*Kilchoman Casado Single Malt Scotch Whisky* *Bottle. Image courtesy ImpEx Beverages.*

Kilchoman is one of those whiskies that lends itself beautifully to finishing casks. They’ve used rum, Port, other fortified wines, and now red wine casks to add depth and character to the moderately peated base.

Casado - Portuguese for “marriage” - is 2022’s limited edition. Taking distillate barreled in 2014 in ex-bourbon casks from Buffalo Trace and aged for six years, Kilchoman took 38 of their barrels and dumped them into 6,000 liter Portuguese red wine vats for another two years for a total of about eight years of maturation.

Despite the 50 ppm measurement (pre-mashing, as always), this remains a peated whisky that keeps the peat well-controlled. The red wine vats add body and perhaps some oakiness to the whisky, though not as much as you’d think. The final product, to me, is quite light on the red wine notes. Given the massive size of the tuns, that’s not totally unexpected, but with two years of maturation in the ex-red-wine vats I did think more of that character would be present.

Either way, it’s still an excellent whisky, up to Kilchoman’s normal lofty standards. Bottled at 92 proof, it drinks about 10 points higher in mouthfeel though not in heat. If anything, the red wine seems to elevate some of the citrus and bread notes, which sounds odd but I’ve seen it before. There wasn’t enough oak-to-whisky interaction to add much tannin (or perhaps the vats were already drained of those tannins), for which I’m thankful.

So, if you’re looking for a Kilchoman branch-off, this would make a great gift to yourself. It is higher priced than I’d like, but the quality is there. There are only 1,500 bottles available for the US with 12,000 total bottles available worldwide.

Thank you to ImpEx Beverages, a Whiskey Ring Podcast sponsor, for providing these samples free of editorial constraint.

Kilchoman Casado Single Malt Scotch Whisky: Specs

Classification: Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Origin: Kilchoman Distillery

Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley

Proof: 92 (46% ABV)

Age: 6+ Years Old (Plus 2 Years in Portuguese Red Wine Vats)

Location: Scotland - Islay

Kilchoman Casado Single Malt Scotch Whisky Price: $134.99

Official Website

Kilchoman Casado Single Malt Scotch Whisky: Tasting Notes

Eye: White tea. Barely there rime with quick medium legs and no drops.

Nose: Peaty and ashy but not dry, maritime and fresh leaves rather than decomposing vegetation. Peppercorn crust on grilled kippers. Warm red clay, wet wood smoldering and catching fire on the beach.

Palate: Lemony, cereal malt that’s peppery on the front of my tongue while flaming sea salt flows through the palate. Definitely maritime without being salty. Mouthfeel is silky and deceptively heavy, coating with oak and pepper and a salted butter feeling. Embers and woodsmoke suffuse under the tongue and into the corners of my mouth.

Finish: Salinity keeps going, with catching (i.e. just burning) grains in the bottom of a pot still. Lasts for several minutes, the wheat bread burnt on the edges with smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Overall: I like this quite a bit, despite the red wine not making much of a stand. This has a pleasant and persistent salinity that pairs well with the slightly burnt bread’s bitterness, both enhancing the sweetness of the malt. Well-balanced. Just wish that red wine was there.

Final Rating: 7.4

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary

8 | Excellent | Exceptional

7 | Great | Well above average

6 | Very Good | Better than average

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation