Kilchoman Fèis Ìle 2024 Tasting Pack Review
Background
Back again for a second year reviewing this tasting set! In case you missed last year’s iteration, Kilchoman puts out a little tasting set for those of us destined to cry into our glencairns while we’re unable to attend Fèis Ìle. Kilchoman hosts a virtually tasting to walk through this set each year, but this year’s falls on a Thursday at 9 AM EST. I’d love to join said tasting, but drinking four whiskeys at 9 AM during my day job would (rightfully) lead to my abrupt unemployment. So again we review these without any inception from Kilchoman.
Details on each item in the tasting below, and then we’ll get to the review!
Loch Gorm 2024 Edition - An annual oloroso cask release from Kilchoman, the 2024 edition was distilled in 2014 and matured in 23 oloroso sherry butts previously used by Bodega José y Miguel Martín.
Sauternes Cask Matured 2024 - The third iteration of Kilchoman’s Sauternes Cask release. It is fully matured in a combination of fresh and refill Sauternes barriques. The first Kilchoman Sauternes Cask was entirely first fill ex-Sauternes casks. The second, finished for five months in Saurternes. This release is a vatting of 22% fresh and 78% refill casks from two distillation years.
Batch Strength 2024 - The latest edition to Kilchoman’s Core Range. It’s a little unclear if this blend and proof will change as they iterate on batches, but for now it’s matured in a combination of re-charred red wine casks, oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels.
Fèis Ìle 2024 - Fèis Ìle 2024 release is a vatting of two fresh bourbon barrels, distilled in 2011. Significantly, this batch of malt was not dried with peat, and the Fèis Ìle 2024 release is one of the few from Kilchoman to be unpeated.
Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2024 Edition (9 Years, 46%)
Nose: Boneless spare ribs with a hint of a sweet sauce. Seaweed crackers, an extra toasty of crème brulee.
Palate: That crème brulee from the nose? That, but really just the top and burnt. A bit of berry compote spread on a buttery club cracker.
Finish: Baklava, emphasis on the roasted pistachios. Toasted orange peels and a briny salinity. An ashy note lingers as well.
Good to Very Good (5.5/10)
Overall: Similarly to last years… I like this but it doesn’t rock my world. There’s a fun playful sherry component here for sure, but it remains a little bit thin and the finish is slightly too ashy for me.
Kilchoman Sauternes Cask Matured 2024 (5 Years, 50%)
Nose: A ripe, juicy stone fruit. Let’s go with apricot. It’s mouthwateringly alluring with a delicate balance of that sweetness from the fruit and a hint of salty fish.
Palate: Tropical, again that stone fruit and pineapple grilled over an open flame. The sweetness from the fruit is cut but a salty seabreeze of peat smoke.
Finish: It really draws you into another sip with that same balance of salty sweet peat. Rock salt heavily layered on fresh grilled fish and glazed with a pineapple salsa.
Great (7/10)
Overall: I will be honest, I historically have not liked Sauternes cask influence in a whisky. Scotch or American. But this… this is a wonderful blend. It never quite tips over into too sweet, maintaining a lovely balance of sea salt and peat.
Kilchoman Batch Strength 2024 (NAS, 57%)
Nose: Surprisingly minty, almost menthol-esque. An interesting aroma of fresh berries and potpourri. It is surprisingly fruity.
Palate: It’s a light layer of fresh fruit jam on top of an extra salty cracker. The initial fruit is really nice and then a wave of salinity hits.
Finish: Extra salty. You know when you have a box of crackers and all the crumbs gather at the bottom, and then you tilt and the box back and eat the crumbs but it’s mostly salt? That.
Good (5/10)
Overall: I bet you cant guess what my main complaint is! I’m just a bit overwhelmed with that salinity. The nose is lovely, and it starts so promising on the palate and then it just starts to crash into this salty cracker note that’s really all I’m tasting.
Kilchoman Fèis Ìle 2024 (12 Years, 53%)
Nose: Vanilla custard and lemon candies. It hints at a creaminess to come on the sip. Gentle, vanilla forward but with that light citrus influence as well. Verging on lemon curd being more accurate than vanilla custard.
Palate: Indeed a creamy vanilla on the front of the palate that opens up to a gentle seaweed cracker note. You definitely clock the absence of that familiar Kilchoman peat, with this being a more pure sweet and salty sip. Every now and then I get a eucalyptus-esque herbal note.
Finish: A salinity slightly akin to the Batch Strength but not quite so overwhelming. A dash of pepper, a double dash of toasted oak notes, and a touch of that lemon from the nose.
Very Good to Great (6.5/10)
Overall: A lovely, balanced sipper that’s not overly complicated, which cuts both ways. It has a lovely salinity that doesn’t knock over the sip. You absolutely get those vanilla and toasted oak notes associated with ex-bourbon casks, and the hints of citrus are nice as well.
