Sauternes Kilchoman 2018
6 years
50%
Aged for 5 1/2 years in old Bourbon casks and finished 5 months in Sauternes barrels
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Kilchoman has, in a very short time (2005-2018), became a high end yet affordable Single Malt Scotch. Since it’s opening, Kilchoman has made everything opposite to other distilleries : young whiskies (they don’t have much of a choice but still), simple marketing, and most importantly, almost everything is local. They put great attention to the details in their whiskies, producing a different range of peated, Bourbon and Sherry matured, cask finish and single casks.
Every year Kilchoman releases a special limited line of cask finished whiskies. In 2018, it was a Port cask, a re-toasted red wine and a Sauternes one.
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Color : pear pulpit.
Nose : mixture of big peat and caramelized pears. Subtle walnuts in the background.
Mouth : peat is always present, but more subtly than on the nose. It now serves as a support for the rest of the flavors. We still find the pear caramelized this time with clove and basil. The freshness of these spices and herbs contrast with the heaviness of the peat and the sugar of the pear. The texture is quite compact.
Finale : the peat is clearly back in the foreground, crushing the rest of the flavors. Long and far down.
Comments : The Sauternes cask is subtle, but one can distinguish it enough. The flavors are nice and I like the contrast found in the mouth. The evolution of the peat is also very pleasant, of a sustained but controlled power to a role secondary to a return in force.
A beautiful edition of Kilchoman that will delight fans of wine cask without frightening the purists!
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Once again, a huge thank you to Patrick Desjardins for the sample and the nice pictures 🙂