Bowmore 18 Year Old V Kilchoman Sanaig Single Malt Scotch Whisky Tasting Review 

I derived great joy from seeing Rachel's obvious delight at that impressive cork-pop.

Kilchoman Sanaig has a generous amount of Islay peat flavor and a wonderfully sweet (but not too sweet) taste due to the sherry influence. The flavors in this Kilhoman are layered and complex with a long-lasting warm finish. Kilchoman is slowly expanding and will soon explode into the hearts of peat lovers.

Just had a nice dram adelphi bowmore, 19 years old. If only we could get things like these as a distillerybottling.

It is comforting to know that even Scottish natives can't pronounce these crazy Scottish distillery names. For ages I pronounced anCnoc as ANK-knock, Bruichladdich as Brook-LAH-dik, Glen Garioch as Glen GARY-ock, GlenMorangie as Glen More-AN-gee, Obam as Oh-BAN, and Ledaig as Leh-DAYG. I thought maybe Scots had a common ancestral gene that made them inherently know how to pronounce them. But I was smart enough to look up Laphroaig's pronunciation before even trying. And Tomatin's correct pronunciation makes it sound like something you make pasta sauce with.

You both really fit together. It is always a joy watching you both in your conversation about whisky. I have to confesss that I am in love with your Scottish accents. Slainte mhath from old Germany P.S. I prefer Kilchoman to Bowmore. Bowmore should come up with a new version that is not chill-filtered and coloured an that should have 46 percent of alcohol.

An old CD player, brilliant 🥃

Some corrections about the facts you went through for Kilchoman. Kilchoman is a farm to bottle distillery, but only for their 100% Islay offering (and select single cask bottlings). Their in-house malted barley is only peated to 20ppm. Kilchoman's other offerings (Sanaig and Machir Bay included) are made from malt bought from Port Ellen Maltings. This is the same malt bought by Ardbeg, and is peated to 50ppm. The other correction is that Machir Bay is predominately bourbon cask, but always has some small amount of oloroso sherry cask as well. While Sanaig is flipped, with mostly oloroso sherry casks, and a small amount of bourbon cask. Their Loch Gorm offering is made entirely of oloroso sherry cask.

2 unpretensious girls having fun with fine spirits, what's not to like. First time viewer from Norway, cheers!

Great conversation. I have not had Bowmore 18, but I love Sanaig. Hopefully I can try the 18 soon and share my thoughts. Thanks for walking us through these!

Great tasting notes today! 😅

I can understand and relate to the “old telly that got hot for the first time in a few years”😂 I always smell “grandma’s scarf” when you describe old and smoky.

Good luck with the new shop!

Very interesting comparison. Kilchoman has my deepest respect for integrity but Bowmore is my guilty pleasure from a less than integrity presentation. Cheers and nice belch😁

'Deep dust, 'Old stuff you got out the loft', 'Old CD Player' and 'Old telly that's got hot for the first time in a few years' should be nosing notes on the bottle. 'Old library books' for the tasting notes, as well.

Never tried the Bowmore 18 but the Sanaig absolutely demolishes the 15.

I like what you said about oldie verses newbie…I wonder if the whisky boom and the trend for naturally-presented, higher-strength whisky will encourage Bowmore to produce something akin to Sanaig one day

Kilchoman sources quite a substantial share of the malt they use from Port Ellen maltings.

These are the comparisons I want to see.

COOH!

spitting and burping... Love it xD

I have a bottle of Sanaig bottled 2021-06-08 which I found disappointing. I'd tried a shop sample from a different batch and really enjoyed it, and have since tried a sample from a third batch that was also great. The bottle I bought is much darker than the others, and discussing it with someone in whisky retail the view was that there was a batch of Sanaig with very active casks. When I first tried that bottle I couldn't get past how "planky" it seemed, both nose and taste. That's a term from wine tasting and means an excess/dominance of new wood character to the detriment of the drink, rather than the far more appealing "floorboards" (aged, dusty) that Kerry finds. I've re-tried the bottle a few times since but am still waiting for any change/improvement due to gradual oxygenation. Most whisky distilleries use sherry-seasoned casks (/butts)--i.e. casks which have held real e.g. Oloroso or PX sherries in them for a short while (not sure, maybe a couple of years?), but the contents of which are subsequently used for making sherry vinegar rather than sherry wines. As such those casks are perhaps not *so* different from the old "travel" casks used prior to the early-1980s when sherry could still be shipped outside Spain in casks/unbottled--NB, those were never ex-solera casks, which were far too valuable to be used just for shipping wine to the UK. In contrast, Kilchoman use only ex-solera casks from a single bodega with which they have a strong connexion/relationship. That means those casks cost a fair bit more but arguably contribute better/more complex sherry flavours to the whisky.

How does the Sanaig compare with Ardbeg Uigeadail?

Kilchoman sanaig: couldn't taste anything but smoke/peat and super hot alcohol. Disgrace to real Scotch and not sorry for being harsh.....ok sorry...kinda. The burp through the nose at the end though I did like, so the video gets a like too😄 Can't remember the Bowmore anymore due to it was a long time ago. Good job on the vid/comradery.