Kilchoman, Islay’s new farm distillery celebrated its first milestone on 14th December last year when the first cask to be filled at the distillery reached the legal whisky requirement of three years maturation in an oak cask. Founded in 2005 by Anthony Wills and privately owned, Kilchoman produces just 90,000 litres of spirit a year. Not only one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, it is also unique on Islay in that a proportion of the barley used in production is grown in the fields surrounding the distillery and malted on site.

'It is a very special day for all those connected with the distillery” said Anthony Wills, Managing Director. 'At times we thought we’d never get there but the spirit has been very well received around the world which is always encouraging and our next milestone is the release of our first single malt in September 2009.' Malcolm Rennie, Distillery Manager said 'for me it is hugely satisfying to have initially produced a unique quality new spirit and then for three years watch as it has evolved into an exceptional young whisky. The whole distillery team are justifiably proud of their efforts and will continue to take Kilchoman through to a truly special Islay whisky'.

I myself am still puzzling a bit with the different pictures I have from Cask nr1 at Kilchoman. In the picture in this article you see cask nr1 with a printed year of 2005! Now have a look at the whisky festival pictures of 2006 and what do you see there? A picture of Kilchoman cask nr1 with a printed year of 2006. Does anyone have a clue about the different dates on the casks? There will probably be a logical explanation but I havent found one so far.

Tag: kilchoman whisky distillery

This story was published with kind permission of the Ileach local newspaper.