Review #580 - Kilchoman Sauternes Cask Matured (2024)

Alongside a Port cask release, this Sauternes Cask Matured bottling was one of the two cask types chosen for 2024 small batch releases from Kilchoman. This was a combination of first fill Sauternes casks and refill Sauternes casks, with the refill variety making up a larger portion of mixture.

There are a couple of vintages of spirit in this batch as well - 5 year old and 6 year old whisky, with the younger being distilled in 2018. As usual, Kilchoman gives us great bottling presentation: this batch comes with a strength of 50% ABV, and there's no chill filtration or added coloring to worry about.

Kilchoman Sauternes Cask Matured (2024)

Scotland/Islay - Single Malt

Price: USD 119 (2025)

Age Statement: 5 Years

Strength: 50% ABV

Cask Makeup: First fill and refill Sauternes casks

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2024

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 6 months; bottles at 70%, 50%, and 50% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Ashy peat smoke - moderate in strength. Pickled hot peppers, lemon-lime soda, and some fresh apple bring a fruity side, but we also get a little bit of a creamy side: custard, lemon curd, then some fizzy Champagne. Honey brings more sweetness, and then we get a strong salt scent.

Palate: A medium thickness mouthfeel; quite fruity and also punchy, with some spirity heat. Strong peat, hot peppers, quite oily, and we get some flavors like yellow and green apple, white grape, cream soda, and cola. Buttercream icing, baked bread, and some ash build in the background; like the nose, salt is a strong accent note, too.

Finish: Quite oily, and lemon, apple, juicy pear, and green mango continue the fruit theme. Bready malt and moderate peat smoke return; in the aftertaste, we get baking flavors like cinnamon, vanilla, and spicy anise. It's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: This is a nice Kilchoman - a good mix of spirit character and cask influence. We like that choice of a mixture of fresh Sauternes casks and refill Sauternes casks, as it allowed the strong peat and the salty, oily, distillate to mix with those sweet, bright fruits. Not the most complex whisky, but quite well-balanced.

Value here is just okay, though; decent, but maybe just below average, as these limited release Kilchoman whiskies tend to have a higher price tag here in the US.

Our Average Rating: 7.3 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 6.01

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.