Calling all whisky enthusiasts

Published:

ISLAY’S Kilchoman Farm Distillery is offering connoisseurs the chance to secure whisky from its first bottling.

The three-year-old single malt will be available next year and is produced from the smallest farm distilleries on the island.

Kilchoman was officially opened in 2005 and is the first distillery to be built on Islay in 124 years.

The whole production process is carried out in the traditional farm buildings at Rockside Farm. Kilchoman is the only distillery in Scotland to complete the entire process on site.

The malting barley is grown at the farm then malted on a malt floor at the distillery. The new spirit is filled into a combination of fresh and refill bourbon barrels and fresh oloroso sherry butts.

The final product has a typical Islay style as the malt is peated to an average of 40ppm of phenols.

There is no wastage from the process; the draff is fed to the cows and waste from the stills is spread on to the fields.

The distillery produced 50,000 litres of alcohol in its first year and it is hoped that 100,000 will be produced in years to come.

Anthony Wills founded the farm distillery in 2001.

He said: “I’ve been involved in the whisky industry for around 14 years. The nature of the product is such that anything new takes a long time to come to fruition. We began planning for this in 2001 and it’s now very exciting to think that our first bottling will be next year.

“There is a general increase in interest and demand around the world for limited-edition bottlings of single malt whisky. We’ve been delighted with the advance orders received so far. However, there is a finite number of bottles which will be available, so we’re encouraging enthusiasts to register early for this and our five-year-old, which will be due for release in 2011.”

Kilchoman five-year-old Islay Single Malt is available to order now. Bottled at 46% vol without chill-filtration or added colour, there will be only 1,540 cases (six x 70cl bottles) released. The labels will be unique to this release and numbered and signed by the distillery manager.

Cases are priced at £165 and orders are restricted to one per purchaser. To secure one case, visit www.kilchomandistillery.com

Visitors are welcome at the farm distillery, where they can find out more about the history of the site and enjoy a coffee in the cafe.