Two new Kilchoman Releases in the Distillery Shop: Port Cask Finish 915/2016 & The RugbyField Malt
Two new single cask bottlings are now available in the Kilchoman Visitor Centre, the new Distillery Shop Exclusive release and a special bottling.
The Distillery Shop Exclusive Release is a Port Cask Finish: the whisky was first matured for almost 5 years in an ex-bourbon barrel and was then finished for 20 months in a Ruby Port cask. The yield was 247 bottles at an alcohol content of 56.8%.
The bottling is available for £98.98 per bottle at the Kilchoman Visitor Centre.
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The second bottling is something very special: the first single malt whisky in the RugbyField Range by Richie Gray and the Du Plessis brothers.
The RugbyField concept was born when Scottish rugby coach Richie Gray and two of his players, South African brothers Jannie and Bismarck Du Plessis, had a dream after a match to create a vineyard the size of a rugby field, including the posts, and to create an exclusive wine made only from the grapes of that vineyard.
This dream soon became a reality when Gray and the Du Plessis brothers visited Chateau de Valcombe in Générac, France, where they and the Ricomes, tenth-generation winemakers, created La Grande Mélée 2018, a Valcombe wine made out of 90% Syrah and 10% Grenache grapes.
Proud Scotsman Gray then wanted to add a single malt to the RugbyField range and approached the Wills family of Kilchoman Distillery, Islay’s only farm distillery.
Together they selected a 9-year-old single cask, distilled from barley grown in Kilchoman’s Rugby Park field. Rugby Park is one of the fields of Rockside Farm, easily recognisable by the rugby posts as you drive past towards Machir Bay, and was named because it was the site of the first rugby pitch on the Island of Islay.
The cask was already bottled in September 2022, Kilchoman is now selling a part of the release at the Visitor Centre for £112.95.
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Port Single Cask Finish for The Distillery Shop
Cask No.: 915/2016
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon Barrel, Ruby Port Cask Finish
Date Filled: 17.10.2016
Date Bottled: 15.5.2023
Age: 6 yo
Strength: 56,8 % abv
Phenol level: 50 ppm
Number of bottles: 247
Bottle volume: 0,7 l
Barcode: 5 060210 707057
Distribution: Distillery Shop Exclusive
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Picture by Carol-Ann MacTaggart
The RugbyField Malt – 9 yo 100% Islay Single Cask
Cask No.: 530/2013
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon Barrel
Date Filled: 25.7.2013
Date Bottled: 12.9.2022
Age: 9 yo
Strength: 56,5 % abv
Phenol level: approx. 20 ppm
Number of bottled: 245
Bottle volume: 0,7 l
Barcode: 5 060210 706418
Distribution: Distillery Shop Exclusive
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