...where distraction is the main attraction.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Kilchoman 5 year old 2007 cask 3010/2007 for Fountainhead

On Monday it was a 5 year old Kilchoman distilled in 2007 and matured in a bourbon cask. Today it's a 5 year old Kilchoman distilled in 2007 and matured in a sherry butt.  These two whiskies were bottled 6+ years ago and I have nothing Kilchoman-related scheduled for the rest of 2019. BUT, I intend to do two sets of comparative/retrospective reviews of Kilchoman single malts in 2020. And I'm kinda excited about those.

But for now, let's focus on Back Then. Single sherry casks of Kilchoman were a hot commodity several years back, mostly because sopping wet casks were being used by the young distillery, delivering righteous sherry+peat bombs at 4-6 years of age. I confirm that some of these were pretty super, but the prices — though short of Kavalan's nonsense — were prohibitive. I would like to thank Vik for the sample of this feisty thing!


DistilleryKilchoman
Region: Islay
Age: 5 years (14 November 2007 - 24 May 2013)
Maturation: sherry butt
Cask: 3010/2007
Exclusive to: Fountainhead (Chicago, IL)
Alcohol by Volume: 57.4%
Colored? No
Chillfiltered? No

NEAT
Pears, molasses, plums and mint leaves on the nose. Blue-scented Mr. Sketch marker smoke. A massive chalk note slowly transforms into a farmy note after some time in the glass. The palate begins with earth, almonds and blueberry jam. Cracked black pepper and red pepper flakes. Hefty smoke, mint candy and a brisk herbal bitterness. Some of this complexity disappears within 30 minutes. Again, heavy smoke in the finish. Black pepper, bitter herbs and moderate jammy sweetness.

DILUTION TO ~46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
PEAT, coal and burning twigs on the nose. Then cherry popsicles and a new dollar bill. Less cask action in the palate, more straight up peated malt. There's a good balance of smoke, bitterness, sweetness and minerals. A gentle creamy nuttiness is probably from the cask, though. Dry peat smoke, smoked nuts and sweet lemons in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Plenty of violence again, but it's less of a rawness, less of an alcohol punch, more of a flavor blast. It's richer and more complex when neat, but it achieves a better balance with water. The low level of sticky sherry is a big plus in my book, so the cask promoted more positives than negatives, making this a better drink than the 5yo bourbon cask. If you still have a bottle of this on your shelf, it should probably be opened the next time the winter vortex hits Chicago.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 86