Kilchoman

Type: Distillery

On 14 December 2005, the first casks were filled at Kilchoman, a new distillery built around an old idea: making whisky on a working farm. Anthony and Kathy Wills had established the business that year at Rockside Farm, near Kilchoman church and Machir Bay in the Rhinns of western Islay. It remains independent and family run.[1][2]

Their ambition was to bring growing, malting, distilling, maturing and bottling together in one place. Today, Kilchoman still malts some of its own barley on a traditional floor, while buying malt from Port Ellen Maltings for most of its whiskies. Those two sources of malt are the key to understanding the range.

History

The Wills family arrived on Islay in 2004: Anthony, Kathy and their three sons. Anthony had worked in the drinks trade, most recently as an independent bottler. Kilchoman Distillery Company had already been incorporated in November 2001; the family established the distillery business in 2005.[4]

The family still runs it. Anthony is managing director and master distiller, Kathy runs the visitor centre, and their sons James, George and Peter handle sales and marketing. Their responsibilities span the operation, from making the whisky to welcoming visitors and introducing bottles to drinkers.

The filling of that first cask on 14 December 2005 began the whisky’s maturation. Single malt bottling followed in 2009.[7]

Kilchoman’s exact place in Islay’s longer distilling history is less neatly expressed. Some sources call it the island’s first new distillery since 1908; others describe a gap of 124 years or more than 125 years. These accounts disagree on the interval, so no single precise gap can be given confidently.

The history of Rockside Farm also has conflicting accounts. The Single Cask says Wills held a lease on the farm in 2005, while Wikipedia says the farm was obtained in 2015. These are different claims about the family’s relationship with the farm, not an agreed date for acquiring it.

Farm and barley

Spring sowing at Rockside takes place after about 50,000 migrating geese have left. The farm covers 2,300 acres around the distillery, with 440 acres reserved for barley. That barley land can yield up to 440 tonnes a year, with harvest taking place in early September.

Growing the crop is only part of the work. Kilchoman is one of the few distilleries still practising traditional floor malting, and it uses Islay peat to smoke its own malted barley. These are central elements of the founders’ farm distilling idea: barley grown at Rockside, then malted there for whisky.

The name to look for is 100% Islay. This range is made from Rockside barley, while most Kilchoman bottlings use malt bought from Port Ellen Maltings. The distillery bottles whisky made with purchased malt separately from whisky made with its own barley. The Kilchoman name alone therefore does not mean a bottle contains only barley grown at Rockside.

Rockside is also a livestock farm. Cattle receive draff from whisky making, while sheep graze the hill ground. The connection between farming and distilling reaches beyond the crop used to make the spirit: spent grain from production becomes feed for the farm’s cattle.

Making the whisky

Kilchoman’s two hand operated mash tuns each have a capacity of 1.2 tonnes. After mashing, the spent grain, known as draff, feeds Rockside’s Aberdeen Angus cattle. Blackface sheep graze the hill ground: livestock and whisky production share the same working farm.

Fermentation lasts 90 hours. Kilchoman describes its stills as the smallest on Islay. Their number doubled from two to four in 2019, when a new still house was built.[5]

The 2019 expansion also added a mash tun and six washbacks. Reported annual output rose from 140,000 to 480,000 litres following the work. Those are the reported production figures after the expansion, rather than a statement of current capacity.

The additions changed several stages of production, from mashing and fermentation to distillation. Older descriptions of Kilchoman as a two still distillery predate this expansion; the producer’s description of its stills as the smallest on Islay concerns their size, not their number.

Casks and bottling

Bourbon barrels and sherry butts form the core of Kilchoman’s stated cask programme. The producer names Buffalo Trace as its bourbon barrel supplier and Bodega Miguel Martin for sherry butts. Its special casks include Sauternes, red wine, rum, port, Madeira and Cognac, though that list is not a recipe for every release.

The bourbon sourcing accounts conflict: the producer’s page names Buffalo Trace, while Wikipedia reports that Breckenridge Distillery replaced Buffalo Trace in 2023. The current supply history remains unresolved.

The producer states a minimum maturation period of 1,130 days. All Kilchoman single malts are bottled on site. Bottling of three year old single malt began in September 2009, followed by the first 100% Islay release in 2011.[7] Made entirely from Rockside barley, the 100% Islay range is bottled at 50% ABV.

Kilchoman calls itself “Islay’s only Single Farm Single Malt”. The phrase expresses the producer’s approach to bringing farm and distillery together. Within the range, however, 100% Islay remains the precise marker for whisky made from the farm’s own barley, distinct from bottlings made with purchased malt. Cask information answers a different question: how the whisky matured, rather than where its barley grew.

Machir Bay

Machir Bay was Kilchoman’s first permanent general release, with February 2012 given as its launch date. The year is disputed: Kilchomania and The Single Cask give 2012, while Whisky Auctioneer gives 2021. The disagreement remains unresolved.[3][4][6]

In 2012, Machir Bay won best in class at the International Wine and Spirit Competition. Kilchoman was about seven years old. The Single Cask describes this as the moment people “stopped calling it a curiosity”, a telling account of how the young distillery’s reputation was changing.

Visiting and finding bottles

Kilchoman’s visitor centre is at the farm, near Kilchoman church and Machir Bay in the Rhinns of western Islay. Kathy Wills runs it. Rockside supplies barley for the 100% Islay range, and the distillery returns draff to the farm as cattle feed. Those connections make farming part of the working operation.

The family’s responsibilities reach beyond the visitor centre. Anthony leads the business and distilling, while James, George and Peter handle sales and marketing. Making the whisky, welcoming visitors and presenting the bottles to drinkers remain parts of the same family enterprise.

For finding bottles, independent bottlings need particular care. Whisky.com says there have been no independent bottlings of Kilchoman so far. That is the position reported by that source, rather than a basis for describing independent releases as common.

When comparing expressions, start with the malt source. Independent family ownership and on site bottling apply across the range. The 100% Islay name identifies whisky made from Rockside’s own crop, while most Kilchoman bottlings use malt from Port Ellen Maltings. Growing and malting barley at the farm remain central to Kilchoman, without supplying all the malt it uses.

Sources

1. Kilchoman Distillery. Islay’s Farm Distillery. https://kilchomandistillery.com/our-farm-distillery/
2. Wikipedia. Kilchoman distillery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilchoman_distillery
3. Whisky Auctioneer. Kilchoman. https://whiskyauctioneer.com/learn/explore-whisky/distilleries/kilchoman
4. The Single Cask. Kilchoman Distillery Guide. https://www.thesinglecask.co.uk/blogs/distilleries/kilchoman
5. Whisky.com. Kilchoman Distillery. https://www.whisky.com/whisky-database/distilleries/details/kilchoman.html
6. Kilchomania. Timeline 2012. https://www.kilchomania.com/en/timeline-2012/
7. Whisky Clan. Kilchoman Distillery: History, Owner, Range and Visitor Guide. https://www.whisky-clan.com/post/kilchoman-distillery-history-owner-range-and-visitor-guide