Review #141 - Kilchoman Sanaig
The start of our love affair with Kilchoman - we found this bottle on our honeymoon, and it was our little treat for the week. It immediately fit into one of our favorite flavor profiles: strongly peated spirit and sweet cask maturation, in this case a large proportion of Oloroso sherry casks.
Like all of Kilchoman's bottlings, we have good stats: no chill filtration, no added coloring, and everything has a strength of 46%+ ABV. They state it all plainly on the label, too - truly one of the new wave of craft distilleries that are emerging all over Scotland.
Kilchoman started operations in 2005, meaning that we could be getting close to 20 year old spirit in some of their first casks, if they're still hanging around. Still, in these widely available whiskies, there's no age statement on the bottle - we're guessing that they're using a similar strategy to many of the other newer distilleries, and the liquid we're tasting is mostly between 5 and 8 years old. That isn't a bad thing for heavily peated, heavily sherried whisky, though - those powerful, delicious flavors will still be more punchy without decades in a cask mellowing them out.
Kilchoman Sanaig
Scotland/Islay - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 65 (2021)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 74 (2023)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 46% ABV
Cask Makeup: Vatting of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 16 months; bottles at 100%, 70%, 30% (blind tasting), and 20% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Medium to strong peat smoke up front, with some slightly medicinal character, but also salt, seaweed, and kelp flavors. Lots of barbecue flavors take center stage: salami, greasy sausage, wood smoke, dry rub meats and some black pepper. Accenting the savory notes are fruits like strawberry and raspberry jam, with some sweet red wine, too. With more time to open up, there's iodine and ash in the smoke, as well as malty grain and a vegetal, musty character.
Palate: Mouthfeel has a medium thickness, and there's more spice now: red pepper flakes, jalapenos and bell peppers, some sharper wood char, and black pepper barbecue. The peat is medium strength, and there's more oak and sea salt now with the oily character of the spirit. Sweetness arrives in the form of barbecue sauce and orange fruit, and some mild sugary vanilla later on.
Finish: Medium-long, and the peat keeps its medium influence for a while. Spicy and oily, with black pepper, sausage, campfire smoke, and hot salsa as the dominant notes. Fruit comes in as a secondary layer, with orange, strawberries, cherries, and peach all contributing subtle flavors; warmth lingers in the back of the throat for a long time.
Final Note: Very nice whisky, well balanced and showing plenty of vigor. The peat is never overwhelming, but contributes throughout the tasting experience as it accents the fruit and spicy barbecue notes. This is a classic example of sherry-matured peaty Islay whisky, and while $70 to $75 isn't cheap, we still find this to be a pretty good value in that realm. A strong recommendation from us if you're looking for a new Islay whisky to try, especially from a newer distillery.
Our Average Rating: 6.8 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.61
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