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Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release

Mediocre at best

0 282

@MaltActivistReview by @MaltActivist

2nd May 2012

0

  • Nose
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  • Taste
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  • Finish
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  • Balance
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  • Overall
    82

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This is Islay's first farm distillery. Which means that they grow their own barley instead of buying it. The distiller is very very new and, hence, the expressions on offer are almost foetal in age.

This particular one is around 4 years old (though I suspect younger). Quite pale in it's appearance with runny legs. It's a mildly peated whisky with a familiar Islay twang to it. Freshly cut grass and wet wood are the first aromas that catch your attention. If you try harder and let your mind wander you can almost discern a fruit basket filled with tangerines and ripe pears. Visit it a third time and traces of Islay start to feature. The familiar smell of iodine and moist sea sand bring you comfort.

Though the aromas are all there they seem somewhat weak and confused. Much like newly born kittens meowing for attention but not getting any.

The delivery is dry and the first sip vanishes from your palate so fast it would make Houdini proud. As you coax a second taste from the glass a bundle of aniseed stuck to red Lozenges come rolling in. The sensation on the side of my tongue signals an element of citrus and finally nuts and small stick of clove tickle the back of my throat going down.

This is a young malt and has yet to define itself. It is desperately trying to build character but seems it is being nipped in the bud much too soon. While this distillery has great promise in the future is it doing itself a disservice by releasing it's malts too soon?

I certainly think so.

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2 comments

@olivier
olivier commented

How does one reconcile a judgement of "mediocre" with a rating of 82/100 ?

Nothing against you or your review, just that this whole rating system makes no sense to me as it seems to be actually ratings out of 20 (with 80 added for good measure).

11 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

Thanks for your comment. I guess since tasting notes and liking a whisky are subjective issues then I guess it's only natural that a rating system be subjective too. For some 80/100 is mediocre and for someone else it's very good. Never really possible to reconcile the two opinions.

My ratings are based more often than not on the type of ratings Jim Murray gives. I started off by reading his Bible first so chances are I am influenced in that sense. For me anything in the 80-85 ranges is me is average. If you wish to understand my ratings specifically you can access my whisky blog at maltactivist.com --- I have tried to make sense of my rating scale.

11 years ago 0

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