Kilchoman has always punched above its weight. The youngest farm distillery on Islay — founded in 2005 on Rockside Farm near Machir Bay — has built a reputation not on age statements but on ambition, releasing cask experiments that distilleries ten times their size wouldn't attempt. The Fino Sherry Cask 2023 Release is a case in point: Islay peat married with the bone-dry, saline character of fino sherry wood. It's an unusual combination, and at 50% ABV, it arrives with enough muscle to make both halves of that equation count.
I'll be honest — when I first heard "fino sherry cask" paired with Islay peat, I raised an eyebrow. Fino is the driest, most austere style of sherry, all yeast-flor and sea-salt minerality. It's about as far from the sticky PX or oloroso finishes that dominate the whisky world as you can get. That's precisely what makes this interesting. Kilchoman aren't chasing sweetness here. They're chasing texture and tension.
And it works. The fino influence doesn't smother the peat — it sharpens it, adds a coastal minerality that sits alongside Kilchoman's house smoke like salt spray on a harbour wall. At 50%, it's bottled at a strength that rewards patience. A few drops of water open things up without drowning the conversation between cask and spirit. This is a whisky that feels like Islay in a way that goes beyond just smoke — there's a sense of place here, of Atlantic wind and wet stone and something faintly agricultural, a reminder that this is a working farm distillery where barley still grows in the fields outside the stillhouse.
Tasting Notes
Specific tasting notes are best discovered in your own glass — this is a whisky that reveals itself differently to every drinker. What I can say is that the fino sherry influence brings a drier, more savoury profile than you might expect from a sherried Islay malt. Don't come looking for Christmas cake and dried fruit. Come looking for something leaner, sharper, more restless. The peat is present but not overwhelming, and the 50% ABV gives everything room to breathe.
The Verdict
At £79.95, the Fino Sherry Cask 2023 sits in a competitive bracket for Islay single malts, but Kilchoman justify the price through sheer distinctiveness. This isn't another peat-and-sherry combination following a well-worn formula — it's a genuine attempt to do something different with cask selection, and the fino influence gives it a character I haven't found in any other Islay release this year. The lack of an age statement is irrelevant here; what matters is whether the spirit and the wood had something to say to each other. They did.
A 7.5 out of 10 feels right. It's confident, well-made, and genuinely distinctive — a whisky with a point of view. My only reservation is that the fino influence, while fascinating, may divide drinkers who prefer their sherried malts on the richer, sweeter side. But for anyone who enjoys dry, coastal, savoury Islay whisky, this is well worth your attention.
Best Served
Pour it neat in a Glencairn, let it sit for five minutes, then add three or four drops of cool water. The fino character opens up beautifully with a little dilution. This is an evening dram — something to drink slowly after dinner with a square of dark chocolate and sea salt, or alongside a plate of good oysters if you're feeling extravagant. The coastal minerality of the whisky and the brine of the oysters will mirror each other in a way that feels almost inevitable.
