Founded in 2005, Kilchoman (pronounced Kil-ho-man) was the first new distillery to be built on Islay in over 124 years. The distillery is a family run business established by Anthony and Kathy Wills and as their business expanded, they were joined by their three sons; James, George and Peter. The Wills family remain the driving force behind Kilchoman with Anthony as Managing Director and Master Distiller, Kathy running the Visitor Centre and their three sons managing the distillery’s sales and marketing activities.

The distillery uses barley grown on site at Rockside Farm and malted at the distillery, as well as malt from the Port Ellen maltings and releases separate bottlings depending on the source of the grain. It is one of a handful of Scottish distilleries still working with traditional floor-maltings, and is unique in completing all parts of the whisky making process – growing barley, malting, distilling, maturing and bottling – on Islay.

The whisky produced by the Port Ellen maltings are peated to the same levels as Ardbeg 50 ppm, while the malt peated on their own floor maltings will be approximately 20 ppm. Since 2023, Kilchoman has been sourcing bourbon casks from Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado. The new supplier has replaced Buffalo Trace, from where Kilchoman has sourced bourbon barrels since 2005. In 2023, the distillery came second in a ranking by Cask Connoisseur of the most popular whisky distilleries.