The Kilchoman Distillery is one of a few distilleries that manages the entire process from ‘barley to bottle’. In fact, that’s the name of their main tour. After introducing ourselves to Emma the sister of Sarah from Bruichladdich, we began calling taxis for our return trip 2 hours later.
Pro Tip; book your taxi rides ahead of time, ideally a day ahead. There is a limited number of drivers and most of the tours end at the same time.
Alternatively, the Kilchoman area is a great area for camping or a stay in one of the isolated homes of the area. The Kilchoman House for a larger group at $425 a night is a great place to begin your search for lodging. Admittedly, a car would be great for touring the Atlantic side of Islay. Seal watching at Port Wemyss is accessible via the bus but most of the Atlantic coastal villages and sites are only car accessible. In a perfect scenario, your itinerary would have an open day to explore the island (not Sunday because almost everything is closed). Renting a guide for the day is a good idea because the island of Islay is beautiful.
During our hike from Bruichladdich to Kilchoman, we walked up a large hill which gave us a view of almost the entire island. We passed farm fields which were dedicated to growing barley for Bruichladdich’s Octimore X.3 versions. We were told that more people visit Islay for bird watching than for Scotch. The seasons differ and so the island can accommodate the alternative tourism. Walking past Loch Gorm on the way to Kilchoman illustrated what attracts bird watches. We saw swans that were almost the size of sheep.
Machir Bay 
A bit farther than the Kilchoman Distillery is the Machir Bay and Beach area. Absolutely worth the visit or a campout. Hopefully, the weather is cooperating as it was for us. I took my shoes off and experienced a small sample of the Atlantic at low tide. Our taxi driver sat in his car practicing his bagpipe chanter. That seems like a perfect hobby for a Scottish taxi driver on Islay.
Moving our story back to Kilchoman, Isabelle, our guide, started the tour on the malting floor. There was malt on the floor at the time, I’d guess about 5 days old. We could see, smell and taste the malting progress of the Barley because we were allowed to take some in our hand. During this time, we also sampled the Kilchoman 100% Islay expression.
The tour took us into the kiln room, we saw the mill and then visited the washbacks. The distillery was built only a few years earlier so the logistics of the production is aligned and each process is near the next one. At the pot stills, we sampled new make spirit of 63.5% ABV. Banana and yellow fruit permeated the spirit safe as ‘the good stuff’ was being captured.
I will write several times that tasting the new make spirit should be a standard for every distillery. The one thing that is impossible to simulate in the states is a distillery’s new make spirit. Tours are great and the stories are fun but these can be ported world-wide through the website. Casks and cask making can be demonstrated at any large retailer or spirit distiller. Obviously, the finished product is sold, after all that’s what got us here. But the missing link is what the spirit tastes like after production and before touching wood. Kilchoman allowed us to sample their ‘new make’ and for that reason alone, a trip to the distillery is worth the visit. Adding to the new make spirit tasting, we were able to taste the wash and low beers – wow, what a treat.
We spent a decent amount of time in with the pot stills before heading to the casking room. In full production, we witnessed a cask being filled and rolled for storage. Then we watched a new cask being prepared for filling. Finally, we visited the bottling room. The tour truly was from grain to glass.
Before leaving, we were treated to additional samples inside the gift shop. We tasted the Kilchoman Machir Bay and Kilchoman Loch Gorm. Admittedly, I did not know that Machir Bay and Beach existing until after our tour. But, like so many of the distillery bottlings, visiting makes all the difference for the background story behind the label.
Next stop was our Seafood Platter dinner at the Lochindaal Restaurant.