% bourbon, 5% sherry and 30% Madeira.
This was followed in late summer by the “USA Small Batch No. 5” and the “USA Small Batch No. 6”.
In the “USA Small Batch No. 5” the additional cask is a Sauternes Hogshead. The proportions are 70% bourbon, 5% oloroso sherry and 25% Sauternes.
In the “USA Small Batch No. 6”, on the other hand, a Pedro Ximénez Sherry Hogshead was added. The proportions are 70% bourbon, 5% oloroso sherry and 25% PX sherry.
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In the late summer of 2021, Kilchoman lovers in the USA could look forward to another very special small batch release, a “Bourbon Influenced Batch” created in close cooperation between the Kilchoman distillery and ImpEx Beverages.
As is well known, Kilchoman sources all its bourbon barrels from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. However, this distillery produces many different whiskies. Among them is the W. L. Weller Wheated Bourbon. While the mash of a classic straight bourbon whiskey consists of a minimum of 51% corn, plus rye and some barley malt, the wheated bourbon uses wheat instead of rye. This makes the whiskey “softer” and nuttier and less acidic in taste.
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During one of the warehouse tastings to select new single cask releases for the USA, Sam Filmus and Chris Uhde from ImpEx discovered the Weller Wheated Bourbon barrels in Kilchoman’s warehouses and the idea was born to create a special small batch from these casks. Five wheated bourbon barrels filled in spring 2012 were married and bottled at the popular US alcohol strength of 100 proof (50.0 % abv).
In order to emphasise the important role of the original US barrels, the contents of which are now returning from Scotland to the USA as a single malt, Kilchoman and ImpEx are still playing with the B.I.B. term. Naturally, a Scotch single malt whisky cannot be called “Bottled-in-Bond”, this protected term is reserved for straight bourbon whiskeys produced according to the known regulations. So the B.I.B. on the bottle then NATURALLY means “Bourbon Influenced Batch”…
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Single Cask Releases
In addition to the 4 small batch releases mentioned above, a full 15 single cask releases either appeared within the Cask Evolution series, for various liquor shops or fan groups, or have already been bottled and will be released in the coming weeks:
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Machir Bay Collaborative Vattings
In addition to the Small Batch and Single Cask releases, the 14 Machir Bay Collaborative Vattings released in the USA in 2021 are also listed here.
With this product line, launched in 2018, Kilchoman opened up the possibility for local whisky retailers to have a custom bottling of Kilchoman’s standard release. As is well known, the normal Machir Bay bottlings have an oloroso sherry cask content of around 10%, but with the Collaborative Vattings, the respective retailer can choose between four different variants with slightly different proportions: 5%, 7.5%, 12.5% and 15% sherry cask whisky.
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 87.5/12.5 | Hi Time |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 85/15 | Party Source |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 92.5/7.5 | Argonaut |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 95/5 | Ace Spirits |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 92.5/7.5 | Wine, Beer & Spirits |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 95/5 | Spirit World |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 92.5/7.5 | Dogwood Wine and Spirits |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 87.5/12.5 | Dogwood Wine and Spirits |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 95/5 | Lukas |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 87.5/12.5 | Whisky Soaked Souls |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 85/15 | Haskell’s |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 85/15 | Wise Old Dog, CT |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 85/15 | Sin Lee |
Kilchoman Machir Bay Collaborative Vatting | 95/5 | Daveco, CO |
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A truly amazing set of interesting bottlings that gives whisky lovers the opportunity to explore so many different Kilchoman whiskies.
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