Kilchoman Feis Ile 2025 Founder's cask research

1) Kilchoman 2011 2025 14 yrs 55.3% vol. 145/2011, WB274176

2) Kilchoman 2010 2025 14 yrs 50.0% vol. 497/2010, WB274180

3) Kilchoman 2011 2025 14 yrs 53.4 % vol. 258/2010, WB274177

4) Kilchoman 2006 2025 18 yrs 50.3% vol. 163/2006, WB274175

1: Nose: metallic, mineral, chalk dust, mild smoked tofu, now salmon, marine.

Mouth: Grappa, eau de vie, cinnamon, dates, Christmas bread, leavened bread, gingerbread with chilli.

Finish: Ginger, white pepper, numbingly alcoholic. Burnt sugar. Espresso.

88/85/84

2: Nose: Old leather sofa, cellar mustiness, wet coal, wet animals, cats, dogs, hamsters. Smoked bacon. Some honey, cream candy and heather, perhaps pine and cedar. Toffee.

Mouth: Salted caramel candy, peat forward, sweet overripe red apples. Apple scramble.

Finish: Oily, mouth coating, ocean surf, seaweed, bacon and wild mushrooms.

88/87/87

3: Nose: Solvent, glue, varnish, hospital, burnt tyres, paraffin after an accident. Oil can, garage.

Mouth: Ashtray, bread dropped into campfire, taken out and licked. Charcoal, coked and extinguished, of course. Burnt sausage, more like sucuk or chorizo, but very coked. Umami. BBQ.

Finish: Cigarette butts, if you leave them smoldering over the filter. Long, brandy, coffee, dark chocolate.

88/87/84

4: Nose: Smoked eel, but very subtle. Strawberry jam, cheese bread with honey and jam, a thin slice of smuggled Black Forest ham. Slate, wet asphalt.

Mouth: Chewy, grainy, salt grains, tannins. Red wine, Shiraz, Australia. Chocolate, latte macchiato.

Finish: Espresso, black pepper, sticky, burnt sugar, sea vegetables, mussels.

89/87/85

Glen Garioch 1988 2025 36 yrs. Finn Thomson (FnTs) 45.2 %, WB272267

Prosaicness, I came across this word in a fantasy book. It means as much as mundane, unexciting, dull, average. When I drink whisky, I accept neither ordinariness nor dullness. This drink is highly poisonous, even lethal in certain quantities. Why should I drink ordinary whisky? For me, drinking whisky is always a special occasion and a mindful act, never ordinary or boring. This one here is far from being prosaic. Glen Garioch 1988, almost a relic of a bygone age.

Nose: Imagine the ancient library in Alexandria, here and there mould from the leaking roof, some books completely dusty and decaying, others fresh from the printing press. Wood and pencil shavings everywhere. Leather covers and worn furniture. Dunnage warehouse, with cognac and armagnac. These impressions are joined by light hints of lime and limoncello, lemon sorbet ice cream, vanilla pudding and crème brullee, rice pudding with a hint of cinnamon. Preserved

gooseberries.

Mouth: Wow, a very noble aged cognac, not sharp but oaky, very elegant and wise, deep and meaningful. The texture is unfortunately a bit thin, not viscous, watery, not sticky, not palatable. Charcoal in the mouth, smoked tofu.

Finish: The finish is long enough, but inappropriate for the age. A somewhat shy contemporary. Do not expect too much. Fragile! Subtle earthy aromas, forest floor and brown mushrooms linger in the mouth. A wonderful journey through time, far away from everyday life.

95/92/90

Ballindalloch 2016 2024 08 60.6 % #225, WB257280

Time and patience are the magic words when it comes to whisky. Both in maturation and in enjoyment, time and patience conjure up this amazing drink in the cask, and on the palate it is this very drink that enchants the senses and the mind. This one is only 8 years old, is that enough magic?
Nose: after a long wait, the first aromas are of sugar water with rose petals and vanilla, followed by alpine herbs and alpine flowers - cyclamen? In any case, the freshness of the mountains, a melting glacier, snow in the air, cheerful hikers resting in mountain inns, do I smell Kaiserschmarrn? There are also fresh waffles and vanilla ice cream.
The palate: Wonderful sweetness with lots of herbs and spices spread around the mouth. The sweetness is the sugar sweetness, but also some melon, honeydew melon, herbal tea served ice cold.
Finish: Oily consistency in the mouth, density, chewy, viscous, long finish, not very alcoholic, surprisingly. Some wheat beer on the finish to match the mountains, slightly yeasty and even hoppy. Banana and melon make a wonderful summer mix. Take your time and enjoy your time on earth.

89/89/88