KilchomanMachirBay(700mL)

<p>The New Kid on Islay.</p><p>Kilchoman <em>(pron. Kil-Ho-Man)</em>, is <em>the first distillery</em> to be established on Islay <em>in over 124 years</em>. It was started in 2005 by <em>Anthony Wills</em>, who ran an independent single cask bottling company for 8 years, and was immersed in building <em>the ultimate farm distillery</em>, where he’d take Whisky back to its roots.</p><p>The Kilchoman distillery is unique for several reasons. It’s <em>one of only six</em> Scotch distilleries to carry out traditional floor maltings, and <em>one of only two</em> to do the malting, distilling, maturing and bottling on premise. Furthermore, they <em>grow their own Barley</em> on the farm itself, whereas most other distilleries purchase it around the country (or even abroad). They use <em>30% of their own barley</em>, and the balance is purchased from Port Ellen Maltings. It’s one of the smallest Scotch distilleries, with an annual output of 120,000 litres, and when you talk about <em>artisanal</em>, this is as good as it gets with Scotch Whisky. They’ve been <em>rocking it ever since</em> they started, and we should all be mega excited to see where it leads to next.</p><p><em>Machir Bay </em>is their main product. It’s a <em>vatting </em>of 4 and 5-year-old Bourbon cask matured and <em>Oloroso-finished</em> malt. Machir Bay was awarded a <em>Gold Medal</em> at the 2012 International Wine and Spirit Competition, and it was also named <em>Whisky of the Year </em>at the International Whisky Competition. Definitely <em>one of the most exciting</em> Scotch releases out there in the recent years, with a different style than you’d expect from an Islay Scotch. <em>Still peated</em>, mind you, but just different. It’s more subdued, expressed differently. </p>