Kilchoman 4 2010 – Single Quarter Cask Release (cask 582/2010)

New series called “There will be Kilchoman till the score is paid”, in which I review Kilchoman until I run out of Kilchoman.

It’s a simple concept.

With Kilchman, you have to accept that Bruichladdich isn’t the only company that can come out with tons of releases from Islay. You also have to accept that single cask releases are the bulk of what’s out there.

This is very hard for me, as sometimes I approach whisky tasting like video games, and need to complete everything. Not to mention the only DLC for whisky tasting is having a bunch of money, of which I’m still working on.

So I was lucky enough to pick up a sample of the first ever quarter cask matured Kilchoman, and as such, I feel lucky. This was bottled exclusively for Master of Malt, who I assume showed up with the quarter cask themselves on an Autumn day in October and made sure it got filled up.

Kilchoman 4 2010 – Single Quarter Cask Release (cask 582/2010) is, therefore, something quite interesting and unique to try.

Quarter casks are 1/4 of a hogshead. What’s a hogshead? Well, I had trouble figuring that out, as it changes from wine and beer meanings. I think that means the cask for this one is roughly 61-62 litres, though it could be 60 litres. Frankly trying to convert these makes me saucy.

Let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: Discontinued

Distillation Date: 07 Oct 2010

Bottling Date: 05 Sep 2015

Cask # 582/2010

Outturn: 129 bottles

Abv: 59.2%

Colour: 5Y 9/8

Nose: Smoke, popcorn, ginger, cinnamon, baked apples, floral caramel, salt

Initial smoke and… popcorn? Wow, really interesting nose. It opens with more Autumn notes, more apple filler, and some caramel and floral.

Very interesting nose. Just keeps giving you more. Nice build up on this one. Water makes it more caramel and sweet.

Taste: Caramel, salt/nori, cranberry, rum butter sauce

Lots of butter/caramel on the taste. Add in some salt/umami elements, a little bit of wood/red fruit, and I get to use slashes like I’m jerking it to Spock and Kirk in the 70s.

Water rounds this all out well and gives more of a molasses flavour. This won’t be super complicated, however, the flavours are really nice and strong… Again, like jerking it to Spock and Kirk in the 70s.

Finish: Grapefruit juice, caramel, ginger, lemongrass, chicken stock

Finish is very citrus heavy. Again, some spice, umami, and caramel, which is nice. Seriously though, lots of citruses here. It’s quite tart. Like visiting Florida, without the old people. Or meth.

Mostly the meth.

Conclusion: If this is the first quarter cask (and yeah, it is, so using “If” at the start of the sentence is dumb), then they really should buy some more. And fill them up. Don’t wait for Master of Malt to show up with more!

Really this is as good, in a different way, as Laphroaig Quarter Cask. It’s unique. It’s interesting. Bring in someone to vat some and give it more time? Forgettaboutit, you’re all good. Umami, salt, caramel bomb. With a bunch of citrus at the end. Very solid.

You probably should have bought this.

85/100

Scotch review #897, Islay review #229, Whisky Network review #1435