Ballygrant
The lost Islay distillery of Ballygrant was but a fleeting part of the island’s history.
Kilchoman
Distillery & brand
Farm distilleries were by their very nature always self-sufficient and, while that is difficult these days with global demand for whisky on the rise, Kilchoman continues to try to stay true to that original model.
Kilchoman distillery
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
These days 25% of its barley requirements come from Islay (mostly from fields around the distillery). It has two small malting floors and kilns which produce a medium-peated malt – the heavily peated with which it is mixed comes from Port Ellen. Inside the distillery, fermentation is long, helping to create fruitiness to balance the shoreline/shellfish-like phenolics, while an enlightened (and pricey) wood policy has seen a high percentage of first-fill ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks being used. The result is that Kilchoman has hit the start of its mature period at a remarkably young age.
Kilchoman History
The location of Kilchoman on Islay’s west coast has some historical resonance. It was in this parish that the MacBeatha/Beaton family settled when they came across in 1300 from what is now County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
They were doctors (a Beaton was the hereditary physician to the kings of Scotland for hundreds of years) who translated medical texts about distillation from Latin into Gaelic. There is therefore a theory (albeit unproven) that Islay was the first place where distillation took place in Scotland – and that Kilchoman parish was where it occurred.
It wasn’t so much this which caused Anthony Wills to build his farm distillery here in 2005 – it was more the fact that there was a spare steading at Rockside Farm available. In building Kilchoman, the Wills family has brought farm distilling back to Islay.
Now surrounded by barley fields, the distillery expanded in 2007 and built new warehouses. In November 2017, an additional malting floor and kiln was built on the site of the old Rockside Farm cowshed.
In May 2019, Kilchoman doubled production with the construction of a new stillhouse containing two more stills, along with a new mash tun and six new washbacks. That has taken production capacity close to 0.5m litres of pure alcohol a year, and will enable experimental runs using different yeast and barley varieties.
Timeline
- 2002 Planning begins on a new distillery at Rockside Farm on Islay
- 2005 Production starts at Kilchoman
- 2006 Fire breaks out in the kiln, forcing production to halt for a few weeks, although maltings are forced to cease for six months
- 2007 Two new washbacks are installed
- 2009 Kilchoman releases its first single malt, a 3-year-old
- 2010 John MacLellan joins the team as distillery manager
- 2011 Kilchoman 100% Islay, made using ingredients sourced from the island, is launched
- 2012 The distillery's first core release, Machir Bay, is launched
- 2013 Kilchoman Loch Gorm is introduced
- 2014 Kilchoman Coull Point is released as a duty free exclusive
- 2017 A new malting floor and kiln is constructed
- 2019 Kilchoman doubles production capacity with the construction of a new stillhouse
Kilchoman Facts
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- Capacity (mlpa) i
- 0.460
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- Condenser Type i
- Shell and tube
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- Fermentation Time i
- 70-110hrs
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- Filling Strength i
- 63.5%
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- Grist Weight (t) i
- 2.4
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- Heat Source i
- Steam
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- Malt Specification i
- Diageo malt 50ppm, own malt 10-25ppm
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- Malt Supplier i
- Diageo and own maltings
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- Mash Tun Material i
- Copper domed, stainless steel
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- Mash Tun Type i
- Semi Lauter
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- New-make Strength i
- 69.7-70.2%
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- Single Malt Percentage i
- 100%
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- Spirit Still Charge (l) i
- 1,600
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- Spirit Still Shape i
- Onion shape with boil ball in neck
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- Spirit Still Size (l) i
- 2,070
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- Stills i
- 4
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- Warehousing i
- Currently at Kilchoman, Bruichladdich, Bowmore and Port Ellen. Mostly dunnage
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- Wash Still Charge (l) i
- 3,000
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- Wash Still Shape i
- Classic Onion
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- Wash Still Size (l) i
- 3,230
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- Washback Charge (l) i
- 6,000
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- Washback Size (l) i
- 8,000
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- Washback Type i
- Stainless steel
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- Washbacks i
- 10
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- Water Source i
- Surface water collected in small dam close to distillery
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- Wort Clarity i
- Good
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- Yeast Type i
- Mauri
Owner
Current owner
- Kilchoman Distillery Company 2002 - present
Contact
- Address
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Kilchoman Distillery
Rockside Farm
Bruichladdich
Isle of Islay
Argyll
PA49 7UT
United Kingdom - Phone
- +44 1496 850011
- Visitor Opening Hours
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- Monday
- 10am to 5pm
- Tuesday
- 10am to 5pm
- Wednesday
- 10am to 5pm
- Thursday
- 10am to 5pm
- Friday
- 10am to 5pm
- Saturday
- 10am to 5pm (Apr-Nov)
- Sunday
- 10am to 5pm (Apr-Nov)
Map