Kilkerran Heavily Peated 61%
Sample – currently 2 years and 10/ 11 months. abv an approximation.
Tasted: Dec 2018
A pungent and fishy nose with a touch of ‘off the still’ notes. Salt laden peat and manure emerge but there’s also a lovely layer of sweet barley beneath, plus a touch of honey, malt and milk chocolate. All told it has a lovely robust character.
The palate is pungent and a little feinty/ cerealy at this present time with oily peat, dry peat and hints of malt, pepper, ginger and vanilla. In fact it has a very peppery middle with a touch of milk chocolate. The finish is masked but the sweet barley and dark chocolate notes come through.
Water emphasises the milk chocolate on the nose and the fishy peat. It also brings out the barley and earth. On the palate the barley is emphaised as is the peat. Still quite peppery but more fishy now. Robust and juicy with a good natural cereal character. Long, pepper, dark chocolate finish with lingering malt tarred rope and barley.
Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 2 60.9%
55% Bourbon/ 45% Sherry
Tasted: Nov 2019
The nose is fresh and briny with a pleasant combination of ashy and sweet peat, violets, barley, crisp green apple and fish. Late vanilla custard powder notes.
The palate is fuller and shows more barley character. There is a touch of ‘off the still’ oiliness along with ashy pet, fish, brine and some very subtle sherrywood tannins. It darkens on the middle as the malt and dried fruit arrives. Mouth-watering and slightly masked finish with lingering ash and barley.
A drop of water bring out the barley and malt, making it feel fuller, but it has also emphasises the youthful off the still’ notes. Less peat intensity but a touch of oily tangerine and apricot can now be discerned. The palate is softer with more of a malty character. Again less peat and more oily, fishy spirit character. Long and fishy with more coastal notes and ash. In conclusion: As much as I like it, I still think it could do with a bit more time in the cask.
Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 3 59.7%
80% Bourbon/ 20% Sherry
Tasted: Oct 2020
A very sweetly feinty and oily nose with nascent apricot and peat. Slightly earthy with a touch of cabbage and green fruit. It doesn’t seem like the spirit has evolved an awful lot since the previous bottling.
The palate is also oily and feinty with again a sweetness to those ‘off the still’ notes. Hints of fish oils, rubber and earthy peat appear. A masked and salty finish with a suggestion of sweet barley in the after-taste.
Water makes the nose almost insubstantial although it’s still a little feinty and rubbery, but that’s about it. The palate is pretty much the same and although there’s a touch of granulated sugar, the finish is still a bit short and drying.
Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 4 58.6%
80% Bourbon, 20% Sherry
Tasted: May 2021
The nose is young, feinty and cereally with plenty of brine, astringent pet and rubber. The nose feels a little more evolved than Batch 3, but it’s still pretty young and raw. Slightly mentholated and saopy with time.
The palate is full and malty. Biscuity, feinty and raw (more rawer than the nose) with stringent peat, youthful spirit, and hints of pepper, barley and rubber. Masked, very rubbery and astringent finish with lingering anti-sceptic, charcoal, charred oak and burnt wood. Subtle this aint!
Water brings out a touch of lemon and lessens the peat intensity but not the feints! The palate is less raw and oilier. Again less peat but more rubbery, oily lanolin feints, maybe there is a touch more barley now? Longer, peppery, dry peat, charred oak and menthol finish.
Kilkerran 5 year old ‘Work In Progress’ 46%
Tasted: July 2009
Quiet an oily nose. Obviously youthful with a touch of rose petal marc and coastal notes. It has a beguiling freshness reminiscent of lightly peated Caol Ila. It’s quiet full with lovely yellow fruit, soft spice and a touch of rubber, earthy peat and bog myrtle.
The palate is more rounded than the nose suggests, yet it is still soft and sweetly-fruity with hints of cereal/ barley, rose petal marc and soft spices. The middle is quiet piquant but for such a young malt it is has a lovely balance and is definitely drinkable. Good length with hints of rubber, vanilla, pepper and light peat in the finish.
Kilkerran 6 year old ‘Work In Progress 2’ 46%
Tasted: Aug 2010
Now 6 years old, and although still youthful it is displaying a more rounded character. The nose opens with crisp citrus and white fruits followed by gristy cereal and a slight earthy-peat note, which increases in intensity over time. It is elegant and there is a definite impression of nascent honey along with a slight coastal nuance.
The palate is quite velvety, smooth and rounded with oily coated cereal grains. A short burst of alcohol clears the way for the coastal/ grassy fresh infused, youthful, gentle apricot and tangerine fruit along with the placid earthy-peat and background oak, leading to a lovely coastal finish.
It is still quite linearat the moment, yet it is more rounded than the first bottling, and it is surprising how much it has evolved in just a year.
Kilkerran 7 year old ‘Work In Progress 3’ 46%
Tasted: Sept 2011
A soft and citrusy nose – pure lemon rind notes, followed by brittle honey and a salty twang. This is really maturing well and shows a lovely depth with just a touch of youthful cereal and background oak. With time the cereal note becomes pleasantly sweet.
The palate opens with the soft, yet lithe barley and a touch of toffee. Filling out rather well now with apricot, citrus and brittle honey. There is a lovely salt encrusted lemon intensity on the middle and a long, oily finish, with only just a touch of youthful cereal now and no shortage of pure sea salt.
Another year and it is really developing complexity and character!
Kilkerran 8 year old ‘Work In Progress 4’ 46%
Bourbon/ Tasted: Apr 2013
Aromas of light cereal and perfumed white flowers mingle with barley, tangerine, moist toffee-honey, pear and a sprinkling of brown sugar. It has an almost refill sherry richness with developing notes of salt, manure, fish and crystalised violets. Tasted blind you could be forgiven for thinking you were tasting a young Springbank.
Quite toffee’d to begin with on the palate with some crème caramel. Some softly tart and salty citrus appears on the middle along with a hint of smoke, barley, light honey, gentle spices and crystalised violets. Late notes of liquorice, very light treacle, chocolate powder and smoke. . Very long with a lingering saltiness.
Kilkerran 8 year old Cask Strength 56.2%
Bourbon/ Tasted: May 2017
Aromas of taught barley, lime, apricot, green apple and a touch of honeysuckle. Gently peated with sweet smoke and a light saltiness. With time hints of malt, vanilla custard powder and shortbread.
The palate opens with the fragrant barley, apricot, apple, and a touch of peat smoke along with some earthy malt and salt. Quite oily in the mouth with hints of wood spice. The finish is a little masked but it finishes with some gristy barley and malt.
A drop of water emphasises the lime, salt and floral notes. Fresher, crisper and more coastal now, with the malty, fruitiness beneath. The palate is like the nose, fresher and saltier with a subtle parma violet note now evident. Long and classically malty with a light smoke, soot and liquorice after-taste.
Kilkerran 8 year old Cask Strength 55.2%
Second Release/ Tasted: Dec 2017
An earthy and malty nose with gritty barley and subtle, earthy peat. Hints of camphor, eucalyptus and aromatic barley follow. Lovely intensity with a late creamy oak note.
The palate shows the same barley intensity as the nose with earth, malt, treacle, vanilla and subtle, earthy peat. Lightly coffee’d and mentholated middle with a slightly masked, but earthy finish.
With water the nose becomes wonderfully aromatic with the fruit (apricot, pineapple) displaying a castor sugar coating. Still quite malty and gritty. On the palate it emphasises the vanilla oak and sweetens the fruit. It also rounds off the grittiness of the barley and brings out a touch more malt, especially on the finish.
Kilkerran 8 year old Cask Strength 56.5%
Bourbon
Third Release 2018
Tasted: Dec 2018
An intense, grainy and malt nose with sweet barley and grain-like dried fruits (sultana and citrus). A good dollop of earthy honey and vanilla balances. Lightly coastal with late marzipan, salted peanuts and buttered toast. Lovely complexity!
Full and malty on the palate with barley, coffee, earth and grainy dried fruit. Hints of pepper, sweet peat, almond, fish and salt on the middle. Lovely richness and a long grainy dried fruit and gritty finish that has an almost sherried twang.
With water the nose becomes fresher, saltier and more barley’d with nutty vanilla, fish and a touch of citrus. The palate is still full and malty but less grainy and now showing some drier peat and earth. Hints of bitter dark chocolate and wood spice on the finish, but the weight of barley and apricot balance.
Kilkerran 8 year old Cask Strength 57.1%
Re-charred Oloroso Sherry
Fourth Release 2019
Tasted: Nov 2019
Given it’s incredibly dark colour it comes as no surprise that the nose is incredibly treacly and coffee’d with huge gobs of sherried dried fruit and malt. The sherry becomes slightly herbal with time and a little marzipan note can be discerned but unfortunately no distillery character.
The palate is herbally, treacly and tarry with buckets of dried fruit, malt, coffee and more herbal sherry. Slightly astringent and salty middle with, yes, you’ve guessed it, more sherry! A little masked with lingering treacle and bitter wood spices.
A drop of water makes no difference at all apart from making it a little softer and maltier. It’s is still 100% sherry overkill.
Kilkerran 8 year old Cask Strength 57.1%
Re-Charred Oloroso Sherry
Btl: Oct 2019
Re- Tasted: Aug 2020
The nose is raw, earthy and coffee’d with herbal Oloroso and hints of tar, smoked bacon, treacle and raisinated fruit. With time dark chocolate, dried plum, prune and walnut. Yes, it’s a sherry monster!
The palate opens with dark coffee, treacle, tar, raisinated fruit and herbal Oloroso. Dried plum, tobacco and more raisinated fruit follows along with a touch of burnt toast and drying spice. Short, masked and spicy with lingering salt, sweet bbq sauce and sherried dried fruit.
Water makes the nose less raw and softer. It brings out orange rind, menthol and lemon. On the palate there is more herbal sherry, if that’s possible! More bitter, spicy tannin and burnt toast along with subtle bbq sauce and treacle. Longer, spicier with a dark chocolate and coffee finish. Lovely spicy/ tannic after-taste but it’s all about the cask.
Kilkerran 9 year old ‘Work In Progress 5 – Bourbon Wood’ 46%
Bourbon/ Tasted: Oct 2013
A subtle and floral nose with honeysuckle, peach, lightly gristy barley along with hints of pollen, vanilla and lightly coffee’d oak. The barley has a lovely sweet sheen and the salty/ briny notes give it a lovely freshness. With time some banana and citrus fruit becomes evident.
The palate is soft and lightly honeyed with sweet barley and a very light earthy-peat note. Lovely, fleshy banana mingles with coffee’d oak, vanilla and tangerine. The honey notes develop on the middle giving the barley a lovely polished sheen. Good length with a crisp finish of white flowers, light spice and salt.
Kilkerran 9 year old ‘Work In Progress 5 – Sherry Wood’ 46%
Refill Sherry/ Tasted: Oct 2013
A very subtly sherried nose opening with lightly nutty and salted wood notes and creamy barley. (It reminds me of a salted version of the English Whisky) followed by some lovely waxy banana, marzipan, milk chocolate, toffee and a developing milky/ creamy note. The aromas a little more rounded than the Bourbon oaked edition.
The palate is lightly oiled and nutty with hints of toasted treacle and sweet barley, Quite full and again quite subtly sherried with a briny middle and the fruit taking on a waxy demeanour. The tannins build but the honeyed notes balance it brilliantly. Lovely, long, softly spiced finish with a salty after-taste.
Kilkerran 10 year old ‘Work In Progress 6 – Bourbon Wood’ 46%
Tasted: Aug 2014
Full and lightly gristy aromas of fleshy apricot and apple with a lovely lemon twist. Quite fresh and coastal with an earthy, almost light peat intimation along with a robust oak background (some first fill oak?). Possibly not as subtle as WIP5 with a little more green fruit notes. With time a touch of orange, brittle vanilla and light coffee emerges.
The palate is like the nose, fresh but full and robust with fleshy apricot, orange and sweet barley. Lightly honeyed with a touch of white fruit, grippy oak and spice. Again there is more green fruit – apple and kiwi than WIP5. Lovely finish with some soft spice and light salted notes.
Kilkerran 10 year old ‘Work In Progress 6 – Sherry Wood’ 46%
Refill Sherry(?)/ Tasted: Aug 2014
The nose displays plenty of earthy/ coffee’d sherry character with hints of walnut and rum-like dried fruit. The sherry is heavier than the WIP5 and there is an almost, youthful, herbal rye like note, so maybe some first fill Oloroso has been used? Again quite coastal with a touch of iodine, smoke, sweet barley and salt.
The palate is soft and quite toffee’d with milk chocolate coated dried fruit and herbs. Quite sweet and malty with a touch of liquorice and dark honey. Fairly briny on the middle with a lightly smoked and bracingly fresh coastal finish, which is balanced by the treacly sherry notes.
Kilkerran Advance Sample 2011 (Currently 10 years old) ?abv
Port Cask 169
Tasted: July 2021
Aromas of rich, sweet red fruit, manure, and straw. There’s a good dollop of herbal peat along with malt, barley, heather, dark chocolate and ash.
The palate is soft, chocolaty and porty with red/ black fruit, malt, salt and like the nose plenty of herbal and manurey peat. A touch of salt comes through on the middle along with a bit of alcohol. and citrus. Long, juicy finish with retuning port notes, barley, orange, pepper and soft tannin.
Kilkerran 11 year old ‘Work In Progress 7 – Bourbon Wood’ 54.1%
Tasted: June 2015
The final release in the WIP series.
Beautifully soft and fragrant with succulent barley and sub-tropical apricot and pineapple. Hints of brine, fish oils and manure comes through along with a touch of violets, sumptuous vanilla, grainy oak, crisp citrus and a light grainy herbal note.
The palate is soft but lively with barley, light coffee and more of the oak vanillins. Hints of banana, apricot pineapple, fish oils and earth develop on the middle. Robust and lightly smoked with a bbq meat and drying citrus finish.
A drop of water makes the nose quite subtle and emphasises the citrus and the ‘Springbank-esque’ tannins. The palate is oilier and fuller, showing more of the weighty barley and yellow fruit. Quite malty in fact with a lovely, long, juicy barley finish. A little more peat smoke can be detected in the after-taste along with a little more of the fishy notes.
Kilkerran 11 year old ‘Work In Progress 7 – Sherry Wood’ 46%
Tasted: June 2015
The final release in the WIP series.
A joyfully juicy nose of subtle but fragrant sultana and dried citrus and herbs. Like the Bourbon Wood there is plenty of barley, but it’s a little fresher and brinier with more noticeable astringent peat. With time some creamy vanillins appear along with a pure Colombian coffee bean note.
The palate is fresh, crisp and quite salty with the sherry adding subtle dried fruit notes. Again a lovely barley accented middle with hints of fish oils, earth and dry peat. Lovely intensity with a real, coastal/ citrus cleansing finish and lingering earthy, slightly manurey peat.
Kilkerran 12 year old 46%
70% Bourbon/ 30% Sherry
Code: 16/ 311
Tasted: Aug 2016
The nose is oily and barley’d with hints of straw, grass, salt, earthy-peat and toasty oak. With time the sherry cask notes appear adding hints of dried prune, cherry and hints of coffee.
The palate opens with the sherried fruit, followed by citrus, barley, butterscotch and vanilla. Gentle and elegant with a subtle touch of peat, fish, earth and salt. Long, with lingering oily vanilla, salt and Springbank-esque gritty, coffee’d sherrywood tannins.
Kilkerran 12 year old 46%
Code: 16/ 363
Dark, pungent and malty aromas with subtle manure, peat, tar, fish oils and wood spices. Superb depth and complexity with some cigar leaf and gritty but soft tannins.
Soft and malty on the palate with dark honey, coffee, walnut shell, subtle peat and gritty tannins. Very mouth-filling with a touch of violets, dark chocolate and gentle mature, Armagnac-esque dried fruit. Very long. Remaining malty and fishy with lingering prunes, walnut, sherry wood spice and salt. In conclusion: An absolute classic, oozing character and class. If you love this style of whisky then it’s a must buy!
Kilkerran 12 year old 46%
Code: 19/266
Tasted: Sept 2019
The nose is quite light and fresh with sweet-ish Alsace-like white fruit and honey. Hints of malt, barley and fish oils appear as the nose fills out. Finally apricot, tangerine, salt and a whiff of peat appears.
The palate displays the lightness of the nose with barley, honey, white fruit, apricot and malt. Hints of tar, fish oils, earth and malt biscuits come through on the middle. Long and juicy with lingering salt, peat, barley and citrus. In fact the finish is actually quite peaty and salty.
Kilkerran 12 year old 46%
Code: 19/312
Tasted: Nov 2019
The nose is malty and fishy with baked apple and hints of dusty/ earthy peat, tar, vanilla oak and salt.
The palate displays more sweet barley and American oak. Lightly fishy with hints of malt, baked apple and spice. It becomes very fishy and brimny on the middle with a light greengage and lime note coming through. Still dense and malty though. Long and continuing malty with dry/ earthy peat, sherrywood spice, liquorice, dark chocolate, treacle and salt.
Kilkerran 12 year old 46%
Code: 21/116
Btl: June 2021/ Tasted: Oct 2021
The nose is full and resplendent in all that lovely Campbeltown fishiness! Oily apricot, subtle dried fruit, dusty peat and latent mocha notes appear. With time some slightly floral barley, tangerine and marzipan.
The palate is rich and malty with sweet barley, mocha, sweet dried fruit and hints of sweet vanilla. There’s a subtle peat and salt note but it’s a real sweetie! Long and fishy with a very, very salty finish with returning vanilla and barley.
Kilkerran Triple Distilled 2006 (12 year old) 60.4%
Bottled for Drambusters/ Bourbon/ Dist: Apr 2006 Btl: Mar 2019/ Tasted: Aug 2019
A lovely aromatic nose of honeysuckle, hyacinth and rose with plenty of sweet barley, creamy vanilla, toffee and earth. There are some subtle almost column still-like dried fruits and hints of lemon, Wonderfully fragrant but wonderfully dense as well.
The palate is soft and barley’d with a subtle earthy dried fruit note. Less floral and more barley focused, but there is still a light hyacinth note. The alcohol keeps the oak in check allowing just a smidge of vanilla to be tasted. Quite a masked finish, which isn’t surprising with fleshy apricot and a touch of spice.
Water makes the nose saltier, earthier and less fragrant and like the palate when neat shifts its emphasis to the barley. The oak is a little more noticeable but not as much as I would have expected. The palate is still very barley’d but shows more of the fleshy apricot apple and dried fruit. Again the oak is still very subtle if a little toastier. Long, lightly oiled and salty with the salt really lingering.
Kilkerran ‘Virtual Open Day 2020’ 14 year old Triple Distilled 57.8%
Refill Bourbon/ Btl: Sept 2020/ Tasted: Nov 2020
The nose is very salty with a distinct alcohol prickle. lime, white fruit and high toned barley. Hints of ‘Bourbony’ oak appear along with some rye-like herbal notes.
The palate is pretty tight and barley’d with white fruit and hints of mandarin, apricot and tangerine. Quite masked but the ‘Bourbony’ is definitely noticeable. Dry barley husks, fish oils and plenty of salt on the finish.
Water emphasises the roasty, toasty and herbal oak. It’s still a bit on the raw side and feel a little disconnected. The palate displays more barley and less oak, although it does come through on the finish. Oilier and fishier with a faint peat smoke note. Under whelmed.
Kilkerran ‘Virtual Open Day 2020’ 14 year old Triple Distilled 57.8%
Refill Bourbon/ Btl: Sept 2020/ Re- Tasted: Mar 2022
The nose is soft, slightly high toned and quite grain-like with fresh barley, white fruit and plenty of sweet ‘Bourbony’ oak. Lovely intensity and develops a subtle floral edge along with a touch of earth and smoke.
Noticeable alcohol on the palate. Intense, grainy white fruit, apricot and nippy, earthy spice. The oak is held in check by the alcohol. Masked but earthy and spicy finish.
Water brings out some soft orange and tangerine. Less high toned with hints of toffee, butter and sweet barley. The palate shows more milky/ vanilla oak. Mouth-filling but simpler. Quite honeyed on the middle with a touch of peat. Longer more barley’d finish with a touch of spice at the end.
Kilkerran 15 year old Single Cask Madeira Wood 51.1%
Bottled for Taiwan.
Code 19/374
Dist: May 2004 Btl: Sept 2019/ Tasted: July 2021
A warm, bready and doughy nose of fragrant malt and hints of buttered toast and oily, orange conserve. Very slightly plasticky with nutty apricot, stone fruit and subtle wood smoke.
Dense and malty on the palate with the sweet Madeira showing fist. Again there is some plasticky vanilla notes, but the fruit is showing a good matujrity. Hints of salt and peat smoke on the middle. long, malty slighly chocolaty finish with lingering salt, smoke and dried fruit.
Kilkerran 16 year old (2021 Release) 46%
75% Bourbon/ 25% Sherry
Code: 21/134
Btl: Sept 2021/ Tasted: Oct 2021
The nose opens with the Oloroso dried fruit, spice and hints of tobacco and leather. The aromas move into earthy peat, creamy vanilla, hazelnuts, marzipan, dried apricot, barley, salt and minerals.
The palate opens in the same manor as the nose. Sweet Oloroso dried fruit to start with tobacco, tar and liquorice before moving into creamy vanilla and subtle barley. The middle is fairly ex-Bourbon oak influenced and the tannins gip a little, but the creaminess of the oak offsets. Long and spicy with mature marzipan, earth and peat on the finish.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 