Official and semi-official Kilkerran


February 23, 2022

Official and semi-official Kilkerran
Two wee whiskies from Glengyle of Campbeltown a.k.a. Kilkerran. A shame and a pity that there wouldn't be more of the make. I find them all pretty brilliant… when there's one or two.

Kilkerran 8 yo 'Cask Strength Batch 5' (56.9%, OB, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Casks, 2021)Kilkerran 8 yo 'Cask Strength Batch 5' (56.9%, OB, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Casks, 2021)

Kilkerran 8 yo 'Cask Strength Batch 5' (56.9%, OB, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Casks, 2021)

Taking my time. Should be good, unless we stumble upon one of those whacky sherry casks. Bourbon or refill are always rather extraordinary, sherry's less consistent, in my humble opinion. Colour: full gold. Nose: bone-dry Madeira wine, a lot of leather, fig leaves, assorted musty notes, soot, then massive old walnuts (no politicians in particular) and litres of amontillado. The strength keeps it a little shier, perhaps, really curious about what will happen once water's been added. The jury's still out at the moment. With water: mud, hose saddle, compost, cowshed, then coffee and raw chocolate. Touch of sulphur, perhaps, but that's more than okay here. Mouth (neat): salted walnut wine, burnt tofu (in miso), more madeira, some heavier manzanilla pasada, some kind of dry rancio, bitter almonds… With water: rather extreme. I keep finding it rather remarkable that they wouldn't have started to make something completely different from cousins Springbank. Madeira, mustard, fino, walnuts, brine, burnt sugar and chocolate… Finish: long, bitter and salty soup. Comments: un-boring, pretty love-it-or-hate-it. Guess what…
SGP:373 - 88 points

Kilkerran 5 yo 2015/2021 (57.3%, Cadenhead, Annual Shop Release 2021, Campbeltown, sherry hogshead, 306 bottles)

Still curious… And if they bottled it at the ripe old age of 5, I suppose there was something special. Colour: full gold. Nose: cleaner and brighter, fresher, peatier, with just touches of UHU glue and a wee bag of lemon drops, then beach sand, seawater, chalk and just tiny whiffs of cabbage. No need to use the S world this time. Someone well-intentioned may have also tried to smoke some fudge. With water: ah love this. Mushrooms, cow stable, rotting fruits, soy sauce and umami sauce, manzanilla again (and again), mussels… Mouth (neat): very peaty. We know the mind works in mysterious ways, but I cannot not think of that distillery on Islay that also starts with 'Kil…' Some leathery dried fish or something, chen-pi (dried tangerine skins), orange squash, simply fish chowder, then the obligatory green walnuts and these tiny bits of leather. Punk whisky. With water: great salty fun. You could use this to season seafood, perhaps clams… Finish: long, a tad leathery and soapy this time again (but we're more than fine), all the rest being perfectly salty, coastal, and peaty. Comments: much peatier than the official 8. A true young wonder, a Tal Wilkenfeld of malt whisky. Check her with Jeff Beck, when she was really young.
SGP:366 - 90 points

Check the index of all Kilkerran we've tasted so far