Here’s the first dram from the Manchester Whisky Club’s tasting with Kilchoman, the 100% Islay.

Nose: Sweet vanilla, spring blossoms, wax crayons. Earthy, like the smell you get with fresh soil while gardening. Slightly nutty.

Palate: Sweet grassy barley, lots of vanilla with salty earth and dry vegetal peat.

Finish: A little waxy with smoky ashes.

The barley for Kilchoman’s 100% Islay is grown, malted, smoked, mashed, distilled, matured, and bottled all at Rockside farm where the distillery is based. They grow 100 tons of optic barley per year just for this annual release.

Bottled at 50% and matured exclusively in 1st fill Buffalo Trace bourbon, this one’s a light and floral introduction to the core range with a lighter peating level than the other regular releases.

I’m a really big fan of this – the nose is very fresh and delicate and there’s just something deeply earthy and wholesome about the whole thing.

Originally posted on Manchester Whisky Club.