Kilchoman 4 Years Old 2008 129.3 Unwind and set your watch to Islay Time (60.2%, SMWS, 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel, 256 Bottles, 2013)

• Islay single malt scotch whisky
• 60.2% ABV, £75
• Score: 84/100

What they say:

Cask No. 129.3

What a nose: maritime, fishy, antiseptic and herbal. Let’s make a start; lobster pots, breakfast kippers, smoked scallops in a creamy pepper sauce, Germolene, Savlon cream and to top it all, a lobster pot pie with a biscuit topping seasoned with chives and parsley. The taste does not disappoint, clean peat smoke and cured mackerel sushi with wasabi to accentuate the rich oily and slightly drying aftertaste. With water becoming sweeter; smoked honey marinated mackerels, toasted almonds and singed gammon steaks. And the taste from the newest distillery on Islay – calamari with a honey dip, sweet hickory toasted almonds, stir fry with cashew nuts and soya sauce – do I need to go on, just relax and enjoy!

Drinking tip: Pull yourself up a comfortable arm chair and say good bye to care.

Date Distilled: 12 September 2008 Colour: Moon light glow Age: 4 years years Flavour : Peated Cask Type: First fill ex-bourbon barrel Whisky Region: Islay

Outturn: 256 bottles

What I say:

Finally, dram #4 presented at the Edinburgh Whisky Blog’s Movember fund-raiser event hosted at Ruffians Barber Shop in Edinburgh. Something a little peaty and new to finish off with this SMWS bottling from Kilchoman distillery (SMWS distillery #129) established in 2005.

Colour:

Light straw gold

Nose:

Slightly lactic, new make spirit, biscuit cereal, sweet like shortbread, some honeyed sweetness, salty sea spray and waves crashing on a beach, sea shells, sticking plasters and germolene, peat smoke and smoked fish

Taste:

Sweet malty and lactic peat smoke, bright and clean, some virgin oak or green wood, becomes drying, a little sweet and nutty peanut and almond and toasted pumpkin seed, a hint of salt and kippers poached in milk

Finish:

Long, sweet honeyed and nutty peat smoke, drying with sawdust/new oak wood

Overall:

Another delicious Kilchoman expression, this time bottled by SMWS – the first we have tried not directly bottled form Kilchoman distillery. This captures the essence of Kilchoman perfectly and displays how drinkable their whisky is even at this young age.

Many thanks to the Edinburgh Whisky Blog for their superb evening’s entertainment, fine whisky selection and all for a grand charitable cause in Movember!