Kilchoman Sanaig

You can really taste the elements of this fantastic whisky. A full, rich, spicy, peaty mouthful. It’s assertive and demands your attention. It’s getting better and better the further down the bottle I’m drinking. The quality of the ingredients and care put into making this spirit shine through. Excellent.

23rd September 2020

Peaty notes take time to emerge, but earthy in nature.
Initial hot is from the Olorosso sherry cask with the American White Oak hidden for a while, but vanilla starts to emerge. The colour betrays the dominant assertive nature of the Quercus Robur cask, with the high porosity initially overwhelming all else. Usual sultanas raisins dried apricots, apples, pineapple, banana, dried orange and lemon peel. Currants and figs also. American Oak difficult to identify sometimes.
Can't say this is well balanced but it is pleasant and very sweet. Salty taste initially accompanied by spices. Medium to full bodied mouthfeel. Certainly mouth coating.
Finish is very nice, sweet yet peaty and earthy.

12th August 2020

Opens with delicious rich, raisiny, coffee/chocolatey notes, warm and spicy in the palate with a superb peppery sweetness building with dark chocolate pudding flavours and finishes long with spice, pepper and creamy, smokey oak vanilla. Quite fantastical!

9th August 2020

a superb peated whisky. It have a wonderful and very rounded palate.

7th August 2020

Darkness of colour suggest Oloroso cask ACE, especially since NCA, not sweet, waxy oily enough IMO for PX.
Viscous, reflecting NCF.
Peat initially, but not overwhelmingly so. Keeps waxing and waning in peatiness. Occasional hint of smoked meat but again dissipates rather rapidly.
Certainly chocolate, raisins, hint of pineapples.
Youthfulness shows through as slight hint of acetic acid but rapidly
disappeared.
15 minutes airing the raisins sultanas and figs all strengthens as the peatiness recedes.
Very nice, but has to compete with Ardbeg Uigeadail. For me, the latter wins.
Still very pleasant.

27th June 2020

Very good.
Kilchoman have at least two things going for them with this dram: First a full bodied peat, that's very welcoming and avoids the stingy and stinkier peat notes that some young whiskeys have. Second, a very careful cask selection of good active casks, that seem to really add a lot of good flavor and fullness. This was made by a perfectionist and easily worth the relatively high price-point.

5th June 2020

Sanaig is a sherry expression released by Kilchoman. I suggest to get it together with a bottle of Machir Bay, which is actually the counterpart of Sanaig (in the sense that whereas Sanaig is a sherry expression, Machir Bay is more on the "bourbon side"). Both are lovely, and it's really nice to switch between a sip of each other. If then you want to go over, try also Kilchoman 100% Islay (made with Rockside Farm barley and entirely processed at Kilchoman's). You will get the idea of how in this world dominated by profit someone can still think about a different philosophy pointing to creativity and making something special starting from the raw material (barley and malting) and further processing technique. I love all Islay malts but Kilchoman to me is the most interesting and worthy distillery

24th September 2019

Very impressed with this whisky. I tried a Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dha which was a whisky in a similar vein - that is a peaty whisky with sherry influence. I thought the marriage of flavors in that particular whisky wasn't quite right. In this it is the same concept except executed in a much better way. The nose is peaty, smokey, but with a background sweetness. The palate is rounded and full, with a lot of fruit influence with smidgen of smoke in the back ground. The finish puts the smoke back to the foreground but this isn't an aggressive smoke, it's a mellow, creamy smoke and one which lingers.

A really well balanced dram that gets the peat/sherry balance bang on.
Definitely worth a purchase.

1st August 2019

This usurped the throne that was held by Lagavulin since I first started drinking whisky. Exceptionally smooth. Simply the best there is.

18th May 2019

Sherry influence brings out a soft fruity and a lightly smoke peat flavor to a fine whisky. A good choice with a fine cigar or pipe.

28th January 2019

If you’re like me and a big fan of peated whiskies, this will not disappoint.
As soon as you crack open the bottle, the peat is evident.
On the palate is warm peatiness and almonds with a hint of sherry in the background.
The finish is medium-long, lingering and lovely.

29th July 2018

Kilchoman Sanaig. I was a little underwhelmed initially. Left it to breathe for half an hour, added a fraction of water to open it up. Now I would put it in my top 3 favourite seated whiskies.

17th May 2018

Easy drinking, affordable, and subtle.

14th May 2018

If you prefer medium peated single malts with chocolate notes, then i can't recommend anything higher than this. Dessert whiskey with a character at it's finest.

30th April 2018

For a relatively young whisky the complexity of this spirit cannot be understated. Peat Peat Peat and lot of fresh stewed fruit with a hint of caramel and sherried notes in the back . I paid a lot more than the price suggested here and it's worth every penny. Another Islay gem for sure ! Nay sayers may prefer the Speyside offerings. I 'll have this one. :)

11th January 2018

meh...it's no Ardbeg 10 year or Lagavulin but it's okay. For the money, I prefer Bowmore 12 the Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig Quarter Cask or the Ardbeg An Oa. Seems to lack depth to me.

8th January 2018

I prefer my scotch peaty and found this very complex for an Islay. Nice stone fruit tones that are lacking in other Islays. Definitely a nice change of pace from the Lagavulin 16, and now half the price. I'm not sure why half of the reviewers downgrade it for being peaty -- that's the point of this whiskey.

23rd December 2017

Smells like peat, tastes like peat, remains as peat for a long time on the tongue

21st December 2017

Wow, really complex whiskey that offers you both smoke and fruitiness!
There's alot of smoke on the nose.

21st November 2017

Bought the Sanaig Kilchoman in Ontario, Canada at a substantial cost over a 12 year old Bowmore and the JW Black. It does not have the complexity and depth of a Bowmore 12 year old and yet its wau more expensive. The bottle is beautiful tough. Also its only a 700 ml bottle. The fact that his has a higher alcohol content is a negative for me, as I prefer to have a deep rich taste as to a thinner character and more alcohol. All in all, an interesting scotch , overpriced for its young age.

21st July 2017

Good, but not my favorite. Maybe a little young(?)

5th May 2017

Kilchoman improves with this one. It has a distinctive character. An explosion of flavors with lingering peat. But without one overwhelming, leaving monotony. I have to say that the packaging for Sanaig is a very beautiful blend of old and new. Excellent artwork. One of the best I have seen. Hoping that Kilchoman continues with success. With time, they could/should be my favorite.

28th April 2017

I love it.

17th December 2016

This is late night comfort in a glass. Smokey, rich, fruity yet not sweet, noticeable peat yet not overwhelming, warm, calming. Hold it on your tongue to let it burn and then subdue your palate to balance with your nose. Kilchoman may be young, however, it is not a whisky to shy away from in turn for other Islay's. It's a newcomer that helps broaden the spectrum and is just that little bit different...

9th December 2016

Fantastic drop, for such young whisky unbelievable palette and flavour. Peated beauty with lemon and strong cherry hints and lovely sea euphoria aftertaste. I bloody love it and bought already two more bottles.

13th June 2016

So this is my second offering from Kilchoman I tried Machir Bay first and was pretty impressed but found it a little boozy so I gave it an 8 but after a week that went away and allowed the sherry and coastal notes to come through so I would have rated it higher actually probably more like a 9.Now this one is just as good maybe slightly less peaty but more sherried so it has the fruit and the peat similar to an Uigaedail or Laphraoig triple wood maybe less peaty but very smooth and complex a very perfect whisky to me very well rounded.I honestly think in the next 10 years people will talk about Kilchoman like Ardbeg,Lagavulin,and Laphraoig these guys really know what they are doing and I look foreward to seeing more of their whisky around in the future it's great stuff the hype is very deserved.The Sugarbear

8th May 2016

Another fantastic dram from the chaps at Kilchoman. Smokey, Peaty, Sweet and extremely well balanced.

30th March 2016

I have tried other Kilchoman and thought they was ok.. Not earth shattering as some people suggest and tired this the other day and still can't see why people rave about them.. Yes I'm sure they will be good with a few more years under there belt but still too young a whisky for me.. They are competing with too many big names on islay to produce mid range whisky

23rd March 2016