In 2025 I started collecting full and empty bottles from this Farm Distillery on the Isle of Islay. On this page my complete series of the annual limited edition FEIS ILE releases, the 1st release was in May 2010. FEIS ILE is the annual Islay whisky festival, usually held in the last week of May, where all the Islay and Jura distilleries have their own open day with special festival bottles, tastings and other events.
FEIS ILE 2010
on 27.05.2010
3 Years Old
62.2%
258 bottles
FEIS ILE 2010
Date Filled: 22.05.2007
Date Bottled: 22.05.2010
Cask No.: 113/2007
Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel
On the Kilchoman open day of Fèis Ìle 2010, the distillery released an exclusive bottling for the first time. It was a single cask bottling of a bourbon barrel at exactly 3 years old. Some visitors queued for several hours to get their hands on one of the 258 bottles. This was the only time Kilchoman released a single cask bottling for Fèis Ìle; all subsequent releases were small batches, mainly to enable a higher edition due to high demand.
There are two different alcohol content figures on the bottle and the back of the box: the handwritten label on the bottle states 62.2%, while the back of the box states 61.8% abv.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2011
on 26.05.2011
5 Years Old
59.5%
531 bottles
FEIS ILE 2011
Date Filled: 20.04.2006
Date Bottled: 05.05.2011
Cask Nos.: 31, 32/2006
Cask Types: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels, Refill Oloroso Sherry Butt Finish
On the Kilchoman open day at Fèis Ìle 2011 the distillery released a Fèis Ìle bottling for the second time. Two 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels were finished in a refill sherry butt for a good 4 months.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2012
on 31.05.2012
4 Years Old
58.5%
439 bottles
FEIS ILE 2012
Date Filled: 23.04.2008
Date Bottled: 24.05.2012
Cask Nos.: 100, 103/2008
Cask Types: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels, Oloroso Sherry Finish
On the Kilchoman open day an exclusive edition was released for the third time. This time it was a four-year-old “100% Islay” whisky from the bourbon barrels 100-103/2008, which was finished for four weeks in an oloroso sherry butt.
The low number of 439 bottles can be explained by the fact that the Cask Strength version of the "100% Islay" Inaugural Release was already made from exactly these casks in 2011.*
*source: www.kilchoman.com
FEIS ILE 2013
on 30.05.2013
5 Years Old
60.1%
526 bottles
FEIS ILE 2013
Date Filled: 22.05.2008
Date Bottled: 22.05.2013
Cask Nos.: 246, 247/2008
Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels
The exclusive Kilchoman release for Fèis Ìle 2013 was a pure bourbon cask maturation, following two oloroso sherry finishes in the previous two years. Two fresh bourbon barrels from 2008 were married together and bottled after exactly five years.
Contrary to what the text on the back of the box suggests, this is not a 100% Islay release, but a whisky made from commercial malt from Port Ellen Maltings. The layout designer had obviously not changed the text of the Fèis Ìle 2012 100% Islay bottling accordingly.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2014
on 29.05.2014
4 Years Old
58.7%
525 bottles
FEIS ILE 2014
Date Filled: 01.07.2009
Date Bottled: 20.05.2014
Cask Nos.: 328, 329/2009
Cask Types: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels, Fino Sherry Cask Finish
At the Kilchoman open day, the distillery presented a world first with the Fèis Ìle 2014 release: a Kilchoman fino sherry cask finish. The whisky, which was initially matured for a good 4 years in two fresh bourbon barrels and was then finished for 3 months in a fino sherry butt.*
*source: www.kilchoman.com
FEIS ILE 2015
on 28.05.2015
7 Years Old
58.2%
742 bottles
FEIS ILE 2015
Dates Filled: 22.05.2008, 12.09.2008
Date Bottled: 22.05.2015
Cask Nos.: 245, 449, 450/2008
Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels
At the Kilchoman open day a vatting from three fresh ex-Buffalo Trace-bourbon barrels was released. The age of 7 years stated on the back of the box applies only to the oldest barrel, which was bottled at exactly 7 years of age; the other two barrels are four months younger.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2016
on 26.05.2016
8 Years Old
56.6%
634 bottles
FEIS ILE 2016
Date Filled: 13.12.2007
Date Bottled: 20.05.2016
Cask No.: 429/2007
Cask Type: Oloroso Sherry Butt
The 2016 Fèis Ìle bottling was a single cask release of oloroso sherry butt no.429/2007 which has been matured for over eight and a half years – the oldest Kilchoman sherry cask release so far.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2017
on 01.06.2017
7 Years Old
58.0%
877 bottles
FEIS ILE 2017
Dates Filled: 03.07.2008, 08.10.2009
Date Bottled: May 2017
Cask Nos.: 324/2008, 433/2009
Cask Types: Bourbon Barrel, Oloroso Sherry Butt
The festival bottling released on the Kilchoman open day, was this time a vatting from two 100% Islay casks specially selected by Anthony Wills: a bourbon barrel filled in July 2008 and an oloroso sherry butt filled in October 2009.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2018
on 31.05.2018
11 Years Old
55.5%
744 bottles
FEIS ILE 2018
Date Filled: March 2007
Date Bottled: May 2018
Cask Nos.: 34, 65, 82, 83/2007
Cask Type: Bourbon Barrels
Released on Kilchoman open day, the festival bottling is a vatting of four bourbon barrels. This whisky was the first official 11-year-old Kilchoman bottling; previously only a handful of 11-year-old private cask bottlings had been released.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2019
on 30.05.2019
11 Years Old
54.4%
939 bottles
FEIS ILE 2019
Dates Filled: 13.06.2007, 28.02.2008
Date Bottled: 20.05.2019
Cask Nos.: 141/2007, 80/2008
Cask Types: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Butt
The 2019 Fèis Ìle bottling, released on Kilchoman open day is a vatting of one fresh bourbon barrel and one fresh oloroso sherry butt which have been matured for over eleven years.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2020
Online Edition
12 Years Old
54.2%
2.630 bottles
FEIS ILE 2020
Dates Filled: 08/2007, 04/2008
Date Bottled: 28.04.2020
Cask Nos.: 257, 260, 353, 359, 365/2007, 141, 143, 163, 166, 168, 171/2008
Cask Type: Bourbon Barrels
Due to the COVID crisis, the Fèis Ìle 2020 was held virtually for the first time. From 23 to 30 May 2020, the individual distilleries presented themselves with a more or less detailed online programme featuring tastings, auctions, virtual tours, panel discussions and music. The Kilchoman open day was on thursday, 28 May. One item on the programme was an online live tasting of the Fèis Ìle edition, which had already been sold online on the Kilchoman website.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2021
Online Edition
8 Years Old
56.3%
2.832 bottles
FEIS ILE 2021
Dates Filled: 02/2011, 11/2012
Date Bottled: 19.04.2021
Cask Nos.: 94, 151/2011, 27, 711-714, 718/2012
Cask Types: Bourbon Barrels, Oloroso Sherry Butts
The Fèis Ìle 2021 release, which could be purchased on the Kilchoman homepage on 21 April 2021, is a vatting of eight 100% Islay casks, two oloroso sherry butts from 2011 and six bourbon barrels filled in 2012. The whisky was made from the farm’s own optic and publican barley, which had been grown in 2010 and 2011.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2022
on 02.06.2022
16 Years Old
52.1%
865 bottles
FEIS ILE 2022
Dates Filled: 29.03.2006, 12.04.2006
Date Bottled: 02.05.2022
Cask Nos.: 01, 04, 08, 21, 27/2006
Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels
The Fèis Ìle special edition of 2022 was the distillery’s first 16-year-old small batch bottling. It was a vatting of five fresh bourbon barrels from the distillery’s early days.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2023
on 01.06.2023
10 Years Old
55.3%
1.159 bottles
FEIS ILE 2023
Dates Filled: 10.05.2012, 24.01.2013
Date Bottled: 15.05.2023
Cask Nos.: 252/2012, 18, 25/2013
Cask Types: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels, Oloroso Sherry Butt
For the Fèis Ìle special bottling of the year 2023, Anthony Wills selected three casks: two ten-year-old bourbon barrels and an eleven-year-old sherry butt and married them together. The chosen casks were filled with spirit created from publican barley grown in Kilchomans own fields in 2011 and 2012, of which, the barley was then malted, distilled, matured, and bottled on site at the distillery, resulting in a 100% Islay release.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2024
on 30.05.2024
12 Years Old
53.0%
482 bottles
FEIS ILE 2024
Date Filled: 08.06.2011
Date Bottled: 23.05.2024
Cask Nos.: 303, 305/2011
Cask Type: 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels
For the Fèis Ìle special bottling of 2024, Kilchoman founder and master blender Anthony Wills opted for one of the very rare “unpeated” Kilchoman whiskies. This means that the 100% Islay barley malt was dried in the distillery’s kiln using only hot air and not peat smoke.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2025
on 29.05.2025
57.5%
615 bottles
FEIS ILE 2025
Date Filled: 07.10.2015
Date Bottled: 21.04.2025
Cask Nos.: 760, 766/2015
Cask Type: Refill Madeira Hogsheads
The 2025 Fèis Ìle special edition was a vatting of two refill madeira casks from 2015. The whisky was distilled and produced from barley grown on Kilchoman’s own fields and then produced entirely at Kilchoman, ‘from barley to bottle’, making it a 100% Islay single farm single malt.*
*source: www.kilchomania.com
FEIS ILE 2026
on 28.05.2026
FEIS ILE 2026
