Review #487 - Kilchoman Loch Gorm (2023)

Written By Me, My Wife & Whisky

For the 2023 edition of the annual Loch Gorm release, Kilchoman distillery vatted together 22 casks - the same number as the prior year, coincidentally. While the 2022 vatting yielded 17,250 bottles, we get a slight increase this year: 18,000 bottles even.

The cask choice for this release is all Oloroso sherry butts from the bodega Jose Miguel Martin. The casks actually came from 3 different years of distillation, which Kilchoman outlines on their website:

  • 2013 - 8 casks (theoretically 9-10 years old)

  • 2014 - 6 casks (8-9 years old)

  • 2015 - 8 casks (7-8 years old)

So, while there's no official age statement on the bottle, we know that the whisky included is all at least 7 years old, and the average age of the contents is likely 8 to 9 years old.

Kilchoman Loch Gorm (2023)

Scotland/Islay - Single Malt

Current Locally Available Price: USD 115 (2025)

Age Statement: NAS

Strength: 46% ABV

Cask Makeup: Ex-Oloroso sherry butts

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2023; 18,000 bottles

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle 90% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Smoke and seaweed - briny, with savory notes of barbecued ribs. There's a light, citrusy side as well: scents of lemon, quite a bit of orange, a bit of lime. The peat almost has an agave quality at times, and we get more smoke like cigars or tobacco leaf.

Palate: A good amount of peat smoke and wood smoke, like charred wood. Brown sugar barbecue brings that savory side, and we get sweetness from bruleed sugar. Soft malt and mint flavors linger in the background; in the middle of the palate, some orange fruit arrives, and it grows a lot stronger with time. It's a medium thickness mouthfeel.

Finish: Brown sugar and orange both continue from the palate - a nice, smooth transition. The peat smoke begins to mellow, though there's still plenty of wood smoke; it grows a little bit sweeter with orange fruit candies. The finish is medium-long in length.

Final Note: A very good entry in the Kilchoman range - in our opinion, similar in quality to the other Loch Gorm releases in the preceding years. The marriage of sherry casks and heavy peat is a winning combination, providing a good mix of sweet and sharp notes. This specific release didn't show as much age to us as the previous iteration from 2022, but it had plenty of fresh citrus notes showing that Kilchoman spirit character.

Value here is about average - flavor is good, but the price is also above $100 unless you find an especially good offer. If you're a fan of the peat and sherry combination, or a particular fan of Kilchoman, this could be a great pickup.

Our Average Rating: 7.5 / 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: 6.17

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.

Me, My Wife & Whisky
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