Welcome back to another fine tasting of two single malts, where I can compare them side-by-side to truly understand the differences, pick out a favourite, and hopefully learn something new along the way. Won’t you join me in this fun adventure, and if you dig this, maybe you will stick around for more? Today, I find myself at my local watering hole in London, where I can peruse the shelves of whiskies on display and choose a dram to try before I buy. For today’s Scotch journey, I land on two bottles from Kilchoman, a small-scale family-owned distillery on Islay. I’ve recently discovered their fantastic single malt and have been very impressed, so I am eager to dive into these two particular expressions. But first, we need music! Now playing: ASC – Thematic Function.

Opened in December 2005, Kilchoman is the youngest distillery on the island. Fueled by passion, it has quickly made its mark, offering uniquely complex, farm-to-glass spirits that show an old soul in a young body. Their core range release, Machir Bay, takes its name after a small bay on the Western coast of the isle, where the distillery is located. This is an un-coloured and non-chill filtered single malt, so it will get my integrity star in the stats below, bottled at 46% ABV. The only thing to cringe a nose at could be its non-age statement (NAS), but I’ll happily let that go, as I am fine with younger, smokier whiskies, especially from Islay. My educated guess says that this is a vatting of whiskies somewhere between 3 and 5 years of age, from ex-bourbon barrels, with an 8-week finish in sherry butts. It’s light in colour, with a somewhat dry and peaty nose. It’s well balanced on the palate, and the vatting seems to be perfectly integrating dried fruit and notes of vanilla. I’ll take a sip and then move over to the Cognac Cask Matured expression because I’m very interested in how it has come out, especially with peated spirit. I’ve had a few cognac-matured (and finished) whiskies in the past, and sometimes they are a bit too strong and sweet [I might as well be drinking cognac]. This is also an integrity bottling [in fact, I think all of the Kilchoman are], but now at a formidable 50% ABV. Mine is the 2023 edition of 15,100 bottles drawn from a Cognac barrique. It’s definitely sweeter on the palate and smoother than Machir Bay. I am also surprised at the alcohol content here because it doesn’t taste that strong. Finally, the cognac influence is definitely not overpowering, and I’m actually enjoying the extra dimension it adds to the character of smoke.

Let’s switch it up and return to the core edition once again. It’s lighter and thinner after the cognac-matured whisky. I feel like it wants to be meatier, but it’s barely there. I wish for this to have some heaviness and oils in the texture. It’s definitely drier and smokier on the palate, but now I find myself reaching for the cognac dram again. More dried fruit here, like apricots and raisins, but it doesn’t carry all that signature too much. As hinted at before, this isn’t a finished whisky. Unlike Machir Bay, which was given a second maturation, and thus an extra boost in flavour, this batch was entirely matured in 300-litre casks from Tonellerie Bossuet [maybe you should buy a barrel?] in its entirety for an undisclosed period of time but some sources quote “a minimum of six years” (it was distilled in 2016). The elderness of this expression is apparent. It’s also clearly represented in the price. Whereas the “standard” fare goes for about £45 in my area, the cognac bottling commands a hefty increase, jumping to about £80. I also own a bottle of the Kilchoman Feis Ile 2017 in my archives [I think I won this at an auction], and that one is bottled at a cask strength of 58%, and I usually do a quick mental calculation of how much actual whisky I am getting for the price. I return to my tasting, back and forth again, with cognac flavour balancing the smokiness in that particularly wonderful way, reminding me a bit of how Laphroaig is aged in a PX cask. However, unlike the medicinal peat of the Laphroaig, the Kilchoman tastes like smoking a cigar, dipped in cognac in this case. And before I could get another sip of these two great single malts, they were finished for this tasting!

Name	Machir Bay	Cognac Cask Matured
Distillery / Region	Kilchoman / Islay	Kilchoman / Islay
Bottler / Series	Distillery bottling / core	Distillery bottling / Edition 2023
Stated Age / Vintage	NAS / ?	NAS (6 years?) / 2016
Cask type	Ex-bourbon + oloroso sherry butts	Cognac barrique
ABV / Cask Strength	46% / No	50% / No
Non-chill filtered/ Uncoloured	Yes / Yes 🌟	Yes / Yes 🌟
Price	£45	£80
Did it win? / Did I like it?	No / Yes	Yes / Yes
Would I buy it? / Recommend it?	Yes / Yes	.Yes / Yes

So there you have it, folks, another fantastic tasting! It should be obvious from my words alone which I will pick as a favourite here. That being said, I also think that Machir Bay is an excellent integrity single malt, and I take a mental note to visit the distillery next time I am on Islay (hopefully very soon!). The cognac maturation here is divine and not as overpowering as others. So if you like that combination of the sweet and smoke, I highly recommend you try a sample. So with that said, I’ll pause here and proclaim the Cognac Cask Matured expression as the winner of this round. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can pair Machir Bay with something else from Islay to compare.