Kilchoman Port Cask 2018 & 2012 PX Single Cask Reviews

Dear everyone interested in Kilchoman in Port casks. Here is my review of the new one.

I never tasted the old version, so I don’t have a reference point I’m afraid but I managed to get a sample at a recent show and then tasted it at home.

Kilchoman Port 2018 50%

Colour: Pinkish Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Similar style to the Madeira actually. This meaty blackberry note hits first, plum, some smoked blueberry (if that's a thing), vanilla ice cream, toasted marshmallow, not a huge amount of smoke here either. Autumnal wet leaves and Turkish Delight. There's some chalk and rubber a bit out of place.

Taste: Soft and sweet, lots of vanilla, blackberry, blueberry then big mineral smoky Kilchoman beast, again really reminds me of the Madeira with this ashy meaty fruit, plum, cola bottles, mulled wine with cinnamon, some slightly acrid burnt rubber into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Juicy first with juicy blackcurrant, some spice and smoke staying with late chocolate.

2014-2018. As with the Madeira or the Longrow Red's, I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand it’s a great fruity smoky beast, on the other it’s never quite in balance.

80/100

How about another Kilchoman from some random part of the world? (This is DWR after all!)

 

Kilchoman 2012 Single Cask PX Finish for The Malt Vault 57%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sweety shop nose, ashy smoke, orange and a herbal Mezcal note (been tasting some Mezcal recently so it’s cool to find in a whisky), cherry sweets.

Taste: Soft, sweet and spicy. Mineral, heavy smoke, black pepper, honey and raisin, malt, a Mezcal note here too which is cool.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Very soft, mineral smoke, cherry.

2012-2018, a PX finished single cask for the Malt Vault in Utretch, Netherlands. One of the older PX finished Kilchomans I’ve seen. The sweetness is dampening the complexity in my opinion though.

79/100

Distillery: Kilchoman

Average Score: 78.6

Distillery Ranking: 15th/ 60 places

Up/Down: 16>15 (Up 1)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #621-#622

Whisky Network Reviews #739-#740

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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