THEDAILYWHISKY

Twenty years in, and Kilchoman has done the one thing it was built to do but never quite managed to make permanent. Rockside 11 Year Old is the first whisky made entirely from barley grown on the distillery’s own farm to earn a fixed place in the core range. Every 100% Islay before it was a one-off, here this year, gone the next. This one stays.

It is also the first Kilchoman core range bottling to carry an age statement, and that number, 11 years, is not arbitrary. It points straight back at the slow, awkward, fire-interrupted history that kept a farm distillery from bottling its founding idea as a standing product until two decades had passed.

What Rockside actually is, and why the name is new

Kilchoman runs two distinct production strands. Machir Bay, Sanaig and the rest are made from commercially malted barley brought in from the Port Ellen maltings. The 100% Islay whiskies are something else entirely: barley grown on Rockside Farm, malted on the distillery’s own floor maltings, then distilled, matured and bottled on Islay without leaving the site. That is what “Single Farm Single Malt”, the tagline newly printed across the Rockside label, refers to.

Rockside takes that concept and gives it a standing identity rather than an edition number. The label drops the “100% Islay 16th Edition” style of naming in favour of a name of its own, carries an explicit 11-year age statement, and sits at 46% rather than the 50% the recent numbered 100% Islay releases ran at. It is bottled non-chill filtered with no added colour, and the front carries the signatures of founder Anthony Wills and distillery manager Robin Bignal.

For readers new to Islay: this is the smallest distillery on the island, in the northwest near Machir Bay, and the only one that completes every stage of production, from sowing the grain to filling the bottle, on Islay itself. That “barley to bottle” claim is the entire reason Kilchoman exists, and Rockside is the first time it has been turned into something you can buy off the shelf year-round.

Why it took twenty years

Anthony Wills founded Kilchoman as Islay’s farm distillery from the outset, so a permanent 100% Islay product was always the goal. Getting there was the hard part.

Production began in 2005. Soon after, a fire destroyed the kiln, and a shortage of funds meant it could not be rebuilt until late 2007. The first 100% Islay spirit only went into casks in early 2008, and the Inaugural 100% Islay release did not appear until June 2011, by which point those first bottles were famously filled by hand using teapots borrowed from the distillery café because there was no bottling line yet.

From then on, 100% Islay appeared once a year as a limited release, roughly 10,000 to 15,000 bottles a time. Useful for keeping the farm-distillery credentials visible, but never enough stock, and never consistent enough, to support something permanently on shelves worldwide.

The other constraint was barley. In the early years the farm’s former owner, Mark French, supplied Kilchoman with only 100 tonnes of Rockside barley a year. Buying Rockside Farm outright in 2015 changed the maths entirely: the distillery gained the whole harvest, and yields have climbed since as more fields were brought into use. Rockside 11 Year Old is the first core release that volume of farm-grown stock finally made possible.

Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year Old tasting notes

A note on these: I have not tasted Rockside myself. The notes below are as published by Kilchoman and reported from advance tastings, not a TDW verdict. When we get a sample, this section gets rewritten with our own assessment.

Rockside 11 Year Old distillery and advance tasting notes

• Nose: Orange, lemon peel, fragrant elderflower, honeyed sweetness, maritime smoke. Advance tasters also note fruit compote, tropical fruit, white grape and a clear hit of grilled pineapple.
• Palate: Citrus, tropical fruit, barley sugar, toffee apple and salted caramel sweetness over subtle peat smoke, with grilled pineapple carrying through.
• Finish: Butterscotch, walnut, lingering juicy citrus and stone fruit.
• ABV: 46% | Cask type: approx. 80% bourbon, 20% oloroso sherry | Peating: 20 ppm | Bottle: 700ml, non-chill filtered, natural colour

What makes Rockside different from the 100% Islay limited releases

Three things set it apart from the numbered editions whisky drinkers already know.

First, the cask recipe leans bourbon. Around 80% ex-bourbon to 20% oloroso sherry pushes Rockside toward the bright, fruit-forward side of Kilchoman rather than the darker, sherry-heavy profile of something like the recent 100% Islay sherry editions or Loch Gorm. The grilled pineapple and tropical fruit notes are the giveaway.

Second, the peating is dialled back. At 20 ppm this is Kilchoman’s own floor-malted level rather than the roughly 50 ppm Port Ellen malt used elsewhere in the range, so the smoke sits underneath the fruit rather than leading.

Third, and most significant for buyers, it is permanent. The numbered 100% Islay releases were annual and finite. Rockside is meant to stay, with a consistent age statement and an everyday 46% ABV. Kilchoman has not said whether Rockside will sit alongside the 100% Islay line or eventually replace it.

Price and where to buy Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year Old

The launch lands Kilchoman at 30 of Juni with UK and European availability first and wider markets following, in line with how Kilchoman rolls out its core releases.

The retail price is 46 punds Rockside 11 Year Old, and several listings circulating online actually belong to a separate bottling, the 100% Islay Sherry Cask Matured 11 Year Old at 50%, which is not the same whisky. For a live price on Rockside itself, Royal Mile Whiskies lists the 46% bottle and ships internationally. As a rough frame, Kilchoman’s 46% core and limited bottles have recently sat broadly in the £50 to £80 band, but treat that as context, not a quoted figure for this release.

This being a standing core product rather than a one-off, there is no need to rush the way you would with an annual limited edition. If the first allocation sells through, more is coming.

Is it worth paying attention to?

If you have followed Kilchoman’s 100% Islay editions and chased them year to year, Rockside is the one that takes that work and makes it dependable. A permanently available, age-stated, farm-to-bottle Islay single malt at a sensible 46% is exactly the kind of everyday bottle the distillery’s whole premise pointed at from day one.

It is for the drinker who wants Kilchoman’s farm story in a bottle they can actually keep buying, and who prefers the fruit-led, lightly peated side of Islay to the big sherry bombs. It is less obviously for collectors chasing scarcity, the entire point here is that it will not be scarce.

We will update this piece with first-hand tasting notes and a verdict once we have a glass in front of us.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year Old? It is Kilchoman’s first permanently available 100% Islay whisky, made entirely from barley grown, malted, distilled, matured and bottled at Rockside Farm on Islay. Bottled at 46% with an 11-year age statement, it is also the distillery’s first core range release to carry an age statement.

What does Kilchoman Rockside taste like? According to the distillery and advance tasters, the nose shows orange, lemon peel, elderflower, honey and maritime smoke, with grilled pineapple and tropical fruit. The palate is citrus, tropical fruit, toffee apple and salted caramel over subtle peat, finishing on butterscotch, walnut and stone fruit. The Daily Whisky has not yet tasted it.

What casks is Kilchoman Rockside matured in? Approximately 80% ex-bourbon casks and 20% oloroso sherry casks. That bourbon-led recipe pushes Rockside toward a bright, fruit-forward profile rather than the darker, sherry-driven character of Kilchoman’s heavier 100% Islay and Loch Gorm releases. It is peated to around 20 ppm.

How much does Kilchoman Rockside cost? Rockside 11 Year Old has a recommended price of £55 for a 70cl bottle, direct from Kilchoman’s online shop. That is competitive for an age-stated Islay single malt and below where Kilchoman’s numbered 100% Islay limited editions have recently sat. As a permanent core release, it is priced to drink rather than collect.

Where can I buy Kilchoman Rockside 11 Year Old? Kilchoman announced it on 30 June 2026, with UK and European availability from that week and wider markets to follow. You can order direct from Kilchoman’s online shop, which ships to many countries including Denmark, Germany, Australia, Japan and several US states, or from specialists such as Royal Mile Whiskies. As a permanent core release, it should stay available.

What is Kilchoman distillery known for? Kilchoman is Islay’s farm distillery, founded by Anthony Wills and producing its first spirit in 2005, the first new distillery on Islay since 1908. It is the only Islay distillery to grow, malt, distil, mature and bottle whisky entirely on the island, the basis of its “Single Farm Single Malt” 100% Islay range.