Tasting Notes for Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2022 Release
Nose: Macerated lemons, buttery shortbread and Moroccan spices give way to rich sherry notes and faint notes of peat smoke.
Palate: Cloves, dark chocolate and juicy prunes with waves of roasted almonds, sultanas, nougat and peat embers.
Finish: Herbaceous, earthy and maritime with liquorice, leather and a distinctly dry sherry-soaked finish.
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Loch Gorm is the name given to Kilchoman’s annual sherry matured limited edition. Named after Islay’s largest freshwater lake neighbouring the distillery, the dark murky colour of the loch’s water is reflected in the rich coppery tones of their sherry matured Loch Gorm release.
The 2021 releases comprises of just 17,000 bottles and has been aged for at least 9 years in 500L first fill sherry butts from the Spanish Bodega Miguel Martin. Just 24 butts were used and these were married together, non-chill filtered, and bottled at 46% abv with natural colouring. -
A family run business, established by Anthony and Kathy Wills in 2005, Kilchoman was the first distillery to be built on Islay in over 124 years, and when it was established, it was Scotland’s smallest. Located at Rockside Farm in the west of the island, Kilchoman is Islay’s only farm distillery, producing Scotland’s only Single Farm Single Malt. By farm distillery and Single Farm Single Malt, we mean that everything from the grown barley, malting, distillation, maturation and bottling is done at the distillery.
Farm distilleries were by their very nature always self-sufficient and, while that is difficult these days with global demand for whisky on the rise, Kilchoman continues to try to stay true to that original model. Despite soaring demand for their critically acclaimed whiskies, 25% of its barley requirements come still come from the fields surrounding the distillery in Islay. It has two small malting floors and kilns which produce a medium-peated malt – the heavily peated with which it is mixed comes from Port Ellen. Inside the distillery, fermentation is long, helping to create fruitiness to balance the shoreline/shellfish-like phenolics, while an enlightened (and pricey) wood policy has seen a high percentage of first-fill ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks being used. The result is that Kilchoman has hit the start of its mature period at a remarkably young age.
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Producer Kilchoman Distillery Style Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Age A minimum of 9 years Volume 70CL ABV 46%