pkingmartin
Kilchoman Machir Bay
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
January 23, 2022 (edited May 28, 2022)
I’m not sure if there are batch differences as there seems to be a batch on Distiller for every year, so I’ll include here that this is the 2019 batch. This is my first Kilchoman and a huge thank you to @ctbeck11 for giving me the bottle.
The nose is soft and light starting with a mix of gentle wafts of peat smoke, caramelized peach and lime zest then lemon poppy seed muffins and cocoa powder dusted toasted nuts followed by kiwi and oven baked salted orange that transition to ginger, fresh opened bandages and a tongue depressor with medium ethanol burn.
The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with a fruity smoky mix of light puffs of pipe smoke intermixed with grilled caramelized peach with lime zest on top then lemon frosted vanilla Angel food cake that then veers towards a chalky and moderate ashy spice that quickly fades to kiwi, passion fruit and orange sports drink that transition to pickled ginger, fresh opened bandages and a tongue depressor with medium ethanol burn.
The finish is medium length with lemon lime Popsicle, smoldering campfire, a salty ocean breeze and light oak.
Overall, this is an easy sipping fruity whisky that brings a very gentle peat smoke that is well-balanced, but is a bit youthful and thin. For a young whisky, this shows a lot of promise for their stock as they age and I’d very much like to taste their expressions at a higher proof with an older age statement.
Side by side with another young Islay of Ardbeg Wee Beastie, the Wee Beastie has a creamier mouthfeel and the Kilchoman seems more like a peated version of lemon lime Gatorade. At around $67 for the Kilchoman and $47 for the Wee Beastie, I’d rather bring home the Beastie, but if someone wanted a gentler peat smoke, the Kilchoman would probably be the better option.
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@cascode it’s a TWE limited edition one, came out last year I think.
@PBMichiganWolverine Really? Is it a limited or vintage edition? I didn’t think there had ever been an age statement M. Bay.
@skillerified Machir Bay has gradually been getting more mature. The first releases were little over 3 years old but it’s zooming in on eventually being a 10 year old with age statement as core, I reckon.
@skillerified I have a 13 yr old theirs, but not sure if there’s a 15yr out there yet
@ctbeck11 Happy to have it. That’s a shame you’d get headaches, I’ve been enjoying it as there is only a quarter bottle left without any headaches.
@skillerified Ah, looks like their 100% Islay 11th edition is over 9 years old , bottled at 50% and sounds fantastic. I’ll have to keep a look out for it and the farm to bottle making it cost more makes sense.
Thank you for taking it off my hands! For some reason, I always got a headache when I drank this one.
I'm looking forward to some age statement releases. The distillery is only 15 years old, so maybe over the next 5 years we start to see a few more. Saw a 9 year special release recently. Also, if you buy into the handcrafted, malted on site, peat sourced from the farm, etc, story, the higher cost makes sense. Same idea as Springbank, which I think is priced somewhat similarly.