Kilchoman PX Finish Single Cask 2016 (Cask #680)

Here is another big winner from last October's Kilchoman tasting. I bought this the moment I tasted it. Hugely rewarding dram, this is a single cask release (as the bottle declares proudly in blood red font) finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. Pedro Ximenez is a very very sweet grape, and results in a extremely sweet sherry. A better explanation than I could provide is found in this review of the same cask release. 


Cask strength (almost 60%), from cask #680, distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2015. Here we go...

Nose: Holy moly, what a nose. This is a full BBQ and then some. I get tons of rubbery briny peat smoke, savory maple bacon/honey-glazed ham (more on the maple side), fresh ash, deep deep red fruit (black plums, black cherries, blackberries maybe, loads of red grapes), and a certain sweet slice, maybe pineapple. Very rowdy nose! This is not smooth, it's very rough-and-tumble, but very rewarding. After letting it breathe a while, I get a little oak and a little vanillin, but the BBQ remains. 

Mouthfeel: Very very full. Thick, coarse, oily. 

Palate: Smoke, and lots of it. The smoke hides virtually all of the cask strength burn, which is a marvel. The palate here is tamer than the nose, but not by a lot. Still a very strong BBQ element emerges - like brisket, or Kansas City-style ribs. Charcoal, smoked meat, sweet glaze. Beyond that are the same fruit elements from the nose, but quicker and lighter on the tongue: more red grapes than anything, now.  Maybe even roasted peach. The black fruit has receded. At the end, an interesting bitter herbal element - jasmine? Cut grass on a bonfire?

Finish: Not as long as I would have imagined, but full of medium peat trails, vanilla. and a little pepper, and a little oak. Iodine, too. 

Verdict: This is Kilchoman's version of Uigeadail: a sherried peat monster that ends up firmly in BBQ land. I love this whisky! This isn't a particularly smooth, patrician, elegant dram - no Lagavulin, this - but it is muscular, assertive, delicious, and full of many facets of savory flavor. An excellent Islay, highly recommended.