Ok well in a total reflection of my lack of discipline and inner fortitude I could wait no longer to sample my quote unquote Chinese single malt. My buddy gifted it to me and explained he drank a bunch of it his last trip to China. Kilchoman is a new distillery by Scotland standards. Established in 2005 it is a true farm distillery. Peat cut and harvested the old traditional way. Hand crafted single malt no coloring or chilltration. Utilizing both bourbon and sherry cask. All on a single farm. My observations are as follows. Official disclaimer I do not know how to taste, TMM and his group do it well. Starting with color it almost has a green hue behind the yellow gold. It appears to look a little murky, thick if you will. In theory being from north west coast Islay i was prepared for a lot of peat which I do not like. Not sure how to explain in tasting terms but it tastes much better than it smells. It had the distinct heavy peat smell but lighter almost floral? I know, makes no sense but just trying to be accurate. For me I like a splash of water or a cube in my single malts to open them up a bit. Not sure this one needs it. The taste was very surprising. It was light and kind of citrus like? Not fruity but kind of maybe? The peat flavor just was not there instead it was peat Smokey, is that a thing? Anyway it was crisp and light not all the earthy thick peat taste I was expecting. The box says I should taste rich layers of chocolate but I got no idea how to begin to find chocolate in this. It is very tasty and slips right off the tongue leaving a crisp Smokey citrus after taste. Is there such a thing as a summer single malt? While flavor was light and floral like it did not lack depth, it had many layers and they did not fight with each other. I would rate it a solid 8. I went out to shop put on some Cat Steven’s, had a bone left over for Hemi so she could join in a quiet celebration of simply living on this earth yet another day with me. Sometimes a good whiskey, a good dog and some quiet music in back ground is one of life’s simple pleasures.
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