Kilchoman Distillery, Islay: The Farm Distillery

Overview

Kilchoman is Islay’s farm distillery — a true field-to-glass operation on Rockside Farm out on the remote Rinns, where the barley is grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled all on the same ground. When it opened it was the first new distillery on Islay in some 124 years, and it has since become one of the most admired small distilleries in Scotland, making a fresh, fruity, coastal peated malt.

The history

Kilchoman was founded in 2005 by Anthony Wills, and the first spirit ran that year — the first legal distilling on this part of Islay for well over a century. It remains independent and family-run, which on an island where most distilleries belong to global drinks groups is itself notable. Built from scratch as a small farm distillery, it deliberately revived the old Islay tradition of growing and malting barley on site, and its 100% Islay bottlings are made entirely from grain grown in its own fields.

The water & the land

Kilchoman’s water comes from the Allt Gleann Osamail burn, running off hill springs through the peat bogs of the Rinns — and, uniquely for a modern distillery, a real proportion of its peat and barley comes from the farm and the island itself.

As a 21st-century farm venture, Kilchoman has no clan lineage. But it sits close to Kilchoman church and its famous medieval carved cross, in a corner of Islay steeped in the island’s Gaelic and ecclesiastical past — the world of Clan Donald and the Lords of the Isles that underlies the whole island, later the Campbell estate.

Visiting

Kilchoman has a visitor centre, café and shop, and runs excellent “field-to-glass” tours that walk you through the whole cycle from the barley field to the cask — book ahead. It opens daily in season; check the website. Its remote setting on the Rinns makes it one of the most atmospheric visits on the island.

Nearby & more whisky

• Also on the Rinns: Bruichladdich
• Islay’s oldest: Bowmore
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Kilchoman distillery — Wikipedia.
• Kilchoman Distillery; Scotchwhisky.com Whiskypedia.