Kilchoman "Machir Bay" Islay Single Malt

Kilchoman “Machir Bay” Islay Single Malt

Kilchoman- circa 1995-  are, according to the company literature, the first new distillery founded on Islay in over a century.  They grow a portion of their own barley on-site at Rockside Farm, and as such also append the designation “farmer-distillery” to their label.  They are, in effect, "grower scotch." The Machir Bay is a blend of 3, 4, and 5-year old single-malts, with the 4-year finished in oloroso butts for eight weeks before assemblage… err, blending.  Though young, this whisky has loads of character and flavor; I look very forward to the black-label 5-year.

N:  Mossy, high-toned sugary smoke: lime jolly rancher and cedar ash… The cereal purity of young barley malt is here, like the flesh of an underripe nut and fresh-mown lawn, all swathed in a fine-grained, sexy smoke, a smoke redolent of supple leather and dry, golden, late-summer grass.

P:  Mellow cinnamon stick and apple compote, with a long, broad finish of incense ash and pine needles.  This is clearly a young whisky, but one of great finesse and impeccable balance; it’s exciting to taste a baby Islay of this quality.  The brief few weeks of sherry cask finish that the 4-year saw add a certain pithy sweetness mid-palate that also rings on the finish, where starfruit and driftwood fire echo and fade.

Particularly with our local distilleries releasing 2-year-old homegrown whiskeys for the whopping price of $50/ 375/mL (ahem), this little charmer seems well worth the just-south-of-$60 price tag…  It’s really, really well made, and a wonderful glimpse of a young whisky of great distinction and complexity… It makes you wonder how good their longer-aged bottlings eventually will be!