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Kilchoman 2014/2024 tasting notes
Feb. 18th, 2025 06:28 pmKilchoman 9YO OB for ImpEx Beverages Inc 75cl 56.3% ABV
ImpEx Cask Evolution Series 03/2024
Distilled August 20, 2014, bottled July 1, 2024
Cask type: Bourbon barrel
Phenols: 20 ppm
Cask no: 652/2014
217 bottles
Color: light gold.
Nose: smoke, rubber, chocolate covered nuts, rosin, electrical tape, garlic stem, smoked mackerel, damp newspaper, lemons, peat, dill, ash, rotten wood, camphor oil, pineapples, vanilla, and pomelos. Adding a drop of water brings out more smoked fish, now leaning toward sprats in oil, along with intensified citrus aromas and resinous undertones.
Taste: smoky and oily, with notes of peat, lemons, red currants, honey, pears, pepper, green apples, salt, chocolate, and cranberries. Pleasant and moderately sweet, yet somewhat rough around the edges and lacking depth. With water, the chocolate and bitterness become more pronounced.
Finish: honey, smoke, peat, green apples, lemons, chocolate, pepper, salt, black chokeberries, and subtle oily notes. Some added bitterness with water.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.
Conclusion: I struggled to describe this malt for some reason, it took me a long time and too many attempts. According to data from ImpEx Beverages, it contains just 20 ppm of phenols compared to Kilchoman's typical 50 ppm. The peat and smoke are still sufficient, though the taste and finish feel somewhat simplistic. Still, it deserves a bonus point for the taste, bringing overall score to 86/100. But the expression is too expensive. It used to be fair to expect single malt pricing to follow a $10-per-year-of-aging guideline (at least up to a certain age, after which prices really go off the rails), but now we're seeing more and more cases where teenage and younger whisky is priced closer to $20 per year — or sometimes even higher. I’m not signing up for that.
ImpEx Cask Evolution Series 03/2024
Distilled August 20, 2014, bottled July 1, 2024
Cask type: Bourbon barrel
Phenols: 20 ppm
Cask no: 652/2014
217 bottles
Color: light gold.
Nose: smoke, rubber, chocolate covered nuts, rosin, electrical tape, garlic stem, smoked mackerel, damp newspaper, lemons, peat, dill, ash, rotten wood, camphor oil, pineapples, vanilla, and pomelos. Adding a drop of water brings out more smoked fish, now leaning toward sprats in oil, along with intensified citrus aromas and resinous undertones.
Taste: smoky and oily, with notes of peat, lemons, red currants, honey, pears, pepper, green apples, salt, chocolate, and cranberries. Pleasant and moderately sweet, yet somewhat rough around the edges and lacking depth. With water, the chocolate and bitterness become more pronounced.
Finish: honey, smoke, peat, green apples, lemons, chocolate, pepper, salt, black chokeberries, and subtle oily notes. Some added bitterness with water.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.
Conclusion: I struggled to describe this malt for some reason, it took me a long time and too many attempts. According to data from ImpEx Beverages, it contains just 20 ppm of phenols compared to Kilchoman's typical 50 ppm. The peat and smoke are still sufficient, though the taste and finish feel somewhat simplistic. Still, it deserves a bonus point for the taste, bringing overall score to 86/100. But the expression is too expensive. It used to be fair to expect single malt pricing to follow a $10-per-year-of-aging guideline (at least up to a certain age, after which prices really go off the rails), but now we're seeing more and more cases where teenage and younger whisky is priced closer to $20 per year — or sometimes even higher. I’m not signing up for that.
