Kilchoman Madeira Cask
2021 Release | 50% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Good enough to get me back onboard with Islay’s farm distillery
Madeira meets peat
When it comes to whisky, most of us have been through a certain tug of war with our significant others, particularly when it involves the accumulation of whisky; especially when they don’t drink whisky, or simply not as emphatically as we do.
In the case of the McAtear household, it is understandable, after all, I did catch the whisky bug after my wife and I were engaged. Or, to put it another way, Mrs McAtear did not agree to spend the rest of her life with a whisky fanatic. This means that she didn’t expect a life where a chunk of our disposable income would be spent on an alcoholic drink that she is not interested in, and when viewed in that perspective, understandably, she would be a little bit upset at the turn of events that turned her fiancé into a whisky fanatic. We can blame Daniel Whittington for that.
Mrs McAtear doesn’t dislike alcohol, in fact when the mood strikes, she has a dangerously fond relationship with alcohol. Ask her what’s her drink of choice, and she would proudly tell you, “any alcohol”, if you didn’t know any better, you would think that she is an alcoholic. I assure you that she is not, she is what most would describe as a social drinker, with wine and mixed drinks generally being her choices. Her favourite spirit is probably gin, and even then, she would prefer to drink it as a G&T.
What Mrs McAtear has is a brilliant sense of taste and, to an even better extent, a sense of smell and her ability to connect smell and taste to her memory bank is equally exceptional. She is the sort of person that an aroma would cause her to stop, ponder, and say “I know this from somewhere… it's from the ticketing office at my local cinema when I was 12”. Which was why I was incredibly excited when I discovered this thing called whisky, a thing that encourages laser sharp focus on smell and taste. I hoped that we could dive into this passion together, and after our shared passion for music, this could be our next thing.
But no, it was never going to be. Mrs McAtear had no interest in going all nerdy on whisky, the only whisky she proclaims her love for is the ever more pricey Glendronach 21. “Just drink it and shut up about your stupid tasting notes”. So there it was, she wasn’t joining me in the rabbit hole.
Which brings me to a curious turn of events recently.
One evening, Mrs McAtear coyly asked me a question: have you been eyeing a particular bottle of whisky lately?
My goodness, I thought, are you sure you want to open that can of worms? Have I been eyeing a particular bottle of whisky? The question should have been whether there are any whiskies that I’m not eyeing!
With the number of new releases I have no hope of keeping up, so, have I been eyeing bottles of whiskies? Damn right I have! Where do I begin?
Let’s start with Ardnahoe, there is a fresh inaugural release; Bunnahabhain’s newest 12 year old Cask Strength release, I’d like to try some of that; Deanston’s latest virgin oak cask strength release, that sounds tasty; Springbank 12 CS just came out, if that’s available in our market; there is a Glendronach PX single cask available at a local shop for a decent price, that could be interesting; Kingsbarns Dream to Dram, that’s been mentioned, I’d like a sip; I don’t have an Ardbeg 10 or Port Charlotte 10 on the shelf which needs to be fixed sooner rather than later; some of Diageo’s older special releases are on sale, I’ve had half an eye on a number of those… Mrs McAtear my dear, I’m afraid you’ve asked quite the wrong question. What have I not had my eye on?
But I sensed the strangeness, or perhaps, uniqueness of the situation, and I kept those thoughts to myself. She’s trying to buy me a whisky as a gift, this is what it is all about! I kept my cool, and simply said: yes, there are a few.
I quickly collected my thoughts and one distillery came to mind, one where releases are plenty and there is a huge price range to pick from, one which I haven’t connected with previously and have been meaning to give another chance to, one despite its relatively young age has captivated many, one which the Dramface community has embraced and voted it into 13th place in the Dramface Top 40 at the time of writing, one which hails from the west of Islay and has only been around for less than twenty years. That’s right, the distillery that came to mind was the Kilchoman distillery.
Admittedly, I’ve only had limited experience with Kilchoman. I have never owned a bottle, but have encountered it in festivals, bars, and pours from friends. The whisky is peaty and smoky, as whiskies from Islay ought to be, but I have never connected with it like so many of my peers had. So I sent Mrs McAtear on a hunt for a bottle of Kilchoman through her lens of whisky.
Review
Kilchoman Madeira Cask, 5 years old, 2021 Release, Limited Edition, 50% ABV
£90-110 locally in HK
The bottle she came back with is a Madeira cask matured expression of Kilchoman. She told me that after the experience at LMDW last summer, she was intrigued with what wine cask maturation can do to whisky, so from the outset she was looking out for those. In the end she narrowed it down to the Madeira and fino versions, she did know a bit about fino, that it’s a dryer sherry, but she didn’t know anything about Madeira. In the end, she read up on the tasting notes, and found elements that she believed that she would enjoy, so she settled on the Madeira cask version.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Good enough to get me back onboard with Islay’s farm distillery
Nose
Ashy peat, menthol eucalyptus, guava, freshly cut lemons, this is a weird one, a vague smell that reminds me of a trash can with food waste, but in this context it doesn’t come across as unpleasant, I’m sure there are better words to describe me but those words have deserted me.
Palate
Sweet and savoury peat, very mouth watering, caramel fudge, white sugar, sweet tomatoes (tomatoes somehow nudged their way in, but well integrated nonetheless), vanilla, ginger, cinamon, what a flavour bomb, the finish is long, notes of muscovado lingering, and the smoke of course.
The Dregs
This bottle of Kilchoman is 5 years old, as stated on the cardboard box, and to some extent the youthfulness shows. It has got edges and corners that haven’t been rounded off by age, but paired with the Madeira cask, the caramel and sugar notes worked very well to compliment its youth.
I am re-evaluating how I view Kilchoman now. Maybe the Madeira was the magic sauce here, but I’ll definitely be looking forward to exploring more expressions from them. As folk are getting excited about more mature Kilchoman whisky making to the market, this 5 year young whisky has pulled me back on the buzz train.
It’s hard to score a whisky when the whisky is a gift from my wife, but here the liquid has made it easy for me, the flavours are right up my alley, maybe Mrs. McAtear knows my palate better than I do myself.
One final remark that Mrs. McAtear insisted on being included here: she picked the bottle because she liked the colour of the label. Good to know.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc
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