07.05.2025
Kilchoman European Tour: Whisky, Bottles & Road Adventures
Kilchoman European Tour: Whisky, Bottles & Road Adventures
Kilchoman European tour, a route from the distillery in the heart of Islay through the largest countries in Europe, topped off with feis ile!
The tour began in 2014, then in 2015 and 2018, we don't have much information about the course of the journey. 2014 was not strictly connected to feis ile and took place in September and the kilchoman team visited 8 countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.
The Tour 2014
Special edition for 2014, namely machir bay bottled at cask strength and limited quantity: 1518 bottles.
The Tour 2015
2015 also not connected to feis ile took place from early September to October: The tour visited: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. 2015 was the 10th anniversary of joining feis ile when in 2005 it opened to visitors and opened the gates of the warehouses for whisky lovers.
The Tour 2018
The year 2018, like the previous two editions, begins in September.
The Route: This year’s tour will start on Islay, visiting nine countries over seven weeks, covering over 7,000 miles – Islay – Scotland – England – Belgium – Luxembourg – Netherlands – Germany – Austria –Italy – Switzerland – France – Islay.
The last two years we had the opportunity to be members of the European tour which the Kilchoman distillery started at the turn of April and May in 2023 and 2024.
The Tour 2023
The 2023 edition was a return to European roads because after 5 years Kilchoman decided to return with the European tour. This time was tour hitting 13 countries during a six week, starting in Luxembourg on April 16th, finishing back on Islay for Fèis Ìle. The 2023 tour host events in Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France and the UK.
P.s. I was present in 2023 at the event in Wageningen (Netherlands) and in 2024 when the Kilchoman visited Nijmegen (Netherlands). Of course, such an event is also accompanied by a bottle and in 2023 the following were chosen: „The European Tour limited edition release of 3,325 bottles is exclusively available at the tour stops. Matured in bourbon and port casks and bottled at natural cask strength (58.5%)”.
After the great success in 2023, it was time for the next edition and 2024 turned out to be an even bigger undertaking.
The Tour 2024
This time, they decided on 20 countries and 10 thousand kilometers to cover, the start of course had to take place a bit earlier and the car hit the road on March 26, where the first stop was Switzerland. As follows: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, Ireland, Northern, Ireland, Scotland.
Last year was also the promotion of a new bottle in the portfolio that will permanently appear on our shelves, and we are talking about:
BATCH STRENGTH
„Matured in a combination of re-charred red wine casks, oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, a few drops of water were added post maturation to produce a Batch Strength of 57% abv. The result is a colossal dram combining the natural peat smoke and citrus character of Kilchoman with dark fruits, rich spices and salted caramel sweetness.”
In 2024, the kilchoman team also took a few delicacies on tour, such as chocolates and new products that were soon to hit store shelves. For example, the new Kilchoman sauteners cask:
Here is my collection of bottles from the European tour so far:
About the author
Damian Baran
I am in love with the world of whisky since 2021 after the first films about testing and discovering flavors. the story began with a bottle of Talisker 10, earlier of course brands such as glendifich or johnie walker appeared but it was Talisker that opened my eyes to the diversity of flavors and scents. currently with over 800 whiskies tried and head over heels in love with the climates of islay. finds his flavors in bottles such as ardbeg or lagavulin but I also willingly reach for peated whiskies such as glendronach sweet fruity climates of Speyside.
To the author