Kilchoman Machir Bay

About The Brand: Kilchoman

Kilchoman, which opened in 2005, was Islay's first brand-new distillery in more than 124 years. The founder of Kilchoman, Anthony Wills, set out to revive farm distillation as a local heritage. As Islay's sole Single Farm Single Malt Scotch Whisky, our 100% Islay collection stands alone as a representation of the rebirth of these traditions. Anthony and Kathy Wills founded the family-run company Kilchoman in 2005. The husband and wife team's three sons, James, George, and Peter, joined as the company grew. With Anthony serving as Managing Director and Master Distiller, Kathy administering the Visitor Center, and their three sons overseeing the distillery's sales and marketing initiatives, the Wills family continues to be the driving force behind Kilchoman. Anthony and Kathy's goal to revive the grassroots heritage of farm distillation is the source of our 100% Islay ideology. The 100% Islay range has been the foundation of our business from the outset. It symbolizes the return of single malt whiskey production from barley to bottle in one place. In our distillery, quality control and consistency tasks are handled on-site with expertise, care, and attention to detail rather than being outsourced. Around the dismantled Kilchoman Church, which is situated on a 2,300-acre plot of ground, we farm a range of landscapes. Our flock of blackface sheep grazes on the rugged mountainous terrain to the south. To the west, our herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle grazes on a mixture of draff, or barley husks left over from producing whiskey, and machair grasses. Our yearly barley harvest is grown on 400 acres of our richest land, which surrounds the distillery. The barley is sown every spring and when Islay's 50,000 migrating geese have left, it ripens during the summer before being harvested in the early fall.