Islay's Farm Distillery

On my last visit to Islay, I managed to take a morning off from the work at the Bruichladdich Academy and run over to the west side of the island to visit Kilchoman. This was not my first visit to Kilchoman, but it was my first chance to sit down with Anthony Wills, managing director.

Kilchoman - keeping in the best traditions of the Gaelic language, isn't pronounced exactly like it is spelled; but this one is easier than some - simply ignore the superfluous "c" - with no particular stress on any syllable.

kill - ho - mun

The distillery grounds, still partially under construction (as of my visit), are very attractive. The main production equipment is housed in an original, though extensively renovated, mill building while the visitor centre shop and cafe are in what was originally a cattle barn.

A small gourmet shop is also on site, and the continuing construction speaks to the imminent arrival of several more boutique shops. (Update: Anthony tells me that a flower shop and gift shop have joined the gourmet shop since my visit - all three are owned separately from the distillery).

The distillery tries to be environmentally friendly recycling the fast majority of refuse: the draff going to feed the farm's cattle, while the waste from the stills is spread on the fields as fertilizer.

The first distillery to be built on Islay in 124 years, the distillery officially opened on June 3rd during the 2005 Islay Whisky Festival, however it wasn't until December 14th 2005 that Kilchoman filled their first seven casks - and they did not distill again until the end of March 2006.

As one would expect from their "Small is Beautiful" mantra, everything at Kilchoman is on a small scale. For example, malting is done in 3 ton batches - by comparison, Islay neighbor Laphroaig, does floor maltings in batches of 16 tons - (which still only accounts for 25-30% of Laphroaig's total malt requirements*).

Kilchoman had been using a direct fire kiln but found that the results were less than satisfactory - while the quality was perfectly adequate, the yields were awful. Aside from inefficiency, the system was apparently not very safe - in February of 2006 some of the drying barley caught fire and damaged the kiln and building structure. At the time of my visit (September 2006) they were still in the midst of repairing and replacing the kiln...planning a move to an indirect oil-fired system, which Anthony feels will be safer and more efficient - getting their drying times down to 50 hours. As of this writing, the kiln has been repaired and Anthony expects that maltings will resume in February.

Original expectations were that the distillery would be entirely self-sufficient, however currently only 50-60% of the spirit is distilled from barley grown and malted (and peated to 25 ppm) on the property; the remainder is purchased from the Port Ellen Maltings and peated to 50 ppm. These two different malts are used to distill two different expressions, which will be bottled separately under different labels.

In the spirit of conserving space, the small wash still (3230 liter), spirit still (2070 liter)  and Mash Tun share a room, while 2 wash-backs, with space reserved for two more (which will be installed this month), are in an adjoining room.

Output is quite small here - they are only filling about 12 casks a week - a small percentage of what the average distillery fills each week. In 2006 Kilchoman filled 326 bourbon barrels (fresh and refill), 23 Fresh Oloroso Sherry Butts and 4 Fresh Oloroso Sherry Hogsheads - and they hope to double that volume in 2007. The current warehouse facility has a capacity of about 700 casks, which they expect to exceed by the middle of 2007.

Taste?
Anthony told me they had the flavor profile in mind - a lighter, fruitier spirit -  long before the stills were designed. In addition to shape, the size of the stills helps achieve this - a smaller still means more copper contact. More copper contact results in a fruitier and sweeter spirit.

"We wanted to produce a lighter, fruitier style and one that could be released earlier. I think that the whole industry has changed in terms of maturation. Whereas in the past, there was a lot of iffy or tired wood used in maturation - and no one argued about it because it was going to the blend market.

But now, that the malt market has grown so much, maturation is key. You are now seeing younger and younger aged malt whiskies being released. And that is because of tighter control on cask maturation and better quality casks. And we are putting all of our spirit into top quality wood."

Kilchoman is primarily using 1st fill and refill Bourbon casks, though they also use a small percentage of sherry butts - currently the split is about 90% ex-bourbon to 10% ex-sherry.

When can I buy it?
While you cannot yet purchase Kilchoman whisky (and won't be able to until 2009 when approximately 3,000 bottles will be offered) you can purchase (in the gift shop) miniature bottles of Kilchoman new make spirit.

I tried the undiluted 50 ppm new make (around 68% abv) and found it to be quite good - very clean and crisp, sweet but with very strong peat and smoke.

Like so many other new distilleries, Kilchoman plans to do releases every year starting with the three-year old in 2009 and continuing with yearly releases until the whisky reaches 10 years. They also plan to hold back stock for very limited older bottlings.

Cask flow and the start-up distillery
The biggest hurdle when starting a whisky distillery is the lag in time between your first distillation and the first bottle is sold. The first few years sees a lot of money going out the door - but very little coming in.

Kilchoman has tried to balance the expenditures with income from a variety of items for sale in the visitor center, as well as the establishment of a nice cafe. Said Anthony:

There's a lot of money being spent. Cost of production and just putting cask to mature - and not seeing a return. And hence the idea of the miniatures and the distillery experience and pre-selling casks and also the visitor center and the cafe which generate a bit of income...and interest. It get's people through the door.

Among the planned revenue streams is a "Distillery Experience" introduced in October 2006. Anthony told me:

We don't plan to do what they do at Bruichladdich, but it will be similar. It allows a maximum of two people to come work here for a full week, Monday - Friday and be involved in all aspects of the distilling process. So they'd be involved in the floor maltings, the kilning, the milling, mashing, etc.

 It's an experience that you don't often get the chance to do.

The cost is £500, which includes neither room or board.

If you get to Islay, make sure you visit Kilchoman. The drive is pretty (on the way to Machir Bay, just past Loch Gorm), and you'll get to see one of the smallest operating distilleries in Scotland. Buy a shirt, and start waiting for 2009.

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* Source: The Scottish Whisky Distilleries, Misako Udo, 2006

Comments

[Luke]

My Wife and I plan to visit Scotland this spring. Your post has warranted another point on the map of places I'd like to visit.

Cheers!

[Armin]

You can also buy the 'New Spirit' online as I've just discovered and blogged about on my Islay blog: They have opened a Kilchoman Online Shop where you order the whisky among other things.

Not sure where they ship to though, I believe some (if not all) distilleries don't ship to the US. Don't know why, I guess some tax or import duty issue?