Kilchoman Port Cask Matured (2018 Edition)

It seems every time I get back into the swing of things, something else comes along to knock me off my stride. It’s been 2 weeks since my last review, no thanks to a cold, bedroom painting/remodeling and fresh ink on my arm that kept me from any alcohol for a few days. Well I’m back at it, going through my backlog of samples. Came across this port matured Kilchoman that @LeeEvolved sent me months ago, so I figured why not? Bottled at 50% ABV, non chill filtered and natural color of a dark orange with ruby red hues, almost pink at times. This is the 2018 release. The nose is all sweet smoky goodness. Sugary candy covered in dirt and ashes. Grilled plums and peaches, sweet BBQ sauce and BBQ chicken. Strawberry lemonade, lemon zest and sweet port wine notes. Slight medicinal/iodine notes, not un-Laphroaig like. Wine soaked oak and salty sea air. Peaches & cream, vanilla custard. Light mulling spices, salted chocolate with a pinch of cayenne pepper. Peat, dark honey, butter toffee and caramel. Buttery and a touch sulfuric but nothing to detract from the experience. A quick hit of maple at the bottom of the glass. Water tones down the smoky notes and brings up the fruitiness a bit and more vanilla. It’s a touch sour though and is better without water. The palate is sweet and smoky with plenty of power to it. More sweet than smoky. Peppered beef jerky, tangy BBQ sauce. Slightly tannic oak but still enjoyable. Sweet port wine, but not as thick as you might expect. Damp ashes, campfire smoke. Very salty, dark chocolate and toffee. Grilled plums and peaches. Quite good, if not a little simplistic. Water has the opposite effect as the nose. It was less sweet and the smoky notes seemed turned up a notch. Thinner overall though, best left at bottle strength. A medium to full bodied mouthfeel that is oily, mouthwatering and mouth coating. The finish is long with ashy peat, smoky BBQ sauce and lightly fruity. A pretty good port matured Islay. Nothing unpleasant about it to me. It falls a bit too heavy on the sugary sweet side for my liking (I prefer savory sweet), but it’s a minor fault. Definitely a fall/winter dessert dram. It’s about what I would expect from Kilchoman, which is quality at a slightly higher than expected price. I believe Lee paid around $90 and I think that’s about $10 too much. A solid 4, which is 2 full points higher than Lee scored it...what happened Lee? Cheers

This has a lot of cask characteristics, so the early port flavors are great, but the smoke and wood soon follows, there is definitely some peat in there too. For a whisky that’s only 4 years old this is pretty good stuff, and with some water opens up a bit. The cask is definitely the star of the show though, and the finish is all smoky wood with hints of tar and a pinch of sea salt. Good for cold days.