Distillery Visit: Kilchoman

Islay's newest distillery, whether its farm based or not, is Kilchoman. It's also the most remote of the distilleries on Islay. Heading towards Bruichladdich, a few miles prior, you turn off and begin a fun drive for several miles along typical single track road, sharp bends, blind summits and passing places. It is all the appeal of Islay and visiting Northern Scotland, as you have to aware of livestock jumping out at any given time. Not everyone would make this drive, but Kilchoman is no mere whisky.

This stretch is nothing compared to the rugged road leading up to Kilchoman itself. We certainly had a bumpy and amusing ride in our hire car towards this distant whisky outpost. Sadly, given our tight schedule we were unable to take the tour, but did manage a decent look around before heading off to Bruichladdich for yes, a tour. The farm has a decent gift shop and a very popular cafe where you can regain strength before heading out on to the roads again! 

It is worth taking a moment to look around the gift shop which has many local crafts, but we're only here for the whisky. The new Islay release was available here alongside the standard bottling. Of particular interest was the MacBeatha single cask release, normally only available from the shop, which was a Bowmore this time around. Very interesting!

Small but perfectly formed, that's a good way to describe the malt produced at Kilchoman and the distillery itself. Everything has a purpose and this new upstart has a character of its own. From the characteristic pagoda roof, which in turns lends itself to the malting floor where Kilchoman still upholds traditions.

I'm sure I'll be back on Islay and this is one tour I will take for the blog to put it right. As always, all of my photographs are available here for those that want to take a virtual tour around the distillery. Even this brief visit was well worth the jaunt.