MacBeatha Series

The same tube was used as packaging for all four MacBeatha bottlings. Therefore, all releases have the same barcode and the alcohol content printed on the back of the tube is that of the first release, which was only occasionally corrected by hand on subsequent bottlings.

From the mid-1990s to 2005, Anthony Wills was known as a fairly successful independent bottler. During this time, he released over 100 single cask bottlings of Scottish whisky through his company, Liquid Gold Enterprises Ltd. In an interview for Whisky Magazine in 2002, he spoke of his plans to continue this for a few more years, particularly to generate much-needed income for the ongoing operation of the Kilchoman distillery. However, these plans were not realised, as the planning and operation of Kilchoman obviously required all his time and financial resources.

However, Anthony returned to his old profession with the ‘MacBeatha Series’, released under the Kilchoman Distillery label (i.e. not under Liquid Gold Enterprises). The four releases, which appeared between 2007 and 2010, took up the ‘MacBeatha hypothesis’ propagated by the well-known whisky author Charles McLean, which assumes that the cradle of Scottish whisky distillation was on the west coast of Islay in the parish of Kilchoman.

All four bottlings were Islay whiskies, starting with a 15-year-old Bowmore Rumfinish, which was released for Fèis Ìle 2007, followed by a 15-year-old Bruichladdich for Fèis Ìle 2008, a seven-and-a-half-year-old Caol Ila in 2010 and finally, as the fourth and last release, another Bowmore, this time 13 years old. These hand-numbered bottlings, most of which were signed by Anthony Wills, not only generated additional income for Kilchoman, but also enabled the distillery to offer visitors, especially during the Fèis Ìle, special releases for purchase, thereby increasing the attractiveness of the visitor centre.

The fact that the first edition of the MacBeatha series is often referred to at auctions as ‘Kilchoman’s first whisky’ contains a grain of truth (Kilchoman’s first own whisky was not released until 2009), but seems to me to be far too exaggerated.

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Bowmore 15 yo (MacBeatha – First Edition)

Cask No.: 3741

Cask type: Bourbon Cask, Rum Finish

Distilled: February 1992

Bottled: April 2007

Strength: 54,3 % abv

Number of bottles: 110

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Barcode: 5 060142 160029

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Bruichladdich 15 yo (MacBeatha – Second Edition)

Cask type: unknown

Distilled: unknown

Bottled: 2008

Strength: 46,0 % abv

Number of bottles: 132

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Barcode: 5 060142 160029

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Caol Ila (MacBeatha – Third Edition)

Cask type: (Ex-Bourbon) Hogshead

Distilled: October 2000

Bottled: May 2008

Strength: 60,9 % abv

Number of bottles: 322

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Barcode: 5 060142 160029

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Bowmore (MacBeatha – Fourth Edition)

The fourth MacBeatha bottling here with a golden capsule. There are also bottles with the blue metal capsule familiar from the early Kilchoman releases.

Cask type: (Ex-Bourbon) Hogshead

Distilled: March 1997

Bottled: March 2010

Strength: 60,3 % abv

Number of bottles: 315

Bottle volume: 0,7 l

Barcode: 5 060142 160029

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